''Heavy Weapon'' (or ''Heavy Weapon: Atomic Tank'') is a side-scrolling shoot 'em up video game developed and published by

PopCap Games PopCap Games, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Seattle, and a subsidiary of Electronic Arts. The company was founded in 2000 by John Vechey, Brian Fiete and Jason Kapalka. Originally founded under the name "Sexy Action Cool", ...

and released in 2005.

Gameplay

In ''Heavy Weapon'', the player guides a powerful atomic tank through several stages of opposing enemy forces. The tank moves only left and right, while its main weapon, a

turret gun A turret gun is a type of multi-shot hand-held firearm. It is a variation on the percussion revolver, designed with chambers in a drum mounted so it would rotate horizontally (around a vertically mounted pivot), rather than around a horizontal ax ...

, can be aimed in a 180 degree span and nukes which can destroy enemies off the screen. The game's storyline deals with a Red Star (a parody of the Soviet Union with touches of the Russian Empire) invasion, and the player takes the role of the commander of an Atomic Tank to repel the invasion back into the main headquarters of Red Star. The game features a total of 19 levels/missions along with two game modes (''mission'' and ''survival''). In mission mode, one must blast through countless enemies and defeat a boss at the end. Mission mode allows for three lives in each mission. Upon defeating the boss, the player visits the armory, where one can get various upgrades and

power-up In video games, a power-up is an object that adds temporary benefits or extra abilities to the player character as a game mechanic. This is in contrast to an item, which may or may not have a permanent benefit that can be used at any time chosen ...

s for use in subsequent missions. After going through the first nine bosses, the player must destroy the same nine bosses in the remaining nine levels, until the final level. The new bosses are slightly different in weapons and armor. In the PC version of the game, Survival mode only has one life, and one survives through never-ending waves of enemies until the tank is destroyed. In the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of the game, the player may either choose to survive by themselves, or join a War Party survival game where up to four players can join. The game gives various, sometimes insulting messages when one presses the quit button, as an encouragement to keep playing the game.

Multiplayer

The game allows for 1-4 player online and local co-op gameplay for Survival Mode.Metacritic- Details & Credits
/ref> The demo version, as well as the Campaign and Boss Blitz, only allows for 1-2 player local co-op.

Availability

The limited free version of ''Heavy Weapon: Atomic Tank'' can be downloaded online at various websites, including PopCap's own site. The full version, ''Heavy Weapon Deluxe'', can be purchased for a fee. An Xbox 360 Xbox Live Arcade version was made available for download via

Xbox Games Store Xbox Games Store (formerly Xbox Live Marketplace) is a digital distribution platform used by Microsoft's Xbox Series X, S, Xbox One and Xbox 360 video game consoles. The service allows users to download or purchase video games (including both ...

on January 17, 2007. It features a full (four-player) co-op mode compatible with

Xbox Live The Xbox network, formerly and still sometimes branded as Xbox Live, is an Internet, online multiplayer video game, multiplayer gaming and digital media delivery service created and operated by Microsoft. It was first made available to the Xbox ...

and a Boss Blitz mode. The game has since been released for the PlayStation 3 on the

PlayStation Network PlayStation Network (PSN) is a digital media entertainment service provided by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Launched in November 2006, PSN was originally conceived for the PlayStation video game consoles, but soon extended to encompass smartp ...

and

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...

(via the ''PopCap Hits! Vol 2'' compilation). The PS2 and PS3 versions features an arranged soundtrack.

References

External links

''Heavy Weapon'' at PopCap Games''Heavy Weapon: Atomic Tank (360)'' Reviews
at Metacritic {{PopCap 2005 video games Alternate history video games Flash games PopCap games Windows games Xbox 360 Live Arcade games PlayStation 3 games PlayStation Network games Horizontally scrolling shooters Cooperative video games Zeebo games Stealth video games Tank simulation video games Video games developed in the United States