Difference between revisions of "Trax"

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* The game is far too short. There are only 4 levels, so you can beat it an about 15 minutes. Had I paid money for this I would have felt ripped off.
 
* The game is far too short. There are only 4 levels, so you can beat it an about 15 minutes. Had I paid money for this I would have felt ripped off.
  
==Box Art==
+
==Media==
 +
===Box Art===
 
<gallery>
 
<gallery>
 
Trax - GB - Japan.jpg|The original Japanese box has the game's ball-shaped tank bounding through a battlefield. The art accurately captures the game, and the cartoon logo and lettering are great.
 
Trax - GB - Japan.jpg|The original Japanese box has the game's ball-shaped tank bounding through a battlefield. The art accurately captures the game, and the cartoon logo and lettering are great.
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</gallery>
 
</gallery>
  
==Documentation==
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===Documentation===
 
<gallery>
 
<gallery>
 
Trax - GB - Manual.pdf|Game manual.
 
Trax - GB - Manual.pdf|Game manual.

Revision as of 14:12, 10 May 2018

North American box art.

Trax, known in Japan as 突撃!ポンコツタンク, Totsugeki! Poncotsu Tank, "Charge! Junk Tank", is a scrolling tank shooter developed and published by HAL Laboratory in Japan in 1991, and published by Electro Brain in the USA and UK later that year. It has a single-player story mode and a multiplayer competitive mode.

I never played this game when it was popular. Instead, I saw it on a list of the best Game Boy games and played it in an emulator. I found the game to be quite enjoyable, and it had real potential, but it ends far too soon.

Status

I do not own the game, but I beat it on 2017-11-26.

Review

  • Overall: 3/10
  • Best Version: Game Boy

Good

  • Scrolling shooters are usually so frustratingly difficult, I don't bother with them, but this one was enjoyable the whole way through.
  • The game has pretty decent graphics and sound for a Game Boy game.
  • The animation, especially for the bosses, is cute and fun.
  • Movement is nicely responsive.
  • The weapon power-ups vary in style, and none of them are bad.

Bad

  • Games that require turret rotation, but lack a rotating joystick, are always difficult to maneuver, but this one is made even worse because you can only turn your turret clockwise. I know this is a limitation of the Game Boy's two-button controls, and they try to justify it in the manual, but it makes the game less-playable. This would probably be better made on the GBA.
  • The game is far too easy. I beat it the very first time I played it.
  • It would have been nice to allow the weapons to be upgraded to multiple levels.

Ugly

  • The game is far too short. There are only 4 levels, so you can beat it an about 15 minutes. Had I paid money for this I would have felt ripped off.

Media

Box Art

Documentation

Links