It would be very difficult to describe Tank Universal without making reference to Tron.  The film obviously had a very heavy influence on the game.  The game's look, story, and its titular tanks will constantly invoke thoughts of Tron - it seems that all that is missing are the glowing frisbees.  There are enough differences in the story to stave off the lawyers, though.  Rather than being a programmer sucked into a computer, you're a terminally ill patient given a VR helmet to take your mind off of your troubles.  And I seem to remember the Eye of Sauron as being from a different film than Tron.

Anyway, the story's definitely not Tank Universal's strong suit.  The story sequences (they're not really cutscenes per se) and dialogs (monologs really, your character doesn't really have anything to say) are slow-playing, overly long, ad worst of all can't be skipped.  There's nothing interesting or compelling about the boilerplate plot so I'm not sure why the developers insist that you sit through it all.  Entirely too much time is eaten up by the story, silly sequences such as the time you're forced to watch a ship slowly mover overhead from one side of the screen to the other, and walking on foot from one story trigger to the next with nothing to do in between.  A game with the word 'tank' in its title should let you spend a lot more time in your tank, especially considering that the tank battles are the only part of the game that is really any fun.

The tank battles play out like an arcade shooter that may make you think of Battlezone at times thanks to the wireframe vector-style graphics.  You use the WASD keys to move your tank and the mouse to control your turret, allowing you to move in one direction while firing in another.  You have to be smart when firing because there's a slight delay between shots and you'll need to decide whether to fire off a quick shot or let the weapon charge up for a more powerful effect.  You'll also need to take ballistics into account, as gravity and momentum have an effect on your projectiles.  You'll You'll need to lob your shots at distant targets and lead moving ones.  The battlefields are crowed places, filled with enemy and allied tanks, aircraft and gun turrets.  Tank Universal's not a turkey shoot, but there will be times when you find yourself dying a lot as you try to wear down a particularly well-defended enemy emplacement though attrition.  Luckily you have infinite respawns with the only consequence  being a lower score for the level.  I wish the respawns were faster, though.  Being airlifted back to the battle is a time-consuming and unnecessary exercise.  The battles can be fun, but they tend to drag out for too long, and the lack of a mid-level save feature means that you must commit yourself to fighting the next battle through to the end before beginning a new level.

Tank Universal's core tank battle gameplay can be both challenging and fun, but the time you are forced to spend away from your tank tends to drag.  It won't appeal to everyone, but if you're itching for some old school tank action there's some fun to e had here.

In The End, This Game Hath Been Rated: 64%. It won't have universal appeal, but Battlezone fans who wish there was a bit more to that arcade classic should give Tank Universal a try.