Bright colors, stuffed animals and lots of unnaturally huge eyes greeted me as I arrived at Natsume’s setup at the Los Angeles Convention Center for E3. It was there that I saw Squishy Tank, an ultra cute puzzle adventure game for the Nintendo DS due to hit stores this September. It is based on Yawaraka Sensha (Soft Tank), a game released in Japan in July 2008.
The gameplay appears relatively simple: Remove tiles from a grid by matching multiples of the same tile before you run out of time. As you progress, an increasing number of tile colors, unique items and attacks help to keep things interesting. On the puzzle battle screen, animations showing your progress and battle moves are displayed just above the puzzle grid. Some of the tiles allow you to attack your opponents with special moves (like Whirlwind) and the corresponding animation plays above the puzzle grid.
There are several different gameplay modes, including classic play, in which you progress through levels of increasing difficulty; survival mode, which requires you to battle for the sake of quests; challenge mode and costume mode. The cutest of these seems to be costume mode, which allows you to dress your tank in a variety of different outfits, including hats and other accessories, but unfortunately, costume mode wasn’t fully available in the demo.
More important than the gameplay is the appeal of squishy tank, the character. He/she/it/they is/are utterly adorable, and overall, cuteness seems to be the biggest hook of the game. The character interactions are quirky and amusing, and the storyline promises to be both charming and hilarious.
My favorite part of the Squishy Tank experience was definitely the little taste I got of costume mode. You can poke the character and observe his/her/its reactions. Be careful though, if you poke him/her/it too much him/her/it begins to cry. Unless you like that sort of thing, you sadistic weirdo, you.
Unfortunately, the demo didn’t allow me to see nearly as much as I had hoped. If it lives up to its promises, Squishy Tank will be a cute, easy way to pass some time that may have some lasting appeal.
Cat's passion for writing began at the tender age of 10 when she convinced her 5th grade teacher to let her use “sustained silent reading time” for scribbling frantically in a notebook. It took her awhile to work up the testicular fortitude to share her work with anyone, but now she freelances as both a writer and graphic designer. She cites her diverse background as her biggest influence: her artist mom is half-Chinese, half-Greek, and from Hawai'i; her film-loving, world-music DJ dad is from Montana; and she lived in both San Francisco, California and Great Falls, Montana while growing up. She loves at least a little bit about virtually everything and aims to be a Jane of all trades.
