War in a Box: Paper Tanks Reviews

The premise is excellent. The graphics are clever. The game is fun. Some of the levels are quite challenging. There's no reason to not play this game (unless your name is Kaiser Wilhelm, in which case the game will make you sad).

Welcome to the Paper and Cardboard War Solider! If you can't tell from the screenshots, it is a Tower Defense game made from cardboard. I bought this game when it was -80% (CDN$ 1.09) just as an impulse buy to kill an afternoon. I can say it is an ok game. PROS: - Turret First Person View. Clicking on a turret and selecting the button lets you see from the turrets view. Really cool, but you can't do anything other than watch. (Would have been cool if you could control the turret.) - Interesting level design, with great graphical design. The cannons look ok, and the enemies look great! - Obstacles like tree and dead enemies can block your attacks, or even the terrain. - Short, only 24 missions with Normal and Hard difficulty. - Simple Achievements Now here is where I nick-pick. CONS: - Towers can ONLY be placed in designated areas. Because of this, if you don't place the CORRECT tower that is needed to beat the level, you will lose. There is basically only 1 way to win each level. Some are super easy to figure out, others not so much. Very "Trial and Error". - Only 5 towers. Certain levels will take away towers as a challenge, making certain levels even harder. - Game feels very slow. I've kept the game running at x2 most of the time, and x3 when there is nothing else for me to do other than wait for the map to finish. - There isn't really an Options menu besides the Unity options menu that pops up when you boot the game up. - Only 2 music tracks. One for the Menu, the other in game. It gets very repetitive and annoying fast. No options to turn off music, so I had to mute the entire application just so I can have my own music. - No Steam Cards (for the people that care about it, like me xD) In the end it's an ok game, and only spending $1 as a time killer was great. If you like TD games, it's a great game to add to your collection. I'm not very good at TD games, and did not feel like spending the time to figure out the exact way I was supposed to win each level. Still fun though! ^_^

This is a great little tower defense game with a World War I motif. There is a good selection of uprgradable towers, but not so many that the amount of choice is overwhelming. You've got all the tools you need: machine guns, mortars, cannons, flak guns, etc. The maps are interesting (and challenging as you get further into the game). Limited tower placement sites, as well as limited line-of-sight, adds to the challenge on many of the maps. The game speed can be controlled as well -- speed up when you're mowing down your enemies, slow down when you need to re-think your strategies. I had tons of fun playing this. It's entertaining, and it's only $5. Win-win! Highly recommened.

Bad Td. Enemies have too much health, and tower placement is predetermined by spots. So to "perfect" a level, there is almost 0 tactic and variety, only finding the 1 working rotation. Only 5 towers also. if you can get this game for 50 cent, then you should buy it, newbies might have fun with this td, but for vets.....

It's a basic little tower defense game with a cute aesthetic. There are a handful of total turrets which can be upgraded twice and ~32 missions. There is an option to fast-forward up to 3x, but it seems to increase the chance of issues with the turret projectiles. The issue I have with it is that the projectiles from the turrets are inconsistent and can be deflected by the map and dead hulls of the enemies. The turrets will also frequently target enemies that they can't even hit, and there's no option to influence their behavior. Basically, the issues will force you to constantly restart the map until everything functions properly in order to get the stars you deserve, which is incredibly frustrating. You could do worse if you get it cheap, but if you're a completionist, there are a few achievements that will cause you considerable headache.

