Video Game / Heavy Weapon

My Tank Is Fight!

"HEAVY WEAPON!"

—Title Screen

Heavy Weapon is a side-scrolling Shoot 'Em Up developed by PopCap Games and released in 2005. An Updated Re-release was ported to the Xbox 360 in 2007, the PlayStation 2 in 2008, and the Play Station Network in 2009.

A Red Star invasion of the world destroys nearly all the Allied troops. As the Allies' final hope, the player takes the role of the commander of an Atomic Tank to repel the invaders back into the main headquarters of Red Star.

Not to be confused with Heavy Barrel, which has a similar Ikea Weaponry premise, or the Heavy Weapons Guy. He'd likely enjoy this game, though.^note Especially considering most of the enemies are communists.

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Tropes used for this game:

• Action Bomb: Barskov Munitions Blimps explode into multiple energy orbs when defeated. There are also Tachrok Ballistic Missiles and Fovraski Cruise Missiles that will try to drop onto you, although they do not do Splash Damage when they hit the ground.
• Advancing Mook Of Doom: The Bulldozer enemies. They will just keep moving towards you and will kill you if you touch them. To prevent this, you will have to fire at them to push them back. Trouble is, these things are usually fought with Airborne Mooks, making it hard to efficiently destroy them.
• Airborne Mook: Most of your enemies are these. You'll also fight some ground-based enemies too, though, and in some cases, the ground ones can actually be more dangerous than the flying ones!
• All There in the Script:
  • The game's enemy description files shows that the boss of Killingrad's name is actually X-Bot, not H-Bot, although the font used makes it look like the latter.
  • The game's image files have the Havanski Atomic Bomber's atomic bombs labeled as "fatboy.png".
• Always Accurate Attack: Your Nukes, as well as the enemy A-bombs should you fail to destroy them in time.
• Anti-Air: The Homing Missiles, which only attack aerial opponents.
• Anti-Frustration Feature:
  • Tachrok Ballistic Missiles will rise up from the background into the air offscreen before they descend on the playing field area. This gives the player ample warning that there's a missile shower incoming.
  • In the PC versions, Shovak Bulldozers will not come from the side of the screen that the player is nearer to, in order to prevent a cheap death for the player. In the Xbox version, a warning arrow will appear before the bulldozer enters, giving ample warning to move out of the way.
• Attack Its Weak Point: Some of the bosses-
  • The Battleship's main weak spot is the control room, but you can take out its turrets for extra points.
  • Eyebot can only be damaged in the eye... when it's open.
  • Mechworm, being a Segmented Serpent, was vulnerable in the head.
  • X-bot's head and body are its main weakpoints, however, you had to defeat its arms that blocked the way.
• Battleship Raid: A miniature one occurs with the Battleship boss- you can destroy his cannons, but its real weak point is the main segment.
• Big Creepy-Crawlies: Background information on Zamblamia: "The most common cause of death in Zamblamia is mosquito bites. The Zamblamian skeeter grows to lengths of 6 inches."
• Bombardier Mook: The majority of enemies in the game are aircraft that fly overhead to drop bombs of various types onto your tank.
• Boss Rush: The Xbox 360 and PS3 releases of the game have "Boss Blitz" mode, where you have one life to face all 19 bosses- very difficult, considering that many bosses can flat-out destroy you in one attack.
• Boss Warning Siren: This occurs with the Danger! Danger! in bold letters once you get to the end of the stage.
• Breakable Power-Up: Unlike many games which resets the player's complement of Smart Bombs to the starting amount upon death, Heavy Weapon instead takes all of the player's nukes away, your Megalaser parts, and any Single Use Shields on death. Otherwise averted, as weapon Power Ups remain.
• But Thou Must!: Trying to start a level without fully allocating your skill points will show the message "You're going to need all the help you can get!", preventing you from doing the level until you do so.
• Capital Offensive: The final level before the plot twist takes place in Killingrad/Caliber City, the capital of the Red Star.
