After Army Men II, I kind of thought 3DO perfected the Army Men formula. Where could they possibly go up from there? Like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, they answered that question with "Space!" Adding aliens is when most series jump the shark. Army Men's advantage, however, is that it started off in mid-air over the shark, so this pretty much just ends up feeling like "Eh, okay. Aliens. Why not?" The story takes place after the events of Army Men II. As the Green and Tan armies continue to clash, a flying saucer descends from orbit and crash lands in Tan territory. General Plastro of the Tan Army manages to strike up an alliance with the Aliens to crush the Green Army. In exchange, the Tan agree to aid the Aliens in their war against the Galactic Army. Naturally, the Galactic Army and its leader, Tina Tomorrow, ally with the Green Army. While this pretty much just ends up being more of the same gameplay but with sci-fi units thrown into the mix, when you're getting more of something that's fantastic like Army Men II's gameplay, that's nothing but a good thing. Graphically, it's a little bit better than Army Men II. The colors are a bit more saturated, and the visuals look a bit sharper, but it's generally what you would expect from an Army Men II sequel. I don't think the music is quite as good, but the sound effects are either the same or slightly improved depending on the specific sound effect. The new sound effects, though, like the lasers and the alien death noises, are awesome. The laser weapons have a deep, meaty sound to them. There are some awesome new weapons here. You can upgrade the vulcan gun to a laser rifle, you can get napalm mortars and air strikes, and you can call in a spacecraft to beam down Galactic Army troops the same way you can call in a plane to drop Green paratroopers in. The AI is honestly my biggest complaint about the game. The enemy AI will usually put up a good, stiff challenge, but the AI for your troops? Dumb as a sack of rocks. Doorways and small rocks are the bane of the Green Army. Army Men: Toys in Space is a weird follow-up to Army Men II, but it's definitely a good one. It's got a custom battle mode very similar to Army Men II's, and that's where you'll probably spend the majority of your time. I played through the campaign in like once or twice as a kid and then dumped a few hundred hours into the custom battles. I'm not sure I'd call this a "must play" if you just want the random custom battles - stick with Army Men II - but if you want a new experience of the same style, then Toys in Space is exactly what you want. The campaign falls far short of Army Men II's campaign in my opinion, but it's still a fun playthrough. 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
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