It's aight. Presents a good challenge. Gotta figure out what/where to place your initial towers else the level is lost from the start haha. Most levels you need to plan/think ahead what towers to add/upgrade in what order. Many levels I had to sell ground attack towers to take out some aircraft and vise versa. And sometimes re-sell and replace with the previous towers. Keeps you on your toes but oh so satisfying when you get that 100% (on Expert) Yehh, Baby, Yehh !!! Get it fora buck-or-two and enjoy... with your favorite beverage ;)

This tower defense game is kind of really actually poorly made. The best thing that can be said about it are the graphics. I don't know why every month or so I go back and try to beat it on expert to get all the stars. Everytime I do, I play level 12 and remember that there are 4 towers, the enemies vs towers balancing is bad, the number of places you can put towers quickly maxes out, there are 3 upgrades maximum for each tower, and there is no reason for me to ever play this game again. By writing this I am absolving myself of ever trying again because apparently the developers did not bother playtesting the game themselves. Apparently no one wanted to be a beta tester for this junk. Don't be fooled by the positive reviews into buying this. I have wasted hundreds of hours on TD games and War in a Box belongs in my bottom 5 list. Not only is it mediocre, it quickly becomes unfun due to its limited and poor design as though it were someone's senior project for a video game design class and/or a quick cash grab. In fact, I can only think of one TD game I have disliked more than this, but then again I'm more of a dumpster diver than living full time in the trash.

Very limited game play for a game that looks so amazing. For a simplistic idea of a cardboard box kids play area they sure put a lot into making this game look really really stunning. If this had more more to it, less retrictive placement of guns, control of route of tanks, Build AA along side cannons. There would be a little replay value. But there is not. Once you figure out the map win placemt there's no point in playing it again. Worth getting for the $2 sale but not full price unless they add some content.

What can I say about this game? It's absurdly addictive :) Really wasn't expecting much of anything from this title at all. I bought it on sale figuring it'd make a nice mindless game for my 6 year old son. As it turned out, it made a nice mindless game for Dad - LOL. No kidding, I love it! Waves and waves of progressively harder enemy armored cars, tanks, and planes attempt to navigate the maze of defensive measures you place to stop them. You start off each battle with a set amount of cash to buy pre-positioned guns. As you kill the enemy tanks and planes, you get more cash to buy new guns or upgrade existing ones. There is nothing to the manning of the emplacements (they fire by themselves)... the skill comes with what type of gun to buy, when to get it, where to put it, and in what sequence. A sole gun in the right (or wrong) place at the right (or wrong) time can make the difference between plastering the enemy before he gets his steam up, or getting overrun by the hun. The music is a blend of cheesy bravado-style muscle pumping arcade noise - that somehow meshes perfectly with the action (I wouldn't change it). The interface is remarkably easy (took me all of 10 seconds to figure it out - with no manual), and the entertainment value is undeniable. For those who would complain about the graphics, I say they are perfect for what it is. For those who would call the game too repetitive, I would guess they were not around decades ago to enjoy the genre of arcade games like Pacman, Asteroids, or Space Invaders. 1 out of 10 if you're looking for Company of Heroes or Men at War; 10 out of 10 if you're looking for a few hours to kill ("just one more turn" anyone? - LOL)

War in a Box is a basic tower defense game. The graphical style is pretty inspired -- everything looks like it's made out of cardboard and paper and the levels look like a child's playset. You can move the camera just about anywhere and there's also an option to see the game from a tower's perspective (watching it fire at enemy units). The art is definitely top notch. On the flip side, the gameplay mechanics are not very sophisticated. The tower defense genre has dozens of titles that have innovative twists and interesting mechanics. This game is a bit lacking in that department. Towers are placed in a few fixed positions and have 3 levels of upgrades. Towers and upgrades are instant and there aren't any extra buttons to press. There are no end of level stats or bonuses for leftover money, and while upgraded towers do more damage I couldn't see numbers anywhere. One mechanic of the game that is somewhat interesting is that each unit, tower, and bullet fired is modelled in the physics engine. This means that trees and destroyed units can block the trajectory of your tower's bullets, and sometimes units go flying off the screen when they are destroyed. It also adds some randomness, since some tower shots may be blocked and this throws off the timing for a wave. All in all, though, the game is too simplistic for my taste. The art style is cool. But tower defense as a genre is a bit played out and this game adds nothing innovative to keep me interested.