• Chain Lightning: The lightning weapon does this.
• Cognizant Limbs: Eyebot's tentacles.
• Combat Tentacles: Eyebot has six tentacles, each of which can shoot out a lightning bolt that will instantly fry your tank regardless of shielding. Thankfully, they are destructible.
• Collision Damage: You don't take any damage if you run into a tank or missile truck. However, you die instantly if you run into the War Wrecker's wrecking ball, a bulldozer, Kommie Kong, Mechworm or X-Bot.
• Competitive Multiplayer: The "Arms Race" survival mode, where each player tries to be the last tank standing.
• Continuing is Painful / Unstable Equilibrium: Unlike many Shmups where you lose your power ups, but at least gain back around a number of 3 Smart Bombs on death. Here, you lose all your Nukes as well as your Megalaser parts when you die! Bonus frustration if you were at full shields and got destroyed by a One-Hit Kill- you lose those extra shielding too! Needless to say, if you die in a level when you had maximum shields and nukes before, you might as well quit and restart.
• Cool Airship: War Blimp, the third boss. It sports a Tractor Beam that makes it rain meteors!
• Co-Op Multiplayer: The Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of the game include this, both for the main campaign and the survival mode.
• Death from Above:
  • Tachrok Ballistic Missiles will rise up into the air from the background, then land in certain spots of the screen.
  • The War Blimp has a "Meteor Tractor Beam". What this does is to make it rain down meteors on you after it gets fired.
• Death Ray: The Satellite enemies has these, as well as the Final Boss in the first phase. Unfortunately for you, both are a One-Hit Kill if you touch any of them.
• Deflector Shields:
  • Your tank can get up to three levels, allowing it to take four non-lethal hits.
  • The Reflex aircraft have these. With the added bonus of spraying shots everywhere should the shields get hit by your regular shots. However, said shield is useless against all of your special attacks.
• Denial of Diagonal Attack: Completely averted, as your tank aims with the mouse and as such, it can aim anywhere.
• Destructible Projectiles / Shoot the Bullet: Most enemy bombs and missiles can be shot down. This becomes an important mechanic when you face against Atomic Bombers, because if their bombs touch the ground, you're toast regardless of shields!
• Difficulty By Console: The Xbox 360 version of the game makes some bosses easier while making others more difficult. Twinblade shoots four missiles instead of two, the Battleship fully appears on the screen (instead of showing half of it in the PC version).
  • On the bright side, you have more room to avoid War Wrecker's, Gorillazilla's, Mechworm's and X-Bot's One-Hit Kill contact attacks in the Xbox 360 version.
  • And of course, your aiming and movement are separate in the console version, taking away one of the most annoying forms of Fake Difficulty.
• Dig Attack: Used each time Mechworm surfaces from the ground, watch out for the Wormsign under your or face a One-Hit Kill.
• Dirty Communists: Your opponents, the "Red Star" are obviously a parody of the Soviet Union, with a touch of Tsarist Russia.
  "Take that, you commie pigs!"
• Disc-One Final Boss: X-Bot, which you fight in the enemy's capital city.
• Dishing Out Dirt: The Mechworm throws out chunks of sandy rock whenever it jumps out of the sand, while the rematch against War Wrecker has the boss' wrecking ball toss up rocks whenever it scrapes the floor.
• Early-Bird Boss: Twinblade in Boss Blitz mode. To put it, you (probably) got at least one power, rapid fire, Spread Shot, and some Nuke and Shield upgrades during the first level before fighting it in campaign mode. In Boss Blitz, you don't do the level and thus you fight it with only one level of shield, and nothing else whatsoever. Without the power, rapid fire and Spread Shot upgrades, you're dealing about 1/6 as much of what you'd have dealt at the end of the first level. If you can't makes its homing missiles misfire or shoot them down in time, you're toast in 2 hits.
• Earned Stripes: The end of every level assigns you with an appropriately glamorous military insignia based on your score.
