Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

Tiny Troops delivers a tight real-time strategy experience that feels both familiar and refreshingly compact. Drawing inspiration from classics like Cannon Fodder, the game places you in command of teleported soldiers from planet Agaris IV as they wage skirmishes on oversized Earth environments. Each level challenges you to select a balanced squad—ranging from nimble foot soldiers to heavy-hitting grenadiers—before setting out on missions that typically revolve around eliminating enemy forces and obliterating their base.

Control is intuitive, whether you opt for mouse or joystick input. The bottom portion of the screen houses a command window with clearly labeled icons: a fist for direct attacks, an arrow to chart movement paths, a wrench to repair machinery, a shield to hold position, and a target to encircle foes. Selecting your troops and issuing orders feels responsive, even when the action heats up with dozens of units on screen. The mini-map and status panels keep you informed, and the option to save or restart mid-battle helps mitigate the sting of unexpected setbacks.

With 65 levels spread across unique terrains—from overgrown gardens and cluttered kitchens to dusty garages and flooded basements—Tiny Troops maintains a brisk pacing that never overstays its welcome. Each environment introduces new obstacles and tactical considerations: narrow corridors, hidden chokepoints, or equipment you can commandeer. This variety keeps the gameplay loop engaging as you adapt your strategies to the changing landscapes and enemy compositions.

Graphics

Tiny Troops uses a bright, cartoonish art style that leans into the humor of its premise: tiny combatants fighting epic battles underfoot. The environments are rendered with surprising detail, making pots, pans, and bookshelves feel like towering fortresses. Colors are bold and varied, ensuring each level has its own distinct visual identity, be it the lush greens of a backyard garden or the stark whites and grays of a tiled kitchen floor.

Animations are smooth and expressive, with each unit type sporting unique movement cycles and attack effects. Explosions, bullet tracers, and repair animations add flair to skirmishes without overwhelming the eye. Special attention has been paid to scaling, so when your grenadier lobs a grenade into a teacup or behind a bookend, you truly get a sense of being miniature invaders in a giant world.

The split-screen mode in two-player matches retains clarity even when the screen is divided, thanks to well-defined sprite work and clean UI elements. Menus and icons stand out against the battlefield backdrop, making it easy to issue orders on the fly. While not pushing the boundaries of modern graphics, Tiny Troops nails its aesthetic goal: a playful, immersive microscale war setting.

Story

At its core, Tiny Troops tells a straightforward tale of interstellar conflict: the Klutes and the Furfurians of Agaris IV have drained their homeworld through endless warfare and must now settle their score on a new battlefield. Teleported to Earth, they find everything magnified a hundredfold, turning backyard shrubs into jungles and table legs into skyscrapers. This setup provides just enough narrative framing to justify the mission variety without bogging down the action.

The story unfolds primarily through mission briefings delivered by the general, who appears as a holographic advisor when you click his emblem. These short expositions offer context—rescue stranded operatives, sabotage enemy supply lines, or defend key outposts—and occasionally inject a dash of humor about the absurdity of waging war beneath oblivious human inhabitants.

While there’s no deep character development or branching dialogue, the minimalist approach suits the game’s focus on bite-sized battles and strategic fun. The escalating stakes—progressing from garden skirmishes to perilous forays through kitchen sinks and garage toolboxes—keep the narrative momentum steady. For players craving a concise storyline that complements the gameplay rather than overshadowing it, Tiny Troops hits the right balance.

Overall Experience

Tiny Troops succeeds as a compact, high-energy RTS that captures the spirit of 90s classics while carving out its own identity. The blend of straightforward controls, varied mission design, and playful scale mechanics makes each level feel fresh. Whether you’re commanding a lone squad or coordinating assaults in split-screen co-op, the game manages to stay approachable without sacrificing strategic depth.

Its charm lies in the novelty of towering household objects and the whimsical juxtaposition of tiny soldiers battling in plain sight of humans. The variety of terrains and unit types ensures that no two missions feel identical, and the ability to tailor your squad before each level adds an extra layer of customization. Occasional performance hiccups on densely populated maps are rare, but they don’t significantly detract from the overall flow.

For fans of real-time strategy seeking a lighter, more humorous take on battlefield tactics, Tiny Troops is an excellent pick. It’s ideal for short bursts of play or cooperative sessions with friends. While it may not revolutionize the genre, it delivers a solid, entertaining package that makes you appreciate how big the world looks when you’re very, very small.

Retro Replay Score

7.1/10