If
you've clicked on this review because you're interested
in a RTS game, you may have come to wrong place. If
you've clicked here because you are a fan of the Army
Man series you may find this title is more suited
for you.
Let's
face it, the Army Man series is not for hardcore gamers.
After all, there are people out there with a life
who may not play games on a full-time basis. Army
Men can offer occasional gamers with an entertaining
game that will not overwhelm them with challenges.
Such is the case with Army Men RTS. This is as basic
as a strategy game as you can get, but it's great
for beginners and would make a fun rental for those
RTS fanatics who want to flex their muscles and complete
a game before they even leave the rental store.
"Would
like a bag for that game sir?" "No thanks,
I'll play it here."
First
and foremost let's set up the premise. You are involved
in a war with the miniature tan army. Since all the
characters are representations of little plastic army
men the battles take place in some kid's house and
spill out into the backyard. You will take cover behind
plastic pails, dog bones, rubber ducks and various
pieces of furniture in the house. You will utilize
discarded toys such as bulldozers, dump trucks and
of course tanks to lead your army on to victory. The
game has a Honey-I-Shrunk-The-Kids feel to it with
this miniature angle. It should also appease parents
that their children are just killing plastic army
men and not renderings of actual humans to which I
ask, what's the difference? Either way it's just a
videogame and we can all tell fantasy from reality
can't we?
The
game has a great interface and an easy-to-understand
manual that doesn't bog you down in endless detail.
You will learn to build, manage and engage your troops
for combat. All you have to do is click on the unit
that you want selected and they will be highlighted
with a bubble. Then give them orders through the interface.
You can get your troops to move to a certain area,
attack, retreat or just wait. You will command gunners,
snipers, flame-throwers and bazooka men. You can group
more units together to reinforce areas that are under
heavy attack. One of the things that you will realize
is that the other army is stronger than yours and
all things being equal in regards to troops, you will
eventually lose. If you can outnumber them then you
can look forward to a win. It's important to keep
as many of your men alive as possible because even
the weapons you have will not be enough to stop the
tan army from overtaking you if you don't have the
numbers.
The
world is in 3D and interactive. The battle scenes
are fun to watch and the camera angles are adjustable
so you can see from virtually any angle. The animation
is smooth and the colors are subtle enough so that
you can still pick out your green guys while they're
hiding in the green grass. The little plastic army
men reflect light rendering them with a convincing
plastic sheen.The sound effects would be considered
weak in virtually any other game but becausewe're
in a miniature world we
can't really expect full-bodied explosions.
Army
Men RTS is a good introduction to the world of the
real time strategy. It never takes itself seriously
and that adds to the fun. There are plenty of comical
gags and interactions that will keep the player entertained.
Hardcore gamers are advised to stay away from this
game as it doesn't offer a tremendous challenge.
PREVIEW
The
Army Men franchise has always been a better concept
than a game. That's an unfortunate fact. Aside from
the Air Attack series, Army Men just hasn't had the
development attention that it deserved. The games
have suffered from poor control, incredibly tough
AI and haphazard graphics. Even the attempt at turning
the series into a platform game fell shy of the intended
mark as Portal Runner (starring Vickie and Leo the
Lion
.gag
.) received poor ratings across
the industry from reviewers and players alike.
Coming
very soon from 3DO, the Army Men series makes another
attempt at capturing the imaginations of gamers. This
time however, the green plastic men o' war aren't
after shooter, platfrom, action or air combat fans,
oh no. They've got their plastic little green sniper
rifles fixed on the Real Time Strategy crowd. And
in case 3DO didn't know it, this is one tough crowd
to please. In fact, it's even rare to find die hard
RTS players on a console as they tend to solely exist
on the PC. Oddly enough, there is a good reason for
this. The PC is the best machine to handle all of
the numerous management controls, whereas a console
generally tends to lack all of the buttons needed
to make the operation of the game a smooth and enjoyable
piece of entertaining software. Considering the history
of the franchise has been mostly mired in mediocrity,
our hopes are actually a little higher knowing that
the RTS genre might be just the one to make it work,
if 3DO spends the time making darn sure the interface
is intuitive.
The
story is centered on Colonel Blintz, who has defected
from the Green Army and is now head of the evil Tan
Army. It's up to you to set things right again in
the world of battling plastic toys. As in any RTS
game, your job will be to manage the allocation of
resources, troop formations, attackscenarios etc.
From what we've been to witness to thus far, the game
supports a ton of characters on screen at once, which
will help the gamer blur the reality and actually
get into the battlefield melee mentality.
We
won't have to wait long to find out. This game is
due out at the end of the month. If you are an RTS
supporter and enjoy the Army Men games, it's definitely
safe to say you'll be whipping out the "plastic"
to own this one.
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