A Review: Army Men - Air Combat, N64 2000
Army Men: Air Combat (or Army Men: Air Attack for the PlayStation One) is a third-person shooter that puts the player in the role of a Green Air Force Captain, William Blade. As he and his ragtag bunch of 'chopper' pilots go up against the forces of the evil Tan Army.
Play is focused on flying a 'chopper' that is reminiscent of the United States Army Bell UH-1 Iroquois “Huey” through a series of missions to halt the evil Tan army from taking Green territory and trying to take over the world. Air Combat is one of a series of games that were inspired by the Army Men from the popular Toy Story films and uses a 3D game engine that renders terrain and environments in real time.
I didn't find that I enjoyed this game as much as I did the other Army Men games. It just seemed to fall flat; I'd just gotten into it and was feeling my groove when I finished the last mission. I just don't feel that this game was really long enough to enjoy it fully, and I found it disappointing. It didn't help that I found play a little too easy when compared to the other games too. I get that it was marketed with kids in mind, but it still could have been a little more difficult and retained that playability for younger audiences. There were some frustrating points to this game too. The control responses were very much a bugbear of mine, as they were very blunt at times and other times were sluggish and slow to translate from input to on-screen movement. I did like the carry-and-deliver missions but felt that some of the other mission types were overused and dull. The map design was also frustrating for me, as I would have thought that, as a helicopter, I could go over any terrain. Strangely though this was not the case; I was restricted to the same paths and areas as a tank or soldier. I just didn't understand why that was the case and found that being penned in annoyed me, especially as I was funnelled into enemy fire that I could have otherwise avoided. I did like the various weapon types that were available and felt that it helped to have a wide arsenal to destroy the computer-controlled forces with. Though I did feel that the enemy's were given an unfair range advantage when compared to the player and more than once took a hit too many to kill. I just can't really explain what it is about this game, but I just feel like it's not 'all there'. It very much felt like this game was a collection of missions and content that had been stripped from another game and then repackaged. It almost feels like the whole game should have been part of something much bigger.
Visually, this game wasn't too bad; it looked a little basic and bare in places but wasn't terrible. The units, tanks, and other in-game vehicles looked pretty cool, and I also liked the motion blur that was given to the rotor blades of my chopper. The colours used weren't too bad, and I liked the shading and shadow effects; they gave a nice depth to the world with how the camera was positioned. World items and objects were pretty good, and I liked the way that vehicles and units were animated. Objectives and mission-critical points on the maps were nicely coloured and clear to the player, which saved you from meaninglessly flying around searching for something important. I also liked the background objects and details; they really helped the player immerse themselves in the world of toys in the game.
Overall, I thought that this was an okay game, but nothing to write home about.
5/10 – Okay!
Signed Off – Leonardo – PSJ
Play is focused on flying a 'chopper' that is reminiscent of the United States Army Bell UH-1 Iroquois “Huey” through a series of missions to halt the evil Tan army from taking Green territory and trying to take over the world. Air Combat is one of a series of games that were inspired by the Army Men from the popular Toy Story films and uses a 3D game engine that renders terrain and environments in real time.
I didn't find that I enjoyed this game as much as I did the other Army Men games. It just seemed to fall flat; I'd just gotten into it and was feeling my groove when I finished the last mission. I just don't feel that this game was really long enough to enjoy it fully, and I found it disappointing. It didn't help that I found play a little too easy when compared to the other games too. I get that it was marketed with kids in mind, but it still could have been a little more difficult and retained that playability for younger audiences. There were some frustrating points to this game too. The control responses were very much a bugbear of mine, as they were very blunt at times and other times were sluggish and slow to translate from input to on-screen movement. I did like the carry-and-deliver missions but felt that some of the other mission types were overused and dull. The map design was also frustrating for me, as I would have thought that, as a helicopter, I could go over any terrain. Strangely though this was not the case; I was restricted to the same paths and areas as a tank or soldier. I just didn't understand why that was the case and found that being penned in annoyed me, especially as I was funnelled into enemy fire that I could have otherwise avoided. I did like the various weapon types that were available and felt that it helped to have a wide arsenal to destroy the computer-controlled forces with. Though I did feel that the enemy's were given an unfair range advantage when compared to the player and more than once took a hit too many to kill. I just can't really explain what it is about this game, but I just feel like it's not 'all there'. It very much felt like this game was a collection of missions and content that had been stripped from another game and then repackaged. It almost feels like the whole game should have been part of something much bigger.
Visually, this game wasn't too bad; it looked a little basic and bare in places but wasn't terrible. The units, tanks, and other in-game vehicles looked pretty cool, and I also liked the motion blur that was given to the rotor blades of my chopper. The colours used weren't too bad, and I liked the shading and shadow effects; they gave a nice depth to the world with how the camera was positioned. World items and objects were pretty good, and I liked the way that vehicles and units were animated. Objectives and mission-critical points on the maps were nicely coloured and clear to the player, which saved you from meaninglessly flying around searching for something important. I also liked the background objects and details; they really helped the player immerse themselves in the world of toys in the game.
Overall, I thought that this was an okay game, but nothing to write home about.
5/10 – Okay!
Signed Off – Leonardo – PSJ
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