• Eldritch Abomination: Eyebot may have been inspired by one of these, being a floating eyeball with tentacles (not unlike Yog-Sothoth or Shuma-Gorath). Appropriately enough, you fight it in the horror-themed stage.
• The Empire: The Red Star forces.
• Endless Game: Survival mode. In the PC version, it lasts forever with increasingly difficult enemies until you die once. The Xbox 360 remake's Arms Race mode gives each player 3 lives, while War Party only ends when there are no surviving players on screen (although players have infinite lives and will respawn after some time).
• Enemy Chatter: The satellite enemies talk in some indecipherable Russian language every now and then.
• Energy Weapon: Your laser shots are instant-hit beams. The Final Boss, however, has Slow Lasers - his lasers are slow, and sometimes curve around!
• Epic Flail: Used by War Wrecker, and it's a One-Hit Kill on your tank. On the rematch against him, he uses it to kick up rocks from the ground too.
• Eye Beams: Used by X-Bot. Surprisingly, Eyebot does not have these, it's his tentacles who have the beams instead.
• Faceship: BustCzar/Head Zeppelin is a floating head-ship thing.
• Fake Difficulty: In the PC version, your tank moves towards the mouse cursor, which means that you will be moving WHILE aiming. This alone makes up half the game's difficulty, as it makes it really annoying to defeat many opponents (especially the enemies that try to ram you).
• Fictional Counterpart: Most of the levels. Frigistan (Pakistan or Kyrgyzstan), Blastnya (Bosnia), Petrovakia (Slovakia), Zamblamia (Zambia), Tankylvania and Vodkavania (Transylvania), Antagonistan (Afghanistan) and Killingrad (Leningrad).
• Fighter-Launching Sequence with Atomic Tanks!
• Final-Exam Boss: Arguably, the Final Boss.
  • The first phase has it shoot two One-Hit Kill lasers that either go straight down, diagonally, or curve around. This part tests you on precise movement and control, because you die if you graze them.
  • The second phase has it shoot random purple shots over the place, while periodically dropping an A-bomb that will One-Hit Kill you should it hit the ground. You have to aim precisely to put the damage on the A-bomb before it toasts you.
  • The third and final phase has the boss unleash a Macross Missile Massacre that homes in on you from both sides, forcing you to use quick aiming reflexes in order to shoot the missiles down before they reach you.
• Friendly Fireproof: Generally averted with the white support helicopters, which are affected by all your regular weapons. Thankfully, it is immune to your One-Hit Kill Nukes and Megalaser. However, if you shoot the white support helicopter one too many times, you will end up not only destroying it but also losing points (or time in Survival Mode).
  • Additionally, the Red Star Army's munitions can pass straight through each other, which is particularly visible in the (many) cases where you will have entire waves of heavy carpet bombers coming at you.
• Giant Eye of Doom: Eyebot has one, which shoots out shots and serves as its weak point. Its Combat Tentacles are a lot more dangerous.
• Giant Mook: The blimp enemies. Havanski Atomic Bombers count as well.
• The Goomba: Hominov Prop Planes are slow, take one hit to die from the weakest weapons and have no weaponry at all. Bravski Jet Fighters are slow and also take one hit to die, but are capable of dropping bombs occasionally. Both are the first enemy types you'll face along with the Spetznak Bomber (which has attack capability and more hit points, and therefore doesn't qualify for this trope).
• Guilt-Based Gaming: A "message" from your superior appears whenever you try to quit, such as:
  "There's only one thing worse than a traitor, and that's a quitter!"
  "Are you going to let the Red Star win this time?"
  "Will you abandon our allies at their time of greatest need?"
  "The free world is depending on you! Are you going to let us down?"
  "Too much carnage? Can't take the heat? Are you a Momma's Boy?"
  "On the run already? You just can't find good help anymore!"
  "Quit NOW? Just whose side are you on, anyway?"
