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Game Information

Release Date: September 30, 1999
Developer: 3DO
Publisher: 3DO
Platform(s): Nintendo 64, PlayStation, Dreamcast, Windows
Genre: Action
Players: 1-4

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Synopsis

The ARMY MEN series expands with 3DO's ARMY MEN: Sarge's Heroes. Take control of Sarge, the green grunt looking to recruit the right toys for the mission at hand the destruction of the imperious Tan Army. Your toy army is itching to get its hands on weapons of mass destruction: the plastic melting magnifying glass, the garbage disposal, and the skyrockets. Evil will reign supreme if the Tan Army gains control of the weapons. As Sarge, you'll switch between the Plastic World, where you're built to scale, and the Real World, where even the tiniest dangers can be deadly. Luckily, Sarge isn't alone. The toy soliders can utilize nine different characters, each rendered with revolutionary Plastosheen lighting effects, as they march through 14 missions containing 70 objectives, and fight with 13 different weapons. As if this combat isn't enough for the most battle grizzled veterans, multiplayer options give you the opportunity to blow your friends to bits.

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Story

Sargent Hawk has been separated from his squad and is lost in a random world being to delusional to realize where he is. His mission once he comes back to reality is to reassemble his squad that has been captured by the evil Tan army. While doing this, he learns that General Plastro, leader of the Tan army, has created new super weapons made of household items and toys that were taken from the real world, or "Big World" so they call it, through portals that connect to their world, the "Plastic World". After he successfully finds his captured squad mates and frees them, it is up to them to find General Plastro and defeat him and the Tan army before they enslave and destroy the entire Green army and their world as they know it, the Plastic World.

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Gameplay

You play as Sarge, the main protagonist, as you make your way through several different battlefields mainly trying to eliminate the Tan army with a few objectives you have to complete to finish each mission. As you make your way through you will have to pick up different weapons like the M16, a sniper-rifle, shotguns, grenades, bazookas, and mines to defeat them. You'll also need to find supplies and unique weapons that pertain to the objectives, and some, just to mess around and have fun. Like the flamethrower - you can sit there and burn the enemy until they have melted into a pile of plastic. Each mission also has numerous obstacles you either have to climb over, crawl silently to take out a high-valued target, or slowly maneuver through such as the vast mine fields. Each mission takes place in very different areas as well. One second you'll be in a bedroom and the next, after you have stepped into the portal, you'll be in a realistic army base where you are almost microscopic.

Each mission is pretty basic and straightforward leaving nothing to really explore, besides the environment if you really wanted to do that. It's almost like a race from point A to B. The game is really more about living to finish the mission than having fun and exploring the game.

In multi-player mode or two-player mode, you can play co-op and play the exact same story as in single-player. With more than two players, you can play several different game modes: Capture the Flag, Team Deathmatch, Free for All, and Advance. They are all pretty self-explanatory besides Advance. In Advance, there are two teams that start on either end of the map. There is a flag in the middle and the teams must hold the ground around the flag until it moves slightly closer to the enemies spawn. If you have ever played an older Call of Duty, it is essentially an old version of War.

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Graphics

In the first port of this game (N64 and PS) the game was very buggy and laggy. Environments were very blocky and bland, characters weren't very well designed-even though they were 3D-, and the battle scenes looked almost scripted. However, this was greatly improved once it was released on the Dreamcast and PC. Characters were redefined, environments now look realistic and outstanding, and the missions in general have been greatly improved with vast extensions leaving more exploring to do instead of starting and ending. That being said, the game still has it's issues such as the lag that comes with too much action going on and the frequent freezes that come with this as well. Vehicles have also been added such as tanks and jeeps that arguably have the most detail in the game.

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Controls

Controls are rather simple and straightforward with nothing too challenging or complicated. Analog or D-pad (whichever you desire) will move the character forward, back, and side to side. Triggers will aim and shoot and the buttons will control everything else from throwing grenades to hopping over walls and ledges.

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Ratings

Gameplay: 8/10
Graphics: 7.5/10
Controls: 9/10
Overall: 8.5/10