Treadnauts

If you’re looking for a tight, explosive, and hilarious experience, than look no further than Treadnauts. Its not too often that a game surrounding the concept of blowing your friends (or computers) up doesn’t literally sound like a blast, but Treadnauts makes it extremely apparent that there’s a right way to execute a simple concept. Regardless of its simplicity, this game has nearly endless replayability and will sate your appetite for a good bit of carnage.

There are a few elements that make this game unique, but if you’ve ever played the Tunneling Tanks minigame in Pummel Party (a bit obscure, I know, but that is a super simplified form of Treadnauts), ShellShock Live, or Wii Play Tanks, then you’re sure to enjoy duking it out in this tank arena.

Blast to the Top

To succeed in Treadnauts, you don’t need to look much further than down the barrel of your tank. Treadnauts isn’t trying to push any sort of nuanced story. Its not trying to rope you in with an emotionally relatable set of characters. But when you’re about to annihilate one of your friends at point blank before they even have a chance to react, I’d say you’ll be pretty close to shedding a tear out of laughter. The joy of Treadnauts is that it is a finely tuned arcade-style arena, where your skill and invested time will get you much farther than gimmicky power ups ever would.

Now, there are a few different characters to choose from, the primary four being Wagner, Momo, Nalani, and Rohan, and though they’re all essentially equal (none are OP for a special power or skill), they each bring their own flair due to their design. The whole game has art direction that is practical and pleasing, it wasn’t just a resource grab from Unity. It is truly the best feeling to destroy your friends in this game with such beautiful scenery.

Tread on Your Enemies

Treadnauts is a simple enough game to grasp within 10 minutes of playing, is difficult to officially master, but can always be counted on to spice up game night with endless fun. What makes this game a bit different is the sheer amount of modifiers, progression perks, and maps that cause each round to be different. From slow motion and zero gravity to unlimited jumps, there’s no limit to the wild ways to play.

The one major downside, as of 2021, is that the online community is mostly inactive. There’s always single player challenges to earn medals in and AI to battle, but the hectic firefights with other live players is something that can’t be matched. In spite of this lull and some occasional lag online, Treadnauts does nearly everything right in creating a crazy, fast-paced experience that could be played forever.

Bottom Line

Treadnauts is an incredibly polished experience that you should get to playing if you haven’t already, especially if you love tanks, explosions, or even just plain fun.

Pros

• Great graphics/art
• Countless modifier combinations
• Smooth/tight controls

Cons

• Online mostly dead
• Single player could have used more content