  "Fine! Leave! Enjoy your freedom for the few remaining hours that you still have it!"
  "What's the matter? No AC? No leather? No 6-speaker stereo? This is a WAR MACHINE, boy!"
  "If you think a court-martial is easier to face than the enemy, I'll personally see to it that you're sadly mistaken! Are you SURE?"
• Hard Mode Filler: After beating the first 8 levels, you have to go through all of them again and the enemies are replaced with far tougher ones, while the bosses are way more durable with some having new tricks up their sleeves.
• Hellish Copter: Can happen to the white support helicopters if you accidentally shoot them down.
• Homing Projectile: The homing missiles. They only home in on aerial targets, though. Enemies also get some in the form of homing missiles and laser-guided bomb.
• Hopping Machine: X-Bot, the ninth boss.
• I Don't Like the Sound of That Place: Antagonistan and Killingrad.
• Ikea Weaponry: The Megalaser requires that you collect all four parts to it before you can get to use it for a limited period of time, similar to Heavy Barrel's titular weapon.
• Instakill Mook: Three of them. Havanski Atomic Bombers will instantly kill you anywhere on the screen should their a-bombs successfully touch the ground. Romanov Attack Satellites fire a Death Ray downward that fry you regardless of shields. Finally, Shovak Bulldozers will immediately blow you up if they so much as to graze you.
• Killer Gorilla: Kommie Kong / Gorillazilla, the stage five boss, is a robot monkey that throws exploding missiles and tries to stomp the player.
• Kill Sat: Romanov Attack Satellites are a miniature version. They charge up a Death Ray and fire it vertically downwards, instantly killing you if it hits.
• King Kong Copy: Kommie Kong is a giant gorilla with cybernetic attachments that your tank has to fight as one of the bosses.
• Luck-Based Mission: The set of enemies you will face in a "wave" are randomly selected. Heaven help you if you have to face Goddamned Bats or Demonic Spiders in that wave.
• Macross Missile Massacre: You can do this with the rockets and missiles power-up. The final form of the Final Boss tries this on you too!
• Made of Explodium: Everything. Justified, as everything in this game is a vehicle or machine of some sort.
• Marathon Level: Pretty much all the levels after the second are like these. It doesn't help that many enemies in the game are incredibly annoying or downright dangerous.
• More Dakka: First, you have your rapid regular shot that soon turns into a powerful rapid Spread Shot. Then you start getting strong Anti-Air homing missiles, and a hitscan laser that deals good damage. After that, you gain powerful dumbfire rockets (up to 3 at a go), a flak cannon that decimates the area around your mouse, and finally a Chain Lightning gun that bounces from Mook to Mook.
• Nuke 'em: Your Nuke weapon. CAUTION! There's an aptly-named atomic bomber who will do this to you!
• One-Hit Kill: Your Nuke weapon and Megalaser weapon on the regular Mooks. Enemies can do this to you too- Atomic Bombers will literally nuke your character, Satellites have deathrays, while Bulldozers will instantly crush you if you don't push them away. As for bosses, War Wrecker has his wrecking ball, Kommie Kong, Mechworm and X-Bot can kill you via contact, and Eyebot's lightning will fry you instantly. And for the Final Boss, it combines the worst of both worlds- the first phase shoots curvy death rays, while the second phase drops those damned A-bombs.
• One-Hit-Point Wonder: Your tank is destroyed in one hit. However, you can get Deflector Shields as power-ups to increase that amount to four.
• One-Man Army: Your character becomes this.
• One Move Of Doom: The War Wrecker boss. Its only attack is to swing its wrecking ball, but that is all it needs, as it is an instant kill if it hits, regardless of shield. Thankfully, it's very easy to avoid if you know how, which makes the boss a Breather Boss.
• Orbiting Particle Shield: The Defense Orbs are this. They protect against everything but nuke explosions and laser weapons, but don't rely too much on them as an enemy can sneak in a shot or two.
