Overall 6 Graphics 5 Sound 7 Addictive 6 Story 6 Depth 4 Difficulty 8
6
Plain, Simple, and Fun, but Not Suitable for Consoles play4fun
Imagine a world where your toy soldiers are preparing armies and create vehicles and weapons of mass destruction by using every day objects in your bedroom as resources. I'm referring to some of the plastic toys that you see in your toy store (or one dollar store) where they come in green, tan, and other colors, with different tanks, soldiers, etc. If you still don't know what I'm talking about, think those green soldiers from Toy Story and imagine a game that focuses only on them. A game company called 3DO has been doing this for a long time with the series called the Army Men series. This series brings these toy soldiers to life as the war between green and tan armies rages on in the kitchen, the bathroom, the bedroom, and the yard, and hope that there is no magnifying glass super weapon that can melt their side to smithereens.
This particular game however, takes the series to a different genre, and even though it is not the first time 3DO attempted this on a console, it's probably more well known for console players because of the easily recognizable title called Army Men: RTS, or Real Time Strategy. This genre is more popular to PC gamers than console gamers, where players must beat an opposing army by building, producing and commanding an army of different units while managing resource. One might realize from playing this game (and any RTS game) on the console, even though the company tries their best in making it possible, the game is not suited for consoles like the GameCube.
Not Flashy, Straightforward Design The main focus for this game series has never been crisp, sharp graphics. They just need to design just enough of the appearance to make it seem believable and interesting. The setting takes place in everyday rooms of a house, only zoomed in so that the world seems a lot larger and placed in the perspective of a toy. Because of this, you would see textures of the world to be quite familiar and, sometimes, plain. From the wood flooring of your living room, to the dirty grass on the lawn, to the porcelain tiling in different rooms. Everything that you see in this game is quite familiar, only larger. Even though it is not spectacular, it is realistic enough that you can tell what you are actually looking at. They bring the atmosphere that you are truly commanding an army of toys and your house is the battlefield. Even though the effects of rockets and bullets from your toy tanks, helicopters, and army men seem rather cartoonishy, it does entice you to go along with this adventure in this world. The cutscenes are also cartoonish and they don't bring fluidity in terms of how they talk or act, but it still brings out the dark undertones of the story that you are trying to stop an evil war maniac from melting your army down to liquid plastic. What makes it convincing is the army music that you hear in the background and the sound of soldiers asking what their next move is. Again, they are pretty generic army audio, but they make it enough to make the atmosphere believable.
Simple, Yet Fun This is also not what you would consider as a complex RTS game. Whereas the great RTS games of that time, like the Age of Empires series, the Red Alert series, the Starcraft series, etc, have more units, more buildings and more upgrades, this one is rather straightforward as to what is part of your arsenal. One type of tank, one type of jeep, one type of helicopter, several types of soldiers, and that's pretty much what your army has in store for you. Compared to the other RTS game, unit
selection is rather limited. There are only 2 resources that you need to get to build your army: plastic and electricity. This makes it simpler for collecting resources and building armies in a quicker manner, but your enemy will have the same situation as well. The missions themselves are also pretty straightforward. You have several missions, some are part of the main plot while others are reliving "great battles" of the war between Green and Tan. Most of the objectives have been destroy this base, destroy that base, create this many armies, make this building. Some RTS have these missions, but they do have more creative in what you need to do, like espionage, protection missions, etc. Those who are familiar with RTS games will find this game to be on the simple side.
This is not to say that this game is not fun. Even though the missions are quite simple and you know you will be destroying things in the long run, that is what you are expecting from an RTS game and wanting to do. The charm that goes along with this series brings out the best from this game. Collecting resources becomes destroying toys and appliances on the ground so that you can get the plastic and electricity for your army. You still can control both land and air to strategize how to counter your enemies armies. Sometimes the appearance of bugs and ants will become a problem for your army as well and you would have figure out what weapons are adequate enough to defeat that strange force. Finally, you get to blow things up. You will try to outsmart or out-gather your opponent. You won't care how, but you will build every living soldier, vehicle, tank, aircraft, weird portals at your disposal to wipe out the enemy. That is the core of an RTS game, and they definitely have it in this game.
Wrong Genre for the Console With all of this great descriptions of how this game seems inexpensively made, yet straightforwardly fun, there's a reason why PC gamers are the ones who really understand what RTS games feel like. These games are not meant for the console and it is what can hurt it's appeal for obtaining this game. In RTS battles, the flexibility and mobility to move around the battlefield and construct your base/ armies are the difference in defeating your opponent or being completely overrun by the enemy. Computers have mice where you can move as quick as you can across the map, or you can simply click on an area of the map and you will immediately go to that location. You can also
select troops easily by clicking on a soldier, or double clicking to
select all the same type of unit on your screen. If you need to control a group of soldiers, you drag them into a box. You can't do that for consoles, where you can only move based on your joystick.
Selecting the same soldier isn't that bad, but
selecting groups of soldiers is limited to multiple button clicking to determine how big your drag area is and the shape is limited to a circle. This takes a lot more button clicking and takes a lot more time and precision to get it right.
Overall this game is seen not as the true potential of the game, but the port of a PC game that is suppose to only be for PC. The designs are not to impress, but to be taken seriously. It doesn't offer as much depth as the other big name RTS games, but it is still fun if you put your mindset that these are toys that you are using to beat the other side. It is creative in the perspective of a toy as to what is considered dangerous, from magnifying glass, to ants, to crazy tan generals. Is it playable on a console like the GameCube? Yes, but players will find it a little bit tedious to play and unless they are truly hardcore RTS fans, they won't bother spending a lot of time on this game (at least, not this version).
My final rating on this game: 6 (which would be higher if it were on the PC)
Graphics 5 Sound 7 Addictive 6 Story 6 Depth 4 Difficulty 8
Review Rating: 4/5
Submitted: 07-15-14
Review Replies: 6
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