Gel-Tank

For a side-scrolling Doujin action game, "Gel-Tank" (aka Nantai Todoroki wa Gel-Tank) is a well-balanced specimen. Produced by what generally appears to be a solo developer at Technodot, the game wears its inspirations on its sleeves but does just enough of its own things to warrant respect and admiration. The game is highly nostalgic from its sound to its presentation and feels like a lost gem from the 16-bit or early 32-bit era, which is what they were going for, so congrats. First and foremost, if you've glossed over other reviews, you will see the game is compared quite a bit to "Metal Slug", and that comparison can't be understated; a lot of the animations, effects and vehicle designs were greatly influenced by MS but the game is more restrained in terms of the level designs and Arcade influences (no timer, more generous amount of power-ups, much lower degree of difficulty, etc.). Gel-Tank has a more relaxed and adventurous tone with a smidgen of exploration and almost feels like a hodgepodge of various console games of the 8-bit and 16-bit era... a little "Blaster Master" with the ability to disembark your tank and go off the beaten path for the occasional goody, a little "R…

https://youtu.be/gkzpEHXMLFE TL:DR: Gel tank is an insanely fun run and gun where you play as an adorable little tank. Fast action, great weapons, and a ton of vehicles to uncover keep things fresh, combine this with awesome levels and incredible bosses and this is a must play for fans of run n guns like metal slug!

Gel Tank is a Metal Slug like that takes the good parts of the genre and boils it down to its essentials while also giving the player a cool slime body to control. There's platforming, secrets to find, multitude of gun upgrades, it has it all for a low price. If this released on the GBA or the Neo Geo, I would have bought it in a heartbeat. One thing I'd also like to praise is that the difficulty here is considerably more newcomer-friendly to platformer shooter type game. If you bashed your head against Metal Slug and found it far too unforgiving, this one is much easier. Cons: -The Controls are a bit finnicky to setup. They didn't recognize my controller's analog input at first, but I eventually got it figured out. -There is very little enemy variety past world 3. You've seen everything the game has to offer by then aside from some neat visuals/bosses/music. Honestly this game could have benefitted from being a world or 2 shorter than it is, as it started to drag on and feel very same-y by World 5. 7.5/10, great game!

Nice, cute 2D platformy game where you play as a slime who controls a tank and blasts stuff. Stages all have collectible creatures that sometimes require some exploring to find. I also discovered a neat secret area in one stage -- I'm not sure if it was unique or if they're more abundant, but there's at least one. You meet a fun cast of characters throughout the game. The initial group of baddies speaks to each other and gets increasingly nervous as you progress toward them and beat more of them up, which is a fun touch. There's a somewhat complicated story that isn't really that deep, but it's enjoyable. Fun gameplay, but the game goes on a little long in my opinion --others may disagree, but as an old man I prefer my games short. Neat weapons. Cool vehicles. Useful purchasable/equippable upgrades, but you can't buy enough slots to equip as many as you'd like (unless I missed something). Very much recommended.

I had a lot of fun with this game. Gel-Tank is the kind of game that is a bit hard to find, a run and gun that isn't trying to be the toughest game around, and instead plays to its own strengths with an adorable style, silly writing, and fun combat. A lot of its features make it easy to get into: upgrades, stage based selection (instead of an arcade run), a lot of character writing and story, etc. The game gets compared to Metal Slug and it's not too far off. There's a few challenges that feel that way, especially when you're in the tank, but trying to find all the collectibles (silly creatures called Nekodolphins), trying out the upgrades, and the interesting way you have to get out of your own default tank form to get around makes it feel pretty original. There are some drawbacks, the game is pretty darn long even if I didn't collectible chase so a straight run might not be the most fun for arcade-heads. There's also a lot of writing that you can miss in the chaos but it's not too instrusive into the actual gameplay. I think some parts are a lot harder than others, the penultimate fight is the hardest the game will get and I wouldn't ever attempt it on the hardest difficult…

A really fun game that heavily borrows from Metal Slug. There is quite a beefy campaign with a lot of story and unlockables. At times it can be a bit too easy, but ultimately it was a very enjoyable experience.