• Point Build System: You get an upgrade point after each level, which you can freely distribute among your equipment.
• Power-Up: Dropped by those white helicopters which could be accidentally shot down by you.
• Ramming Always Works: Used by the bulldozer Mooks as their only attack, unfortunately for you, it's a One-Hit Kill regardless of shield.
• Recurring Boss: ALL of them, except the Final Boss. After the reveal that the Red Star had actually built another massive army, you have to go back through the first nine levels again, and fight each boss again. Of course, the bosses have more hit points and have new tricks up their sleeve.
• Recursive Ammo: Kommie Kong's/Gorillazilla's rockets explode into six smaller shots if not destroyed.
• Recycled In Space: Ocean Commander is pretty much the same game except it's UNDERWATER! And a lot crappier!
• Remilitarized Zone: Pretty much all the levels, no thanks to the Red Star. Amusingly, some of the stages still have people minding their own business, such as the sunbathers in Blastnya.
• Remixed Level: The first 9 levels, which you have to go through again except that the enemies patterns are a lot tougher.
• Re-Release Soundtrack: The Playstation versions include a new remixed soundtrack, as well as new exclusive songs for each stage.
• "Risk"-Style Map: The Mission briefing map is like this.
• Rule of Three: This game really loves the trope. You get three lives per level, you can hold up to three nukes, you have three levels of shielding, and your weapons can be upgraded up to three times.
• Sand Worm: The eighth boss Mechworm is a robotic variant.
• Scary Scorpions: Background information on Antagonistan: "The black scorpion of this region is famous as the world's most poisonous arachnid. Be careful during bathroom breaks!"
• Segmented Serpent: The above-mentioned Mechworm, attack its head to defeat it.
• Sequential Boss: The final boss has three phases that it goes through as it sustains damage — the first fires deadly lasers, the second drops atomic bombs while spraying purple shots everywhere, and the last spams homing missiles.
• Shock and Awe: Your lightning weapon, as well as Eyebot's One-Hit Kill tentacle beams.
• Shout-Out:
  • "Kommie Kong", a large robotic monkey who is an obvious reference to King Kong and Donkey Kong. His name was changed to Gorillazilla in the Updated Re-release for the Xbox 360 and PS3.
  • Bustczar was renamed "Head Zeppelin" in the Xbox 360 version.
  • When you damage the Final Boss enough, most of it breaks off, revealing the Big Bad's head sticking out of a floating machine. Dr Wily, anyone?
  • The Megalaser could be one to the titular weapon of Heavy Barrel. Both are superweapons made from multiple parts you have to collect, both One-Hit Kill regular Mooks, and when you manage to craft them, you only get a few seconds of usage before they disappear.
  • Zamblamia's name was changed to "Triassic Park" in the Xbox 360 version.
  • The file name for the enemy A-bomb picture is called "fatboy.png", as a reference to Little Boy and Fat Man.
• Sigil Spam: The Red Star sure likes placing their logo on their boss units. (Twinblade, Battlship, War Blimp, Eyebot, BustCzar, and the Final Boss). Some of their Mooks also have them.
• Smart Bomb: Your nuke weapons, which you have three of. The enemy is not stupid though, they have a Mook that can drop large nukes to instantly kill you should it manage to hit the ground.
• Soviet Superscience: Some of the enemies use out-of-this-world technology, most notably the War Blimp whose Tractor Beam can pull down meteors from outer space!
• Spell My Name With An S: X-Bot. Most people call it H-Bot, but the game data files for the PC version shows its name as X-Bot. This confusion is due to the font used for the Boss Subtitles, which makes the X look like a H.
• Spoiler Cover: The main image on the game's box◊ shows Romanov Attack Satellites and Barskov Munitions Blimps in Petrovakia, while the player is using a whole slew of powered-up weaponry. You don't fight those enemies or get that many powerups the first time you get there.
• Spread Shot: One of the power-ups gives your tank a spread fire. More power-ups give more shots per spread.
