Technically, Army Men III doesn't actually exist as a commercial game. It's an abandoned fan-made game done in Unreal Engine 4 that takes place after the events of Army Men II but seems to exclude the events of Army Men: Toys in Space. Unfortunately, having been abandoned, the game will probably never be finished and stay in a rough beta state forever. That's a shame, too, because this beta is the foundations of a REALLY good game. Certainly better than the garbage that Global Star Software or Take Two Interactive released. Picking up after Major Mylar's defeat at the end of Army Men II, this is the fan-made conclusion to what was originally intended to be a trilogy following Sarge's exploits and culminating with a showdown with the mad Grey doctor who created the zombie experiments. Unfortunately, 3DO never finished that story opting to pivot to Army Men: Toys in Space and Army Men: Air Tactics before shifting their focus to the Nintendo 64 and especially the PlayStation. Unlike the overhead tactics-esque gameplay of Army Men and Army Men II, Army Men III takes a third person shooter perspective somewhat akin to Sarge's Heroes but with a faster paced feel. Think Gears of War rather than Uncharted. While the game does follow Sarge's battles, you don't actually play as Sarge. Instead, you play as a Green corporal named Wallace Niles who assists Sarge on his missions, sometimes on the same battlefield and sometimes in a support role by handling a task that frees Sarge up to handle the war's main objectives. The game was in an alpha or beta state when it was abandoned, so unfortunately, only a quarter of the intended campaign is playable - four, I think, of the intended 16 levels - and what's there, while completely playable and a lot of fun, is pretty buggy. The physics feel weird with bizarre ragdoll effects that would be at home in a Bethesda RPG, and sometimes it takes the game fifteen or twenty seconds to realize you've died before giving you the option to quit or reload. It took me about an hour and a half to get through what of the game was made, so it's not a terribly long demo, but as is the case with the best games in my opinion, what it lacks in quantity of gameplay, it makes up for in quality. This is one of the most addicting non-commercial fan-games I've ever played. I've seen some on ModDB claim this is the "best Army Men game ever," and I'm not prepared to go quite that far - Army Men II and Sarge's Heroes 2 still exist - it is a DAMN good game. Sound design is a bit wonky, but it's a fan-made game that never got finished and features full voice acting; wonk is part of the deal. Visually, the game looks pretty good for the most part, but there are some visual and performance issues that crop up here and there. Some of the textures look great while others look a bit muddy and blurred. I imagine a lot of that would have been worked out before a final release if the game had gotten one, but as it is, the game is a bit of a mixed bag visually. As for performance, a lot of the game runs extremely smoothly, but there are times where it gets super choppy and chugs for a second or two. I'm running a RTX 4090 and a 13th gen i9, so I know it isn't a hardware issue. Despite that, though, there's a ton of fun to be had here, and the missions give you some solid variety of objectives and a huge array of vehicles and weapons to use to shoot, blow up, or melt your Tan foes. In addition to the campaign, there's also a skirmish mode that lets you battle in some pretty cool and varied environments that you don't get to see in the short available campaign missions. Army Men III is an interesting experience. As a fan-made game, it's an exceptional foundation, but as the project was abandoned years ago, it will never live up to its full - and undoubtedly awesome - potential. It's got, in my opinion, the most fast paced combat of any Army Men game, and it's a shame that we didn't get to see that fleshed out. If Take-Two would actually DO something with the IP, they could look to Army Men III for inspiration and make an awesome budget game to reboot the series, but as that's unlikely, this unfinished and rough around the edges demo is sadly going to have to suffice for a "modern" Army Men experience. Still, though it's unfinished, it's also free, so there's no reason not to give it a download and try it out. My Rating - C |
I'm a teacher.And I like to play video games. I like to collect video games. I like to talk about video games, and I like to write about video games. During the day, I teach high school history; during the night, I spend my spare time gaming. Then I write about it. Archives
April 2024
|