Army Men

I remember when I first got this game, back when it was released. I was one of the viewers who found the brief stint of the well-known small green toy soldiers to be one of the best parts of Toy Story. At the time, I figured that I must be in the minority. Judging from the massive gaming franchise this spin-off has turned into(though I've only played this, the second game, and demo versions of the third and Air Attack), I can surmise that I was mistaken. Nevertheless, even as a fan of the game and the concept, I can't deny the sad and simple truth; this first game wasn't particularly good. The design is lazy and underwhelming. The areas are tired and dull to look at. The graphics in general are unimpressive. The score is uninspired, and often downright intrusive. The sound in general is substandard, though the voice acting isn't too bad. The AI leaves a lot to be desired. Often, you are required to protect or rescue other characters, and these missions prove to be downright frustrating, as a direct result of this. You cannot issue orders to the men you are meant to keep alive, so they stay on a fixed path, no matter which obstacles they find on it(presumably, this was done to ease the programming of the levels). Few fight back. Something anyone playing this game will learn quickly, as I did, is that the "solo" missions are by far the most entertaining. They occasionally have a Rambo feel to them, with you as the one man army out to save the day, though some require more tactics. But the squad-based combat... well, it's nearly non-existent. You can only issue a few orders. You can ask your squad to follow you, attack or defend an area. That's it. Really, as much as I respect 3DO and have enjoyed their games, they should have made a definite choice here; improve the squad AI before you release the game, or make it be Sarge trapped behind enemy lines, with no means of getting troops to him. Honestly, I can't think of many(if any) levels that would be hurt by removing the squad system. The levels are divided as follows; three different area types, those being desert, mountains and swamps. Each area type has about ten different missions, scattered across four maps. This means that there's only twelve actual maps for the entire game, and you complete a few missions on each before you move on to the next. Each mission usually takes few minutes to complete, once you know what to do and you do it right... making the game possibly to beat within the same day you acquire a copy(relative to how much spare time the buyer has, that is). The game offers you precious few tips on how to do what it asks you to do, though it is generally fairly specific on what you are to do to complete your objectives. Important tactical information is often found on the map... of course, that requires the player to look at it, something the game never even suggests might be a good idea. The boot camp instructs how to use the weapons, and how to control the simplistic squad system, and even goes into vehicles(which are not all that much in the game), but doesn't even mention the map. Missions are often best solved by the player trying out all the possibilities, and going by whatever works(keeping in mind that there is no save feature... the game only saves your progress when you've completed a mission), which occasionally leads to downright ridiculous tactics. It's as if the level designers had one particular solution in mind for each level, and they want you to find out what that was and do it. A strategy game should offer battles that you want to fight again... great experiences that excite the spirit and tax the brain. Here, you're simply glad you got through the level. This really feels far more like an action game... an overly hard one, at that(with locked difficulty settings). The interface is fairly easy to get into, but it's tough to love. Control is slow... like you're moving a mech rather than a toy soldier. Yes, I would guess it's fairly close to how fast the movement and reaction speed of a real soldier is, but here, it's just annoying. Now, the game is not without good parts... the plot is actually quite good, if the ending is somewhat unsatisfying(and obvious, to a degree). Also, the weapons, though limited in number, are *very* fun. Hand-grenades, mortars, mines, explosives, and, (oh yeah!) flamethrowers... and let it be known that these soldiers don't just look plastic, they act it, too. Light up and watch the enemy melt. Blow them up and see the plastic bits scatter. I also found the method of firing the grenade weapons much, much better in this than in the second game, though I will grant that it can be a little annoying and take some getting used to. You can only carry three weapons at a time... the rifle being one of them(which, by default, is semi-automatic, though there is at least one upgrade to fully automatic on each map, usually in the first mission, if you'll look for it, which I advise anyone playing to do), the secondary including basically all of the remaining weapons(yup, sadly so), and the third being the "special" stuff, such as aforementioned explosives, as well as mines, mobile health packs and a mine detector. The multi-player has fine connection, but offers too few maps and playing modes. The vehicle system is great, though aiming(as when on foot) could have been improved. All in all, this feels rushed and simply does little to leave a lasting impression. It should be noted and remembered for having started the game series, but for little else. I recommend this to fans of the series and idea, but few others. 6/10