Tiny Metal doesn’t copy the Advance Wars formula — it improves it. The third dimension brings with it a better way to do battle and tell where your enemies are. This change allows the tactical side of combat to flourish in a new way and one anyone who enjoys the Wars games will find it fun. It controls easily with a base controller, and while PC users can get a bit of an edge using a mouse to traverse maps, it isn’t a game-breaking issue for those prefer a pad. It’s a gorgeous-looking game with a cartoony art style that adds a touch of slapstick to battles, which remain funny thanks to voice clips that entertain until they get a bit too long in the tooth due to repetition. Minor quibbles aside, though, Tiny Metal is an excellent tactical RPG at the end of the day and one that longtime fans of the genre should check out.

Tiny Metal’s visual style pays homage to Intelligent Systems’ dormant Advance Wars series, but its under-baked action isn’t as cute. The battles never feel like a chore and I enjoyed basking in my easy victories, but Tiny Metal needs a few more tools in its arsenal if it wants to take on the legacy of Advance Wars.

Tiny Metal is an admirable return to the traditional turn-based strategy genre. There’s enough of a challenge both in the campaign and skirmish mode to keep players happy for a good while, but the lack of any sort of multiplayer at launch hurts its overall score.

Tiny Metal isn’t particularly innovative, but that’s not bad. It takes a solid foundation and successfully brings back an experience many players miss.

Underneath a forgettable campaign and unimpressive AI, Tiny Metal houses the seed of a really deep and entertaining multiplayer wargame. But until a head-to-head mode is added, it’s not much more than a set of unchallenging training scenarios broken up by far too much overwrought dialogue. I had plenty of fun with it, but didn’t get the kind of edge-of-my-seat decision-making moments that turned the tide of a difficult battle I could find in similar games.

Right now, Tiny Metal feels slightly undercooked. It has the strong foundations of a game that could be great, but is let down at almost every turn.

I don’t often criticize a game for not living up to the standards of another but Tiny Metal tries so hard to mirror Nintendo’s approach I must speak up when I see failings. When you come at the king you better not miss, and Tiny Metal stumbles at every step on its way there. I wanted to love Tiny Metal, I really did, but in the end, as I chipped away at the game, it just made my longing to step back onto the Advance Wars battlefield even stronger. At best Tiny Metal is a rough draft of something that could be great further down the line.