Tank Invaders hit the Windows Phone Store last week and made a nice first impression. We took the arcade styled game out for a test drive the past few days and that impression held. The game has you controlling a battery of missiles that will come in handy to fend off alien invaders from space. Tank Invaders has plenty of action, challenges and power-ups to blast the enemy into orbit. Available for low-memory devices, Tank Invaders is a blast of a time waster and a fun addition to the Windows Phone line-up.

Gear-up for battle The main menu for Tank Invaders is rather brief with options to jump into game play, visit the game's store and access the settings. Settings are equally brief with options to mute music, sound effects or voice narration. Best VPN providers 2020: Learn about ExpressVPN, NordVPN & more

The gaming store has options to purchase consumable, upgrades or give your bank account a boost with in-app purchases of coins. Consumables include nuclear and magnetic bombs of a wide variety. Upgrades increase your missile's travel speed and impact, your shields strength and OnFire moments (more on this in a second).

When you first jump into game play, Tank Invaders will walk you through a series of tutorial screens that guide you through game play. As new features come into play, additional tutorial screens will appear. While the game lacks a help section, it does a nice job of providing tutorial windows as you progress through things. Game Play The game screen for Tank Invades has your missile type in the top corner and the number of missiles available to unleash on your enemies. A pause button sits in the center top and your score in the upper right corner.

Across the bottom of the screen is your shield meter (the neon green bar) and in the lower right corner your consumables will appear. Along the left side of the screen is an OnFire meter. The meter fills with each consecutive target hit and when the meter fills completely, a rapid fire system kicks in that allows you to launch missile much faster than under normal operating conditions. Normally, your missile launcher is loaded with two missiles that are automatically re-loaded. While the pace of fire isn't too bad, there is a slight pause in between pairs of shots to allow for reload. The OnFire mode lacks that pause. Game mechanics are simple. Tap on the screen where you want a missile to hit. Your enemy targets move down from the top of the screen and include small jeeps and helicopters that only require one missile hit to destroy and larger tanks that require multiple hits to take out. You also have larger boss-styled enemies that will be protected by shields that will lower from time to time, leaving the enemy vulnerable to attack.