Bubble Tanks Arenas
Bubble Tanks Arenas is the fourth game in the massively-popular Bubble Tanks series. It is a spinoff of the main Bubble Tanks fare, and its new red theme proclaims such.
Story[]
You start out as a Basic Tank, alone in the new world of red bubble tanks. You encounter many enemies along the way, and use their bubbles to fuel your growth. The new Tank Editor allows you to customize your tank using these bubbles, and the outcome of battles will depend on your driving-and-shooting skills, along with the build and makeup of your tank. Ultimately, you'll have to fight the Bringer of Woe on the final BTA Arena, but the game doesn't truly end there, for there are limitless user-generated levels to play on, as well as an Enemy Creator and Arena Creator to play with.
Gameplay[]
Bubble Tanks Arenas' red theme.
When you first start out, your tank is a simple large bubble with one basic cannon attached to it. The prologue level takes you through the instructions and your first enemy encounter. When this level is finished, many new features become apparent in the Arena menu. This is the startling difference from the other Bubble Tanks games, in that this game is level-based.
You can choose to edit your tank as to how you wish, or you may pick a pre-created tank to fight with. At first, your tank supplies are extremely limited, but you will gain a large variety of guns, and increase your Bubble Points and Gun Points amount as you pass through the levels. However, you are not awarded GP or BP for completing user-created levels. You may only play through Hero Interactive-made levels to gain these features.
Another difference from previous games is that you can actually die, as a life bar has replaced the points-to-next-evolution bar. To regain health, destroy enemies and collect the indigo health bubbles.
Arenas[]
| # | Name | Bubblefields | Enemies | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Welcome to BTA | 5 | 17 | 2 |
| "This is the introductory Arena in BTA teaching you the basics in Bubble Tanks combat. Feel like you need more practice? Don't be afraid to give this arena another try!" | ||||
| 2 | A Sticky Proposition | 5 | 24 | 4 |
| "Time to jump in and get your hands... er... dirty. Sticky tanks will slow movement making you an easy target so watch out. At least they won't damage you directly." | ||||
| 3 | Watch Your Step | 7 | 44 | 5 |
| "Okay, Bubble Tanks don't have feet, we know. But the mines laying around will still really hurt a lot, so be sure to watch out for them and take out those enemy mine spawners quickly!" | ||||
| 4 | I Spy | 7 | 46 | 6 |
| "Something isn't right with those guys with the big yellow bubbles on their back... I don't think we want to find out their dark little secret." | ||||
| 5 | Overweight | 7 | 47 | 6 |
| "Is it just me or do the tanks seem to be getting bigger and bigger around here Watch out for the big slow moving bubble bullets- they pack quite a punch." | ||||
| 6 | Something for Everyone | 7 | 52 | 7 |
| "Watch out for the seekers that will be coming at you from all directions from here on out. Sure, you can kill them. But they'll come back, and in stronger numbers." | ||||
| 7 | Ambush | 7 | 56 | 7 |
| "These new types of fighters are tricky, be ready to hit and run. Taking them out may end up being a two step process: trigger and shoot down the seekers, then hit up the fighters themselves." | ||||
| 8 | Big Guns | 7 | 57 | 8 |
| "It looks like enemy tanks figured out you could attach more than one weapon to a vehicle... this is bound to get out of hand. Just keep moving and you should be alright." | ||||
| 9 | Out-gunned | 7 | 53 | 8 |
| "What's that you say? They now fire 3 bullets at a time? Well this should be interesting..." | ||||
| 10 | Nowhere to Run | 7 | 48 | 7 |
| "Alright, new plan: since the enemies don't seem to be very good at aiming, they're just going to shoot everywhere now. Your move." | ||||
| 11 | Evolution | 7 | 67 | 9 |
| "It's really out of hand now: one big gun that fires five bullets at a time! These heavies have a lot of life and a lot of firepower. Just don't let them hit you!" | ||||
