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1Steel Reign is a classic third-person tank shooter from 1998 made for the Platform/PlayStation. In [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture 2030]], the world, after years of peace and prosperity, is going back to becoming a CrapsackWorld. War and worldwide depression has since driven country after country down the road to despotism and military rule. [[RedOniBlueOni Gerald Storm and Lewis Reign]] were accepted into the prestigious Military Institute of Technology, where they excelled their chosen fields of Armored Assault Vehicle Design and Implementation. Immediately after graduation, both were sent to take part in the Crimean Conflict and rose to the rank of General in record time. General Storm went to become the executive aid of the Chief of Staff and used his influence to assign General Reign to a secret research facility somewhere in the nuclear-ravaged wastelands of the Southwestern United States, where he would command the development of a new generation of [[TankGoodness armored combat vehicles]].
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3Storm then gathered his forces and started a revolution by declaring martial law. He intends to utilize the SuperPrototype tanks Reign is developing to aid his revolution. [[DesignatedHero Reign, of course]], isn't letting that happen. He downloaded all the valuable information regarding the SuperPrototype tanks and put a bullet in the motherboard. Just to make sure that nothing is left, he activated the self-destruct sequence of the base and evacuated by getting on board the closest tank he can find. Knowing [[BigBad Storm]] demands the capture of Reign and the SuperPrototype tanks, our hero takes the fight to him with the intend of stopping the revolution.
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5The game is rather simple. It has two single player modes: Arcade and Quest. In Arcade, you can switch tanks in between the missions and unlock more tanks which are hidden in every level as a pick up item. In Quest, you play through the entire game with your chosen tank, with whatever condition your tank is in (health, shield functionality, ammo, etc) brought over towards the next missions. In both modes, you start of with three tanks: [[FragileSpeedster the Sidewinder]], [[JackOfAllStats the Diamondback]] and [[MightyGlacier the Copperhead]]. Two player mode is a head-to-head battle, with all tanks (except the Anaconda) made available and battles fought in a wide variety of arenas.
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8!! Steel Reign provides examples of:
9* AnimalThemeNaming: Every single tank in the game is named after a kind of snake, or something relating to a snake such as the Copperhead snake or their movement with sidewinder. Desert King may refer to how certain species of snakes are excellent hunters in desert areas.
10* AKA47: Some tanks are obviously real life tanks. Two of the most obvious are the Desert King (M1 Abrams) and Rattler (M2/M3 Bradley or M6 Linebacker).
11* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: You play a tank general who takes on entire armies with just a couple of SuperPrototype tanks. And in a the last mission, [[spoiler:General Storm jumps into the fray in his own SuperPrototype]].
12* BigBad: General Storm.
13* {{BFG}}: The Cannon. Apart from Special Weapons, this is the most powerful weapon in your inventory. One well aimed shot is enough to blow up ''multiple targets'' thanks to splash damage. All tanks can carry a certain amount of tank shells. Armored Cars unfortunately, can't use this weapon.
14** The Cobra has, in addition to regular shells, ''guided shells'' as it's Special Weapon. When fired, you actually take control of the shell. Great for precision bombing.
15** Used against you in three occasions; The battleships in the hanger level will rapid fire cannons at you and kill you super quick and the rail cannons in the forest level do the same thing. General Storm's massive arsenal at the end fight is also an example.
16* ButtMonkey: The cameraman. Poor guy even [[spoiler: ''loses an arm'' after taking a direct hit from a stray rocket]].
17* {{Expy}}: The Copperhead looks an ''awful'' lot like the [[VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberianSeries Mammoth Tank]]. The only feature it doesn't have is quad tracks.
18* DoNotTauntCthulhu: The cameraman decides its a good idea to tell the aggressive armed soldiers to leave the reporter alone. He proceeds to get slugged.
19* DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu: The soldiers running around will gladly shoot at your tank. Their guns are hilariously ineffective and will die to literally anything, including just running them over.
20* EasterEgg: In the canyon level blowing up rocks will reveal a fossil in them. Even more interesting is that if you kill a big rock and look behind it, and TheMonolith awaits.