• Stock Ness Monster: You see them in the background of Blastnya.
• Tank Goodness: Your character!
• Themed Cursor: During gameplay, you have a neat radioactive sign-like crosshair that glows.
• Title Scream
• Took a Level in Badass: Most of the bosses during the rematch against them. The Warm-Up Boss Twinblade now has two indestructible gun turrets. The once-Breather Boss War Wrecker can now extend its chain to toss up rocks from the ground, making it a lot harder to evade damage.
• Total Party Kill: In the Co-Op Multiplayer mode War Party, the game only ends if there are no players alive on the screen. Which the Havanski Atomic Bomber can do if your party is not careful.
• Tractor Beam: Used by the War Blimp to cause meteors to rain down on you.
• Upgraded Boss: Every boss in the second half of the game (sans the Secret Weapon) is the same as their earlier-fought counterpart, but with much more health and may have new tricks up their sleeve. Notably, Twinblade gets a pair of plasma cannons, and War Wrecker's wrecking ball now swings lower, kicking up chunks of rock from the ground.
• Video Game Cruelty Potential: You can shoot down the white support helicopters that are affected by friendly fire. The game will know about this, and dock off many points from you (or in the case of a survival run, half a minute) from you if you do so. In the PS3 version, you get an achievement for doing so!
• Wake-Up Call Boss: Depending on your level of skill, there's at least one in the main game.
  • War Blimp has rather nasty-to-avoid "roto-mines", which are basically homing bombs that you have to shoot down before they hit you. These can actually be more dangerous than its Meteor Tractor Beam.
  • War Wrecker is definitely this for first-time players who do not know how to avoid its One-Hit Kill wrecking ball.
  • If you found War Blimp moderate and the War Wrecker easy, then Kommie Kong would be this. It will kill you so long as you brush against it (but it shouldn't be too hard to avoid touching him), and its missiles that explode into multiple shots aren't exactly the easiest things to avoid (at least in the PC version).
  • Surprisingly enough, TWINBLADE in Boss Blitz can be this. It acts exactly the same as it did in the story mode, except that it's you who's weaker. To put it, you (probably) get at least one power, Spread Shot, and some Nuke and Shield upgrade during the level itself. In Boss Blitz, you fight it with only one level of shield, and nothing else whatsoever. If you can't makes his missiles misfire or shoot them down in time, you're toast in 2 hits.
• War Is Glorious
• Warm-Up Boss: Twinblade, a helicopter with two homing missile launchers. You can destroy the launchers, which makes it completely useless for the rest of the fight. The second time you fight it, it has two indestructible turret guns added into the mix.
• Wave-Motion Gun: The Megalaser. You also get a smaller version in the form of the laser weapon.
• Weaponized Car: "Modified Pickup Trucks", which are regular pickup trucks with an RPG attached to them.
• Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: After the Final Boss' defeat, the leader of the Red Star requests for his side to surrender and stop the fighting. Your tank driver promptly shoots him.
  "We surrender, Yankee tank... no more." *gets shot by tank*
  "Nice try, buddy... but I'm not falling for that trick again."
• Wormsign: Sand clouds are thrown up from the ground before Mechworm jumps out of that spot.
• Your Princess Is in Another Castle!: After defeating X-bot in Killingrad, your tank driver begins to celebrate, only for his HQ to contact him and say that it was all a diversion, and that the Red Star was actually producing an army ten times the size of what you destroyed. You then have to go through levels 1-9 again, except that the enemies are tougher and the bosses are upgraded. Savvy players will know that there is something wrong when you beat X-Bot: you haven't got all your upgrade points yet. Plus, the screenshots for the game show satellites and blimps in Petrovakia (see the page image), which don't appear the first time you go there.
• Zerg Rush: The Red Star's means of attacking the Atomic Tank involves planes and helicopters. Obscene amounts of planes and helicopters. Too bad for them, their opponent is a One-Tank Army.

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