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0 Tiny Troopers: Global Ops is a fast-paced arcade twin-stick shooter which is due to be launched on Steam, Switch, Xbox and PlayStation. Starting out life on mobile, how will the game translate to console and PC? Well, lets take a look at this early access PC edition!
This title was developed by Epiphany Games, Kukouri Mobile Entertainment and published by Wired Productions.
Fire At Will…
Which one’s Will?! Tiny Troopers: Global Ops is full to the brim with some of the best humour I’ve seen in a video game. Listen out for the enemy’s jokes and let me know below which one’s your favourite.
Welcome to TALON. That’s short for; Tactical, Armour, Logistics, Operations and Negotiations. Apparently we’re some kind of mercenary team, up for hire to any government with a mess to clean up and the cash to see it done! So far, I’m guessing we’re not exactly the good guys? Kind of like some backwards, twisted A-Team. I dig it.
Our team consists of 4 tiny soldiers; Botch, Geordie (because she’s a Geordie), Soup (“Because he likes soup, it ain’t that deep”) and ‘Some Kid’. Tiny Troopers: Global Ops supports cooperative play for up to 4 people, so be sure to grab your friends for this one!
Our crackpot team of Tiny Troopers are the best of the best of the best, after a little basic training of course. Once you’ve mastered the controls and basic weaponry, you’re able to jump into your first mission!
Gameplay
At its heart Tiny Troopers: Global Ops remains true to its origins, simplistic gameplay and is open to anyone of any skill. Although this is a twin-stick style shooter, keyboard & mouse play pretty intuitively too. You do get smoother directional movement – especially diagonally – with twin-stick, so I recommend an Xbox controller if you have one.
It’s worth noting players are helped by aim-assist, meaning you only need to fire in the general direction of your enemies – like a frontal cone. Because of this, there’s no real advantage to choosing a mouse over a twin-stick controller.
To survive the bullet hell that awaits, you’ll need to master the dodge roll pretty early on. Grenades and other explosive projectiles are pretty commonplace. You’ll find yourself rolling through doorways, traps and ducking from RPG type weaponry often. Luckily players are able to revive downed teammates throughout missions, similar to battle-royal games like PUBG. This is fairly handy for players like me who tend to neglect teammates and go off on their own… shooting and exploding baddies. It also means the game isn’t too punishing to new players.
From the main menu, we’re able to access some extra features besides the usual missions, such as Barracks, Statistics and Armoury. The Barracks provide an overview of our soldiers, while the Armory provides them upgrades. As you might’ve guessed, the statistics tab will detail our performance, such as wins, losses, kills, accuracy, etc.
Following basic progression protocols, players will unlock bigger, more powerful weaponry as the levels go on. Vehicles such as tanks, SAMs, turrets, Humvees and helicopters become more commonplace. Did I mention you can also call in airstrikes? Pretty handy when you find yourself outgunned, or if you just fancy blowing something up.
One thing I appreciated throughout my playthrough, is that Tiny Troopers isn’t too punishing, but it’s still challenging. Instead of struggling to complete levels and dying over and over.. you find yourself replaying levels trying to get better accuracy, more points and a higher score. Side note: this adds a level of competition when playing with friends.
Graphics & Audio
I played on my usual rig, a PC running a Ryzen 5, 32GB RAM and an RTX 3070… far exceeding the recommended Intel Core i3, 2GB RAM and GeForce GTX 660. As you’d expect, it played without issue, no FPS drops, misaligned textures or screen tears in sight.
Epiphany Games/Kukouri Mobile have opted for a low poly arty style with cutesy characters and overexaggerated weaponry. This is the mobile origins of the game shining their way through. I have to say though, it looks great. In a strange overexaggerated way, I’m reminded of the old Worms games, with their big helmets and even bigger projectiles.
My only grievance with the game graphically is the health bar of the main player. I found it a little underwhelming and it doesn’t quite blend with the rest of the visuals. Other than that though, I couldn’t really pick any faults. Tiny Troopers: Global Ops is packed with explosions, gun fire and plenty of special FX which really help set the mood.
The voiceovers are reminiscent of Starship Troopers, with the generals/commanders explaining objectives and calling the shots throughout missions.
Longevity
Tiny Troopers: Global Ops is more of a pick up and play type of game than anything else. That being said I found myself having a good hour here and there and wondering where the time went. Being a preview, it’s difficult to get a full sense of the game as it’s not always possible to get 3 teammates together for a good session of gameplay. From what I see, multiplayer coop really enhances this title and offers more satisfying, chaotic gameplay. I definitely recommend playing with friends if you can!
I see this title as one to come back too again and again when you and you’re friends have an hour to kill, similar to Left 4 Dead or The Anacrusis.
Final Thoughts
Tiny Troopers: Global Ops plays well, performs as it should and the 4 player coop is a nice touch. For what was originally developed as a mobile franchise, Tiny Troopers maps well onto PC and is definitely worth adding to your collection, so keep an eye out for its full release date!
Disclaimer: A code was received in order to write this preview.
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