Game:

Battle City (1985)

Category:

Review

Duration: 54:00

1,179 views

20

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INTRODUCTION:
You are controlling a tank and must destroy all the enemy tanks in each level. The enemies enters the playfield from the top of the screen. The enemies are trying to get to your base at the bottom of the screen, if they break down the wall and enter the base it is Game Over. If you get hit by enemy fire you will lose a life. Levels are completed when all 20 enemy tanks is destroyed. The game has 36 different stages and each stage contains different types of terrain and obstacles.

The game features these power ups:
-Grenade: Destroys all enemy tanks
-Helmet: Makes the tank invulnerable to attack for a limited period of time
-Tank: Extra life
-Clock: Makes the enemy tanks stand still for a while

REVIEW:
Tank 1990 is a clone of Battle City, and it was published in 1990 by Chinese company Yanshan Software without a Nintendo license. Battle City is from 1985 and is considered a true classic of the video gaming era, and the concept and gameplay in Tank 1990 is the same. It is very easy to pick up because the gameplay is so simple everybody can understand it: Protect your base and destroy all the enemies. But it still has enough challenge to keep it addictive because of the 36 levels.

Battle City exists in an almost perfect port for the Spectrum, and you can see a walkthrough + review of it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pc8xnQGfdhs

Tank 1990 plays well with nice speed for both your own and the enemy tanks, and the AI for the enemies is okay. The enemy tanks is driving all over the screen, and they will not get stuck in corners, or stand still and fire into walls and such things.

The levels and level design is identical to the original game, except the Spectrum version is missing two attribute blocks on top of every screen for having all of the graphics.

Tank 1990 is a good game and definitely worth checking out on the Spectrum, but compared to the original game the multiplayer mode and the level creator is missing. The Spectrum version of Battle City has these features + you can select start level and controls. Tank 1990 only has keyboard controls: A, W, S, D, Enter which isn’t exactly the keys most people prefer, and you can not redefine. The original Tank 1990 also have game modes A-N, which is not in the Spectrum version, showing the level number is missing, and the “Star” and “Shovel” power ups is also missing.

Some positives compared to Battle City is that there is no color clash when driving on ice, the game is free for color clash. And instead of looping after completing level 36 this game has a “You Win” screen.

Rating = 84%

Tank 1990 128k was made by Dwa83 and the Tap file can be downloaded here: https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/34329/ZX-Spectrum/TANK-1990

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