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Game Information

Release Date: November 2, 1999
Developer: 3DO
Publisher: 3DO
Platform(s): Windows, PlayStation
Genre: Action
Players: 1-2

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Synopsis

In ARMY MEN: Air Attack, the evil Tan army is making a move into Green territory. Only one man has the ability to stop their advance: Captain William Blade. Take command of Blade and his ragtag crew of chopper pilots as they fly one of four choppers Huey, Chinook, Super Stallion, or Apache through 16 missions of plastic carnage. Help them maneuver through perilous settings like the "Backyard" and the "Picnic." When you get tired of seeing your buddies melted on the barbecue, call a friend to help you in the Cooperative Play mode. If sharing is not your thing, knock your friend's chopper out of the sky in a head-to-head match up. Either way, with ARMY MEN: Air Attack, it's real combat with plastic men.

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Story

A lone pilot, Captain William Blade, is shot down while returning to base to bring in more supplies to the Green army, which is battling the Tan army, and ends up stranded on the outskirts of in which eventually ends in a stalemate. During this battle, he is signaling for help from fellow helicopters flying over head, but no one is willing to pick him up. Until one crew comes along that call themselves Alpha Wolf Battalion. After they have picked him up they learn of his skills and recruit him to the crew. They then promote him leader and it is now up to them to defeat the Tan army and liberate all areas conquered by them.

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Gameplay

In Air Attack, you pilot a helicopter through fifteen different levels battling against the Tan army and bugs they have taken control of. Each level has different objectives you must complete that get more and more challenging along the way such as defending tanks, troops, trucks, UFOs, trains, transporting objects, and aiding helicopters. There are four different helicopters you can unlock in the campaign, but you must find all of the parts that are hidden in each mission, sometimes having two. These four helicopters are the Huey, Chinook, Super Stallion, and Apache. Each has unique differences that are able to do one thing better than the other. The Huey is a cruiser that can transport troops, the Chinook is slow, but heavily armored and can lift heavier objects, the Super Stallion is a quick and well-armored machine that is designed as a tank destroyer, and the Apache is an all-around perfect flying machine with precise rockets, agility, speed, armor, and is capable of holding several different types of rockets.

In the campaign you play as an Air Cavalry pilot named Captain William Blade with four unlockable copilots: Woodstock, Rawhide, Hardcore, and Sarge Hawk. You unlock these pilots every few missions and can place any single one in your helicopter once unlocked. Each mission takes place in different areas of presumably a small city such as the park, beach, backyard, mountain side, river, and urban areas. In these areas you will encounter heavily fortified Tan bases that are guarded by helicopters, AA guns, butterflies, beetles, ants, and flies with laser weapons. The game lacks any real kind of difficulty even with there being an easy, normal, and hard. Every mission is rather a walk through once you learn how to control the helicopter.

In two-player mode there are three different game modes to choose from: Co-op, Flag-Nab-It which is just capture the flag, and Team Deathmatch. In Flag-Nab-It, you play against each other to capture the others flag and return it to your base with enemy AIs trying to kill both of you. First to capture ten wins. Team Deathmatch is pretty self-explanatory, but there is a twist. You can both have bugs battling along the side. These bugs include, flies, beetles, butterflies, ants, cockroaches, bees, and snails.

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Graphics

Being plastic toys everything looks fairly decent. There is a good amount of shine on everything from the sun, the bugs look pretty detailed, terrains look excellent being close to what they're supposed to look like without being blocky, and the environment changes accordingly, though the backgrounds lack the detailing to make it a very appealing game with it mostly being a dull, bland mix of brown and white. The sky is like this as well, except for at night. Everything runs very smooth most of the time, though there may be a few spikes from too many explosions going on, but doesn't have a huge effect on the gameplay.

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Controls

For a beginner, this game will be very difficult to get used to and learn. But, for an experienced gamer, there shouldn't be any problems. The D-pads control the flight meaning the analogs play no role, every button does a different thing, and your triggers will fire and change the missiles you would like to use. Every so often, the controls will also lag making you a sitting duck while everything else is running just fine. This will be a tad annoying if constant.

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Ratings

Gameplay: 8.5/10
Graphics: 8/10
Controls: 7/10
Overall: 8/10