21* FragileSpeedster: Hover Tanks. They are very fast and can easily wreak havoc if you go on running around shooting. However, their Single Shields deplete much more quickly than Quad Shields and the tanks themselves have paper thin armor. Special shotouts to Venmon here which is by far the fastest tank in the game; but its armor seems to be made of tinfoil and crisps and its shields are just as bad. Since every enemy locks onto you, driving it is a good way to die very quickly.
22** Two of the missions are clearly designed with these kinds of ships in mind; where bringing a slow giant like copperhead is a death sentence.
23* HoverTank: Three of the prototypes. They are notably the game's resident FragileSpeedster. Save for Storm's [[LightningBruiser tank]].
24* HarderThanHard: On the Aracde mode you cant change Tanks between levels. Since each level has a tank type its designed for, using anything other than a JackOfAllTrades tank is going to make progression near impossible. Copperhead and Venom for example are a good way to drive someone insane, since several levels require speed and lasers to beat; things the former lacks while others are filled with lock-on attacks that hit hard; which Venom will die pitifully quick to.
25* JackOfAllTrades: Desert king and to a lesser extent Diamondback are both this. They don't particularly excel in any way but they don't have big shortcomings like every other tank. In fact Desert King is basically the "only" way to beat Arcade mode. Good thing you can pick him up in the first level.
26* LethalJokeCharacter: The Phython. For something that's supposed to be a SuperPrototype, its nothing more than a jacked up Chevrolet Blazer with a small turret mounted on it. Should be easy target right? Well, its very fast, has very strong shields to compensate for poor armor and a Special Weapon that will blow damn near everything up in one or two hits.
27* LightningBruiser: The Fang. This APC-turned-anti-tank platform is [[StoneWall as heavily armored as the Copperhead]] and is still capable of reaching immense speeds just like other Armored Cars. Its only weakness is it's lack of shields.
28* NotCompletelyUseless: The mines are a joke weapon in most missions only used for certain objectives and no sane person would even try using them against an enemy unless desperate. Then in the final battle thanks to the various hills and altitude variations as well as the boss's movements; they are actually one of the most effective weapons since they can deal heavy damage on him while you can stay out of his line of fire.
29* MacrossMissileMassacre: The result of firing Phoenix Missiles in quick succession. The Sidewinder and to a lesser extend, the Death Adder, invoke this with their Special Weapons. The former fires four missiles at once while the latter fires two. Complete with some RoboTeching. Even better when you use the Special Weapon and Phoenix Missiles together.
30** Both the Death Adder and the Fang can carry more Phoenix Missiles than any other tank in the game to compensate for their inability to use [[{{BFG}} Cannons]].
31* OhCrap:
32** The cameraman and reporter when they notice various dangers about to hit them like a tank or a rocket. The cameraman doesn't bother getting out of the way of the latter.
33** Every player's reaction when they enter the range of a laser pylon where it will very suddenly; and loudly, lock-on and damage the ship
34** When a boulder starts rolling in your direction. Good thing those tanks are fast to reverse.
35* OneManArmy: Though the game never acknowledge whether Reign is working with a tank crew or operating the tanks himself.
36** More obviously: you play a [[OneManArmy One Tank Army]].
37* OneHitKill: The boulders in the canyon level. Get hit by one and its instantly game over. On the bright side; the same applies for the enemies
38* OnlyAFleshWound: The cameraman gets his arm blown off in the penultimate cutscence, but is rather nonchalant about the whole thing simply stating "That's my arm". In the final cutscene he still keeps the camera rolling and steady, though he requests to see a doctor.
39* StoneWall: Copperhead has the best defenses of any ship in the game; too bad its slow as molasses and comes lacking a laser weapon, which is required to beat the penultimate level with sanity intact
40* SuperPrototype: All of the playable tanks, although most have been placed into mass-production.
41** In the last mission, Storm awaits you atop a plateau in his own SuperPrototype. His HoverTank is [[LightningBruiser fast, can strafe, heavily armored, has a turret]] and spews a crap ton of [[MoreDakka dakka]] at you. ThatOneBoss indeed.
42* ShockAndAwe: Despite their [[EnergyWeapon names]], Both the [=Mk1=] and [=Mk2=] Lasers count. The Viper one ups this with it's Special Weapon: firing FOUR Laser Mk2s at the same time!
43* ThemeNaming: All tanks are named after snakes or something to do with snakes (such in the case of the Venom and the Fang).

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