Tank Bore-fare.

Story:

You play as a commander of a tank unit. A small oil rich nation somewhere in the middle east has been taken over by terrorist forces and you're under the operation Desert Thunder to take it back, however at the border the operation suffers heavy loses and you're the only unit left and you're going to take back the region by any means.

It's a generic war themed story with nothing really interesting going on. Each mission is followed by a briefing telling you how far you've made it into enemy territory and how heavy the resistance from the opposing force will be and a run through of your objectives.

Graphics:

Visuals haven't stood the test of time and most of the levels are just boring desert maps with a few trees and rocks scattered throughout. Everything looks the same and the few levels where you enter airports or encounter other civilian structures like a refinery are a sight, cause you don't have to look at sand dunes all the time.

I also have to mention that in some levels it's easy to lose your footing cause the direction system is pretty mediocre and if you stray of the path a bit, it might be really difficult to find your way back, cause everything looks the same, you will need to keep track of something that sticks out like a tree that has sunken into the ground, to use as a landmark to keep track of where you've been.

Audio:

The audio design is alright for the most part, but nothing too incredibly special. It does sound a bit low quality, but I do like the sound effects used for the weaponry, it at least sounds like it packs a punch instead of it being weak. If it didn't sound so crunched, I would have said that the audio design would be top tear.

The music on the other hand is not good. It's just generic rock music, which sounds out of place, but it beats the generic vaguely arabic music these games usually have.

Gameplay:

The gameplay of Desert Thunder is like an arcade-y shooter, but instead of using a gun you wield your tank. You have a different set of objectives each mission, but it usually boils down reaching the end of the level in one piece, destroying enemy strongholds or protecting something for a certain amount of time.

The combat itself was pretty fun at first, you have different weapon types like machine guns and different set of rockets at your disposal which do different amount of damage to enemy vehicles and it was interesting to see what worked the best, but very quickly you notice that most of the ammo types do no damage whatsoever and you stick to the few main types for the entire game, only resorting to the useless ammo when stock runs low.

The controls themselves are fine, but are a tad bit sluggish. The tank controls fine, but steering it is a pain and I'd give it a pass if it was trying to be more realistic, but that's not the case. If you wind up going a dead end, turning back around leaves you exposed and since the enemy hitboxes don't work half the time you're likely to die if you can't get out of the mess you got yourself in.

The game gets boring really fast as each objective is tedious for no reason, especially the holdout missions. Every so often you reach a high stake point which you're forced to protect from enemy fire and you're supposed to run out a timer, while keeping the structure alive and these missions feel like they go on for like 20 hours, even though you can finish the entire game under 2 hours.

Verdict:

Desert Thunder has not aged gracefully and is a boring and sluggish experience. I get the appeal of mowing stuff down with a tank, but this game does deliver on a fun experience and there's definitely has to be something much better than this, so if you wanted to drive a tank and feel like a badass, look elsewhere.

Final Rating:
4.5/10

Pros:
+ Combat is fun for the most part
+ Audio design for the tank is pretty decent

Cons:
- Gets tedious fast
- Visuals are horrible
- Awful soundtrack
- Holdout missions are incredibly boring

If you liked this review please consider joining https://steamcommunity.com/groups/completingthebacklog and https://steamcommunity.com/groups/ImperialReviews

Tank Bore-fare. Story: You play as a commander of a tank unit. A small oil rich nation somewhere in the middle east has been taken over by terrorist forces and you're under the operation Desert Thunder to take it back, however at the border the operation suffers heavy loses and you're the only unit left and you're going to take back the region by any means. It's a generic war themed story with nothing really interesting going on. Each mission is followed by a briefing telling you how far you've made it into enemy territory and how heavy the resistance from the opposing force will be and a run through of your objectives. Graphics: Visuals haven't stood the test of time and most of the levels are just boring desert maps with a few trees and rocks scattered throughout. Everything looks the same and the few levels where you enter airports or encounter other civilian structures like a refinery are a sight, cause you don't have to look at sand dunes all the time. I also have to mention that in some levels it's easy to lose your footing cause the direction system is pretty mediocre and if you stray of the path a bit, it might be really difficult to find your way back, cause everything looks the same, you will need to keep track of something that sticks out like a tree that has sunken into the ground, to use as a landmark to keep track of where you've been. Audio: The audio design is alright for the most part, but nothing too incredibly special. It does sound a bit low quality, but I do like the sound effects used for the weaponry, it at least sounds like it packs a punch instead of it being weak. If it didn't sound so crunched, I would have said that the audio design would be top tear. The music on the other hand is not good. It's just generic rock music, which sounds out of place, but it beats the generic vaguely arabic music these games usually have. Gameplay: The gameplay of Desert Thunder is like an arcade-y shooter, but instead of using a gun you wield your tank. You have a different set of objectives each mission, but it usually boils down reaching the end of the level in one piece, destroying enemy strongholds or protecting something for a certain amount of time. The combat itself was pretty fun at first, you have different weapon types like machine guns and different set of rockets at your disposal which do different amount of damage to enemy vehicles and it was interesting to see what worked the best, but very quickly you notice that most of the ammo types do no damage whatsoever and you stick to the few main types for the entire game, only resorting to the useless ammo when stock runs low. The controls themselves are fine, but are a tad bit sluggish. The tank controls fine, but steering it is a pain and I'd give it a pass if it was trying to be more realistic, but that's not the case. If you wind up going a dead end, turning back around leaves you exposed and since the enemy hitboxes don't work half the time you're likely to die if you can't get out of the mess you got yourself in. The game gets boring really fast as each objective is tedious for no reason, especially the holdout missions. Every so often you reach a high stake point which you're forced to protect from enemy fire and you're supposed to run out a timer, while keeping the structure alive and these missions feel like they go on for like 20 hours, even though you can finish the entire game under 2 hours. Verdict: Desert Thunder has not aged gracefully and is a boring and sluggish experience. I get the appeal of mowing stuff down with a tank, but this game does deliver on a fun experience and there's definitely has to be something much better than this, so if you wanted to drive a tank and feel like a badass, look elsewhere. Final Rating: 4.5/10 Pros: + Combat is fun for the most part + Audio design for the tank is pretty decent Cons: - Gets tedious fast - Visuals are horrible - Awful soundtrack - Holdout missions are incredibly boring If you liked this review please consider joining https://steamcommunity.com/groups/completingthebacklog and https://steamcommunity.com/groups/ImperialReviews