| 12 | The Surprise | 8 | 57 | 9 |
| "Get ready for bullets flying EVERYWHERE! The sooner you can take out some enemies the far better off you'll be. Oh yeah, you should also expect a few surprises near the end." | ||||
| 13 | The Factories | 7 | 49 | 7 |
| "We had to find a way to keep enemies coming at you so we whipped a little something up to do just that. I suggest you pop them immediately." | ||||
| 14 | Shooting Back | 7 | 63 | 10 |
| "More of the same but a little harder this time. Keep up the usual strategy of moving around and taking shots and you'll make it through this. Heavy damage dealing weapons help." | ||||
| 15 | Autokill | 7 | 50 | 8 |
| "If you want something done right, let your seeker drones do it for you. These big guys are nasty with four seeker bays!" | ||||
| 16 | Nightmare | 9 | 65 | 7 |
| "These small fighters will unleash a maelstrom of bubble fury on you. The Shield can really come in handy against them as well as Seekers and Damage Bursts." | ||||
| 17 | Un-made | 7 | 58 | 10 |
| "From here on out, it's gonna get rough. Not only do Sappers steal your life and heal their creators, but they are attached to some really big tanks." | ||||
| 18 | Mega Challenge 1 | 10 | 74 | 10 |
| "This first Mega Challenge is ten bubblefields testing your skills against many of the past enemies you've encountered." | ||||
| 19 | Hide and Seek | 7 | 45 | 9 |
| "You can try to hide but the many Sapper Drones WILL find you. You'll have to dish out some damage to their creators quickly to keep them from coming after you." | ||||
| 20 | Raining Pain | 7 | 64 | 11 |
| "The tanks keep getting bigger. Remember this guy? Watch out for the rotating machine gun bullets, they pack a huge punch. Shield is a helpful defense against them." | ||||
| 21 | Mega Challenge 2 | 10 | 74 | 10 |
| "This is the second Mega Challenge featuring another 10 Bubblefields of tank intensity. You're getting close to the end now!" | ||||
| 22 | Daymare | 7 | 68 | 15 |
| "Like the Nightmare, the Daymare moves around quickly launching a long string of bullets at you. But this time we packed a triple spread cannon on it and gave it more life. Enjoy!" | ||||
| 23 | The Hardest Level | 2 | 11 | 7 |
| "There are only 2 Bubblefields in this whole Arena... how hard could it really be?" | ||||
| 24 | Mega Challenge 3 | 10 | 108 | 12 |
| "You're only one level away from the final BTA Arena and all you've got in your way are ten Bubblefields packed with the meanest tanks we could find." | ||||
| 25 | The Last Run | 10 | 58 | 7 |
| "This is it... this is the end... or is it?" | ||||
Controls[]
As with BT2, you control your tank with the WASD keys, and fire with the mouse and space bar. The tank movement and secondary-fire keys can be changed in the options menu. In the 3 Editors, you control the interface with solely the mouse.
Trivia[]
- BTA is the only red-themed Bubble Tanks in the entire series.
- BTA was a testbed for Bubble Tanks 3, which explains why BTA and BT3 seem so similar in gameplay, physics, features, and graphics.
- Many weapons did not make it into BTA.
- Some weapons were impossible to code into any tank, yet some weapons are possible to be placed onto a tank, yet are not present. Perhaps they ran low on time, funding, or code.
- The Bringer of Woe enemy has more GP than is legally allowed without cheating. This means you cannot edit this tank and save it.
- At first, one could bring up the Cheats menu by typing "~hero", but now there is a button at the bottom of the menu that takes you directly to the cheats.
- You cannot save tanks to the server with the 50 Gun Points cheat.
- BTA has one of the longest development times of all Hero Interactive games. Overall, from announcement to release, BTA's development spans a whopping 18 months (1 and a half years).
- Stormwinds: The Mary Reed Chronicles, and Zoo-Opolis are purported to have been in development longer.
- This is the only Bubble Tanks game with different save slots to save your files in, likely because of the level system that comes with it.