Army Men: RTS

Army Men: RTS
Developer(s)	Pandemic Studios
Publisher(s)	The 3DO Company
Series	Army Men
Engine	Dark Reign 2
Platforms	Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, GameCube
Release date(s)	Windows PlayStation 2 GameCube
Genre(s)	Real-time strategy
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer (Windows only)

Army Men: RTS is a video game in the Army Men video game series. In this real time strategy game, Sarge, his heroes and the Green Army are hungry to put an end to their nemesis once and for all, the tyrannical Tan army, battling them in 15 campaigns missions, 8 special operation missions and 8 great battles in The 3DO Company's farewell to this series. The Greenies hit dirt paths, linoleum floors and carpets and weave through flower beds, strewn boxes and toy train sets to collect plastic and electricity to build snipers to clear the field from afar or amass an army that overwhelms the opposition. The game is based on the movie "Apocalypse Now," where the good guys hunt down an insane colonel, here Colonel Blintz.

Gameplay

Several paratroopers attack a tower as reinforcements drop in. A few large pieces of plastic are visible from where other Tan units were destroyed.

Army Men: RTS's gameplay requires the acquisition and extraction of two resources to build structures, vehicles and soldiers: plastic and electricity. Plastic, required for every construct, is taken from objects such as Frisbees, dog bowls and toys strewn about levels ranging from a front yard to a kitchen counter and even a basement. On destruction of a plastic object, a lump of plastic is left behind until a dump truck, the collector of plastic and electricity, slugs by and vacuums it. Electricity is drawn from batteries, toasters and walkie-talkies. Construction and upgrades of most buildings and some soldiers are contingent on some buildings having been built. For instance, at the onset of the game the resource depot, the processing facility, must be built so that dump trucks have somewhere to unload their collections.

Players use their resources to construct buildings and units. Because both factions have access to the same units, or infantry and vehicles, advantage lies at how they're used. Some buildings assemble vehicles and produce soldiers and others provide defense. Production buildings can be upgraded to produce better units. Infantry troops are cheap to produce but are not as tough, while vehicles tend to be costly. Vehicles range from dump trucks and base-building bulldozers to helicopters, tanks and half-tracks to Dum-dums, suicidal robots armed with firecrackers. Aside from grunts and grenadiers, infantry units have a special tasks: Minesweepers defuse mines, snipers are deadly from distance and mortar men, especially three or more, rain ruination on buildings in short order.

Due to the nature of each unit, players must counter whatever they are facing. Without breaking a sweat, a cadre of snipers could wipe out a battalion of grunts, but snipers would be helpless against a half-track. Countering the half-track with a tank would leave a weakness to choppers. Players must balance strengths and weaknesses of their forces and their opponent's forces with the cost of producing the units.

Level balance can be changed by other factors. Power-ups, which can improve the speed, health, or damage of whichever side finds them first, cause a disparity between the sides. Heroes, powerful versions of the regular infantry, possess greater durability and can cause great substantially more damage than their cohorts before being destroyed. Insects, chiefly ants, act as free units for whichever side is allied with them. The secondary objectives of single player missions often deal with one of these things.

Plot

Similarly to a plot point of game's precursor, Army Men II, the insane Colonel Blintz of the Green army has turned Tan and taken a house, and the soldiers under his command, with him. Sarge is called by Colonel Grimm to take it back. He leads the Green Army in breaking through the Tan defenses.

Sarge is accompanied by various members of Bravo Company who secure the front yard, destroy a garden light, and lead an assault on the Tan held front door only to find it locked. Grimm contacts Sarge via radio, and tells him they can enter the house though a basement window. After destroying a base by the window Sarge and the heroes jump down into the basement.

Once in the Basement Sarge, Riff, Scorch, Hoover, Thick and newcomer Bullseye travel through the basement fighting ants. Grimm contacts Sarge and tells him Blintz has sent bombers to kill them. They make it to the stairs and into the kitchen before the bombers arrive. In the kitchen, Sarge oversees the rebuilding of a Green base under the table and destroys anti-air emplacements before being airlifted to the counter-top. He then leads the Green army in an attack on a factory Blintz built in the sink before moving into the living room.

Here, the heroes secure a PlayStation 2 (a karaoke machine on GameCube's version) which the Tan were using as an energy source. Blintz contacts them through the living room television and tells Sarge they are nothing but playthings. Blintz destroys the PlayStation 2 in a bombing run. Bravo Company then moves to the foot of the stairs where they build another base and escort plastic villagers to safety across the living room.

Sarge and his heroes climb the stairs where they make their way across a bathroom sink whilst being ruthlessly pursued by ants. They jump from the sink only to be captured upon entering the next room. Only Hoover manages to evade capture and assists the Green Army in building a base and assaulting the Tan to free the heroes.

Bravo Company makes it into the attic, and destroys a model train bridge Blintz is using to transport resources into his base for his army. They make their way farther into the attic to find Vikki is already there, having hitched a ride with the air cavalry. She tells them about a train they can take farther into the attic, and the heroes fight their way to the train. Sarge discovers the tan are holding the ant queen, which explains why they were only attacking the Green Army. Sarge can chose whether or not to free her; either way, the Green fight their way to Blintz's main base. Here, Blintz barricades himself in his fortress, and the Green Army must flush him out. In the final cut scene, Sarge peels the tan off Blintz personally, and Grimm congratulates him via radio, promising "cake and ice cream."

Multiplayer

The PC version of Army Men: RTS allows for multiplayer with up to eight people. A copy of GameSpy Arcade was bundled with the game (Which has since been discontinued). Players can team up in multiplayer matches, or the battle can be a free-for-all. Victory occurs when the opposing side has no Headquarters and cannot build one in three minutes. Aside from GameSpy Arcade, connections can be made on a LAN, or through a direct connection between players.

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores Aggregator Score GameRankings (PS2) 72.85% (PC) 66.12% (GC) 59.50% Metacritic (PS2) 68/100 (PC) 67/100 (GC) 65/100 Review scores Publication Score AllGame EGM 6.5/10 Game Informer 6/10 GamePro Game Revolution B− GameSpot (PS2) 7.8/10 (PC) 7.1/10 (GC) 6.9/10 GameSpy 72% GameZone 8.5/10 IGN (PC) 7.7/10 (PS2) 5.4/10 Nintendo Power 3.8/5 OPM (US) PC Gamer (US) 57%

The game was met with mixed reception, although reviews were more leaning towards positive. GameRankings and Metacritic gave it a score of 72.85% and 68 out of 100 for the PlayStation 2 version; 66.12% and 67 out of 100 for the PC version; and 59.50% and 65 out of 100 for the GameCube version.

External links

• Army Men: RTS at DMOZ
• Army Men: RTS at MobyGames