Arms Trade Tycoon: Tanks Review | Riding High in Armor (PC)

Arms Trade Tycoon: Tanks is a great example of a simple concept given fresh life and flavor. Mixing the objective of running a tank company with the potency of a world war you’re thrown into an arms race for victory. Fighting not only against other nations but against other allied companies and their designs, you’ll have to produce the best and finest armored vehicles around. Otherwise, you’ll be forced to scramble against your competitors as they continue to advance beyond you! In the heat of the first world war, will you lead Great Britain to victory, or will the alliance fall to Germany?

With a campaign that takes place during the direct events leading up to, and surrounding the great war, Arms Trade Tycoon: Tanks mixes history with fun. Learning about developments in weaponry, armor, and machinery to watch armored vehicles dominate the battlefield. Overall, as a competent manufacturing simulator and tank game, this is sure to please any fans of tanks and armored vehicles. Unfortunately, there is only one major faction at the moment in the form of the British, though more could come later on. Despite this, with a powerful narrative and freedom to develop your tanks, you’ll have the power to truly influence the war!

Arms Trade Tycoon: Tanks is available on Steam now for $29.99

Tank production line, where the magic happens!

Story – A Narrative of Industrialization

One of the essential aspects of World War I that made it so deadly was the invention of new vehicles and weaponry. These new forms of warfare opened up a bloody chapter of history that so often gets glorified through video games and film. What goes a lot less noticed is the development races, and production brought forth by companies during these wars. Many came from these places and built themselves a fortune on the inventions to preserve and take lives during wartime. As such, Arms Trade Tycoon: Tanks takes place in this story of arms races, and corporate struggles. Because of this, you’ll be forced to manage resources during the war, while making the most of skilled labor, and limited production. 

Going from a small shop that has barely any understanding of armored vehicles, you’re tasked with developing a blooming industrial plant. As time goes on, and contracts from the crown pile up, you’ll eventually make yourself into a booming industrial powerhouse. However, this entire time try to remember that while it’s a game of resources and development, it’s also one darkened by the industry of war. It shows that when you become part of these industries, you have to make tough decisions to ensure all faculties are met, and orders are fulfilled. 

Gameplay – The Cold Train of Progression

Given the fact you are managing a production facility for armored vehicles, you’ll have to do a lot of financial math and budgeting. The main aspect of the game is creating a smooth pipeline of resources, research, development, and production to deliver things on time. To this end, the game offers a robust research tree that allows you to develop obscure and customized parts out of new and old designs. In this way, you can truly customize your tank with special modifications to save on money and material. Along with this, you’ll have to manage your workers as well as your building upgrades to ensure productivity.

Administration for workers and supervisors!

Most of the time you’ll be in a position where minimally upgrading an accepted tank design will ensure constant approval in the future. However, in certain conditions noted by the newspaper articles, you might want to focus on one tank design over another. To that end having multiple tank designs is the main idea, so your company can have a portfolio under its belt. And if you want to test out these tanks, the proving grounds and testing zone allow you to play the tanks you develop! When put together this creates a fun little simulator that mixes math with engineering entertainment.

Graphics and Design – Natural and Historical

Graphics for Arms Trade Tycoon: Tanks is appealing to the realistic/ historical nature of the game more than anything else. Otherwise, it has simple designs that compare with games like World of Tanks or Warthunder. The details in the factory and worker photos look to be very period, and are well-designed from a setting perspective. And the artwork incorporated into the newspaper clippings, menus, and events has a clear and defined place in the story. They’re subtle, but their ambiance helps put you into the immersive feel of the story and helps drive you forward. Effects like fire and rain feel harsh, and keep the player occupied with worries of disruption.

Lighting in the game is simple however doesn’t have the same flow of motion as a traditional simulator game. It feels a lot more like an old-school RTS game in the way you’re building up and sending out troops, just without the strategy of moving them. Ultimately though, this game escalates where others fail in giving simplicity at its finest. There’s nothing wrong with having a realistic approach to your game or going with ease on the graphics card. Arms Trade Tycoon: Tanks chooses a steady mixture of the two that makes it wonderful to not only play but to look at!

Research for your development!

Sound and Music – Inspiring and Calm

One thing that stands out about Arms Trade Tycoon: Tanks is how calm and atmospheric the game can be. There will always be a sense of inspiration hiding behind the music and set pieces, however, it’s overall chilled out. With a lot of effort put into letting the player make informed decisions, you won’t see a lot of anxious symbols or flashing lights. Instead, you get nice soft music and ambient tones that feel well-placed in the wartime era. It truly feels like the war is a continent away, and save for a few rare events things remain generally peaceful. For this reason, it’s a great game to pick up if you’re looking to relax, and build a few tanks along the way to victory!

However, where this game does pick up on sound quality and add some explosive results is during the testing grounds. Here you can shoot your guns, fire cannons, and be as loud as you’d hope a tank can be. Because this is tucked away behind a building choice, this means you can be loud when you want, and quiet when you need to be. Overall, Arms Trade Tycoon: Tanks offers the player a great sense of immersion, without the anxiety that often comes with it. For that reason, it makes a great way to pass the time, and try to learn a little bit more about tank design over the great war!

Arms trade Tycoon: Tanks was reviewed on PC with a code provided by Takethepotion!