TABS Review: The Game That Makes Everyone in the Room Laugh

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What It Is

Totally Accurate Battle Simulator — TABS — is one of those games that sounds ridiculous when you describe it, and is even more ridiculous when you actually play it. Developed by Landfall Games, TABS drops you into a sandbox where you place armies of wobbly, physics-driven soldiers on a battlefield and then hit play to watch them stumble, flail, and fight their way to victory or defeat. Every unit moves like it has had one too many drinks at a Christmas party. It is genuinely, consistently funny.

The game is available on PC, Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch, and costs around £16. It carries a PEGI 7 rating, which feels about right — the “violence” here is so absurd and cartoonish that it is impossible to take seriously. Units flop around like inflatable tube men at a car dealership. There is no blood, no gore, just pure slapstick chaos.

There is a campaign mode with increasingly tricky battles to solve, but the real heart of the game is the sandbox and the unit creator. You can build custom units with any combination of weapons, abilities, and outfits, then pit them against each other. It is part strategy game, part toy box, and part comedy show.

What The Boys Think

I will be honest — the boys spend far more time in the unit creator than they do in actual battles. The 10-year-old has developed an elaborate system for designing custom units. He will spend twenty minutes giving a medieval knight a machine gun, roller skates, and the ability to summon chickens, then insist we all watch the test battle. He approaches it like an engineering project, tweaking variables and running experiments. “Dad, what if I give him TWO swords AND a jetpack?” is a sentence I have heard more than once.

The 7-year-old takes a different approach entirely. His strategy is to max out the army size on one side, place a single overpowered custom unit on the other, and watch what happens. He cackles every single time. There is no nuance, no strategy — just pure, unbridled chaos. And honestly, his approach is just as valid and just as entertaining to watch.

What I love most is how they interact with the game together. They take turns placing units, make predictions about which side will win, and then watch the battle unfold with the kind of excitement usually reserved for cup finals. Every battle ends in laughter. Genuinely, every single one. I cannot think of another game that consistently produces that reaction from both of them simultaneously.

The Dad Filter

Worth Full Price?

Buy Now. At around £16, TABS is extraordinary value. We have had this game for months and the boys still fire it up regularly. Compare that to a cinema trip for three — which costs me about £40 these days and lasts two hours — and TABS looks like an absolute bargain. It generates genuine family entertainment, proper shared laughter, and it does it for less than the price of two large pizzas. This is one of those rare purchases where I feel like I got more than I paid for.

Kid Appeal

High. Ragdoll physics are inherently hilarious to children. There is something deeply, fundamentally funny to a 7-year-old about watching a wobbly knight fall over while trying to swing a sword. The visual comedy never gets old for them. But TABS goes beyond just being funny to watch — the unit creator is essentially a toy-building game wrapped inside a battle simulator. Kids get to design their own fighters, choose weapons, add abilities, and then test their creations. It taps into the same creative impulse as LEGO, but with the added satisfaction of watching your creation wobble into battle.

Parent Tolerance

High. This is genuinely one of the easiest games to be in the room with. There is no repetitive soundtrack drilling into your skull. There are no loot boxes, no battle passes, no “Dad can I have V-Bucks” conversations. The ragdoll violence is so absurd that it is impossible to take seriously — there is a bigger violence quotient in a Tom and Jerry cartoon. Most importantly, TABS is actually funny to watch as an adult. I find myself laughing at the same battles the boys are laughing at. That almost never happens with their games. No stress, no toxic online elements, no competitive pressure. Just wobbly soldiers falling over.

Family Play Value

Great. TABS is one of the few games where the whole room ends up laughing. It is not technically a multiplayer game, but it does not need to be. The way we play it is fundamentally social — one person places the units, everyone else watches and shouts suggestions, we all make predictions about who will win, and then we watch the chaos unfold together. It is more like a shared spectacle than a solo gaming experience. Taking turns with the controller feels natural and nobody gets frustrated waiting because watching someone else’s battle is just as entertaining as running your own. For a single-player game, it has remarkable family play value.

Time Respect

Excellent. This is where TABS really shines as a family game. Individual battles last between 60 and 90 seconds. When the boys say “just one more battle,” they actually mean one more battle. That almost never happens in gaming. There are no 45-minute matches, no “we cannot save right now” moments, no guilt trips about interrupting progress. You place units, hit play, watch the chaos, and you are done. If dinner is ready, you can finish the current battle and be at the table in under two minutes. As a parent, I cannot overstate how valuable that is. TABS respects your family’s schedule in a way that very few games manage.

Replay Chances

High. The combination possibilities are essentially infinite. Different unit types, custom creations, varying army sizes, different maps — the boys never seem to run out of new scenarios to try. The unit creator alone provides hours of entertainment, and every new creation means a new battle to watch. The 10-year-old has started setting himself challenges: “Can a single farmer beat an army of knights?” or “What is the weakest unit that can beat a mammoth?” These self-imposed challenges keep the game fresh long after the campaign is finished. We have had TABS for months and it still gets regular play sessions.

The Verdict

Buy Now. TABS is one of the best family gaming experiences available right now. It costs less than a cinema trip and provides months of genuine entertainment. The humour works across ages — the 7-year-old laughs at the wobbly soldiers, the 10-year-old laughs at his absurd custom creations, and I laugh at both. There is no online toxicity, no microtransactions, no homework-derailing marathon sessions. Just pure, silly, physics-driven fun that brings everyone in the room together.

If your family wants a game where everyone is laughing and nobody is getting frustrated, TABS is the answer. It is the gaming equivalent of a really good family board game night — except nobody has to tidy up afterwards and nobody flips the board when they lose. At £16, it is one of the smartest gaming purchases I have made as a dad.

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Related: If your kids love creative chaos, check out our Teardown review for another game built on satisfying physics. For all our family gaming content, visit TurboGeek Gaming.