Tiny Troopers: Global Ops Review (Nintendo Switch)

We’ve reached the point of the Nintendo Switch lifecycle where just about anything can make it onto the platform. This can be a great thing, as it allows a wide variety of games to find a new audience to enjoy them. Due to the Switch’s level of success, it also allows a plethora of mobile games to make it onto the platform. This is by no means a bad thing, as there are plenty of great mobile games out there that could be fun on Nintendo Switch, but it also allows the very average mobile experiences to make it over. Tiny Troopers Global Ops is one such example of an average experience. While there’s some fun to be had, Tiny Troopers Global Ops on Nintendo Switch feels very much like a mobile game that was simply ported to Switch.

One thing I can really appreciate with Tiny Troopers Global Ops is its simplistic gameplay. Yes, this comes from its mobile route, as the series is known on mobile platforms. However, it’s a refreshing change on Nintendo Switch. It’s very easy to move characters around on the screen and simply aim and shoot, as Tiny Troopers Global Ops is a twin stick shooter. At no point do you ever feel overwhelmed by the controls, nor do you feel the actions are too hard to wrap your head around. It always remains at a level I can best describe as simply comfortable.

This simplicity also makes it a lot of fun to play Tiny Troopers Global Ops with friends. For the Nintendo Switch release, you have the ability to play with friends locally or online. That really adds to the experience, as it’s always more fun to yell at your friends controlling the soldiers than playing by yourself. Overall, the multiplayer experience works without any major hiccups. That said, I would recommend playing multiplayer in person, a.k.a. local play, over online simply because it’s much more fun to be in the same room when the chaos starts to unfold on screen.

Tiny Troopers Global Ops also has quite a sense of humor, which ends up being kind of a mixed bag. There are genuinely funny lines throughout the game. One such line I found amusing was when one of the characters says to fire at will, only for another soldier to ask which one of the enemies is named Will. There are a lot more one-liners like this, which leads to a good chuckle or two throughout your experience. The problem is that after a half hour of playing the game, you’ve heard every joke Tiny Troopers Global Ops has to offer, and then you begin hearing the same jokes over and over. It’s so bad that by the time you reach the end of the game, you no longer find the jokes humorous, but annoying. Still, they were good for a good chuckle in the opening half hour.

Tiny Troopers Global Ops is also a really short and compressed game. Each mission you are assigned lasts no more than four or five minutes. Again, this can be tied back to its mobile routes, where four or five minutes is the perfect amount of time to play on your cell phone or tablet. The problem with Nintendo Switch is that while the pick-up-and-play style works on the platform, you’re usually looking for a bit longer of an experience. In fact, the overall game is extremely short. I managed to beat the whole game in 4 hours. For some, that might seem like a fine amount of time, but it doesn’t feel like 4 hours. I was more surprised that it said 4 hours when I beat the game because, in all honesty, it felt like I had only actually been playing the game for an hour or two.

So, what about the replayability of Tiny Troopers Global Ops? To put it bluntly, there is none. Once you’ve completed the game, there’s no real reason to go back and replay it. Nothing about the game changes when you go back in and play, except to just simply replay a mission. There are no bonuses for completing it in a faster time, no special unlocks for completing it a certain way. There’s just no reason to replay the game once it’s done.

In the end, Tiny Troopers Global Ops is a fine and simplistic twin stick shooter. It’s a far more enjoyable experience with friends than playing on your own. That said, it doesn’t do anything really special to make the experience standout. Its short overall length, even shorter missions and lack of replayability makes Tiny Troopers Global Ops a mixed bag to recommend.