The Army Men series from 3DO has been, up to this point, a set of
titles high on concept but terrible on delivery. It all began in 1998
with the release of Army Men, a strategy game that allowed us to
relive our childhood memories of playing with little plastic war
figures. Shortly thereafter, 3DO presented us with Army Men II. As
if the first two titles weren't enough, Army Men: Toys in Space
soon followed. The series reached a new low with the release of
Toys in Space and I for one had hoped that, much like the Lost
Ark, those little plastic men would be packed away in their toy
chest forever. To my chagrin, yet another Army Men title was
ready for release. Army Men: Air Tactics has arrived, making it
now four Army Men titles in the last two years.
Army Men: Air Tactics continues the saga that features the heroic
Green Army battling the evil Tan Army. The Tan Army is once
against bent on global domination and have enlisted the help of
the Insane Grey Doctor to create a new destructive force to help in
their pursuits. You play the role of Captain William Blade, the
finest Air Cavalry flyer ever to take to the skies. Your job is to
discover the Tan Army's evil plot and thwart their evil doings.
The three previous Army Men titles have all been strategy titles,
but Air Tactics is probably best described as a shooter. I guess 3DO
finally figured out that their strategy formula wasn't quite working,
so a switch to a different genre is a breathe of fresh air for the
series. Unfortunately, while the action can be fast and furious, Air
Tactics ultimately follows in the footsteps of it's predecessors.
That's to say it's a game that is high on ideas but poor on delivery.
Air Tactics features 20 single player missions that take place in all
sorts of locales including the Sandbox, the Flower Garden, the
Bathroom and the Alpine Village. No matter how many Army Men
titles I play, the environments continue to be entertaining in a
'Honey, I shrunk the Kids' kind of way. Soaring through worlds in
which common objects are ten times you're size just never gets
old. Within each mission, you'll also find yourself travelling
through dimensional portals that lead back to the Army Men world.
Missions are objective oriented, usually involving search and
destroy, search and rescue, and other miscellaneous tasks such as
repairing or destroying certain structures and escorting supplies
through dangerous terrain. This brings us to the downfall of the
series up to this point. While the environments are detailed and
entertaining, the mission design is completely uninteresting. With
all the possibilities that lay out there with this concept, missions
are nothing more than blowing every baddie in sight. Most
missions also require a little puzzle solving, many of which are
extremely tedious and time wasting. I found myself on several
occasions searching for that one elusive object that needs to be
manipulated in order to advance further in the mission.
There are three different helicopters available in Air Tactics,
although you don't get your choice of which to fly. As you advance
through each mission, new and improved helicopters become
available for your use. In this case, new and improved helicopters
simply means helicopters that have been upgraded with more
cargo slots and space for onboard weapons. There is actually no
difference between the helicopters themselves in terms of flight
speed, manoeuvrability, etc. There is an assortment of weapons
available in Air Tactics including machine guns, napalm and
firecrackers.
Visually, Air Tactics looks exactly like the previous Army Men
titles. 3DO is certainly getting its money's worth from this engine.
While the graphics do look fuzzy at times, the overall presentation
continues to be quite stellar. In terms of audio, Air Tactics features
the familiar patriot-themed music. The sound effects are relatively
basic, so if you've played any of the other Army Men titles, you'll
know exactly what you're in store for, an average audio
presentation.
Flying the helicopter is a relatively simple task. Altitude has not
been taken into consideration in Air Tactics, there's really only a
directional component to worry about, besides the firing
mechanisms. The helicopter also lands by itself when you fly over
a landing zone. The mouse is used to direct the line of fire and an
auto-combat feature has been added to assist beginners with
targeting and weapon control.
In terms of multiplayer, Air Tactics features Internet play. There
are eight unique multiplayer levels available and three styles of
gameplay: Save Scavenge, Deathmatch and Bug Hunt. Savage
Scavenge is a mode where you simply need to recover more
specified items than your enemies. Deathmatch is exactly that, a
head-to-head battle where the object is to destroy your opponents
as many times as you can. Bug Hunt is another head-to-head game
where the object is to smash as many insects as you can, scoring
points along the way. For your gaming pleasure, a whole new
assortment of mutant insects have been created including killer
roaches, acid-shooting houseflies and fire ants. Yes, that's right,
fire ants. Wooooo!
The more I played Air Tactics, the less interested I became. It did
not hold my interest through each mission and that's been the
downfall of this series. You can create all sorts of wonderful worlds
to battle in, but if the gameplay isn't interesting, there is no way
you'll hold any gamers' attention. There have been four Army Men
titles in the last two years, shouldn't this tell us something? It
seems absolutely no time is spent designing interesting and
unique situations. It seems the Army Men name is just being
milked for all it's worth and at this point in time, that's not much at
all.
[ 15/20 ] Graphics
[ 11/15 ] Sound
[ 14/30 ] Gameplay
[ 08/20 ] Fun Factor
[ 03/05 ] Multiplayer
[ 05/10 ] Overall Impression