Team Buddies
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Team Buddies is a game released for the PlayStation on September 18th, 2000. It was published by Midway Games and developed by Psygnosis Camden Studio (now SCE Studio Soho).
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[edit] Story
One fine and sunny day in the land that Buddies roam, there was a great and mighty disco in a tent. This tent would bob up and down with the music. All of a sudden, a large, flat, grey, flying THING blocked out the sun and began to drop crates. These crates were filled with all sorts of goodies such as Uzis and Bazookas. Inevitably, chaos broke out and the buddies became segregated according to color.
[edit] Gameplay
The game is a mix of Worms' goofiness and a typical real-time strategy game. Central to the game's theme is the ability of a team of buddies to stack crates in a 2x2x2 pad located in their starting area. Stacking the crates in different ways make different items when the resulting larger crate is broken; for example, a single crate on a stacking pad produces a light weapon, four crates positioned horizontally makes a heavy weapon, and filling the pad creates a vehicle. Up to three additional team members can also be created by stacking crates directly on top of each other; these new "buddies" can be commanded to attack or defend a certain area or even build on the stacking pad on their own. The player can swap between any of the buddies under his or her control in order to make use of that particular unit's powers or weapons.
In addition to a stacking pad, each starting point has a large base building which can be attacked and destroyed. If a base is destroyed, the stacking pad for that team can no longer be used; this means that new members cannot be created, making destroying the base a top priority for securing victory. A team without a base is also unable to build new weapons and must rely on those dropped by the enemy or found around the map (although a fast unit can steal a weapon from an enemy pad as it is being opened).
A typical map will have one or two "crate drop" areas, where the crates used to build weapons and teammates fall from the sky. Most crates in the game are yellow with red borders, but yellow crates with blue borders also drop from time to time. Adding one of these to a crate formation causes the object or unit created by it to have increased abilities; for example, a higher rate of fire or range for a weapon or more hit points for a unit or vehicle. In certain maps, mega-crates also drop if certain conditions are met; these large, grey crates contain a weapon or vehicle not normally found in that particular area.
Team Buddies also supports split-screen multiplayer for up to four players. There are several different game types in multiplayer:
[edit] Deathmatch
A straightforward game type in which all the members of all opposing teams must be eliminated to win. If there are two or more human players and three or more players overall, the ghosts option can be turned on. In this mode, the last member of a completley eliminated team remains in play as a slow-moving, invisible ghost. If the ghost walks into the smoking boots of a recently killed unit, it is resurrected and can continue to stack crates and attack enemies.
[edit] Domination
Around the map are "domination points," which can be anything from ankhs to trees, that must be captured in order to achieve victory. Holding a domination point for a 5 seconds gives a team a point; multiple domination points grant multiple points, and the first team to reach the required amount of points (or has the highest amount of points when the timer runs out) wins. Domination points are captured simply by touching them, which changes them to the team's color. Teams cannot be eliminated in a Domination match; if all members of a team are destroyed, another unit of the lowest type spawns at their stacking pad, armed with the lowest available weapon if the pad has been deactivated.
[edit] Capture
Similar to capture the flag, this game type requires teams to steal animals from an enemy's pen and return them to their own pen. Animals must be stunned with an attack before picking them up (animals can also be killed, in which case they respawn back at their pen). The animals will attempt to break free if carried (even by their own team) and return to their pen; however, lacking a decent sense of direction can lead to several teams at once looking for the same animal. Shooting a unit carrying an animal causes it to drop the animal. 10 points are awarded for dropping an enemy animal in your team's pen; an additional 5 are awarded if your team's animal is also in the pen.
[edit] Bomball
An explosive grey ball spawns at the center of the arena if there is not one present already. Each team has three members armed with the lowest weapon of the game's chosen weapon set; if killed, an idential one will spawn shortly after. The goal of the game is to carry the ball to an enemy goal and throw it (by jumping and dropping it) between the two goalposts. Once a ball is thrown, a timer begins to count down; once the timer reaches zero, the ball explodes, dealing (usually lethal) damage to any nearby buddies. Points are awarded for throwing the ball through a set of goalposts, and additional points are given for a ball exploding in a black- and yellow-striped goal area immediately behind them.
[edit] Style
One of the distinctive aspects of Team Buddies is its visual style. All the buddies and various other creatures in the game have pill-shaped bodies (with the exception of the moon-dwelling "baddies" encountered late in the single-player game) and disjointed limbs reminescent of Rayman. Environments are brightly colored and angular, gaining most of their detail through texturing rather than more detailed polygons. Nearly all of the weapons encountered are similarly simplistic and usually one or two solid colors (the uzi, the first light weapon the player encounters, is a simple blue rectangle with a grey cylinder for the muzzle and handle) and with clearly visible arrows pointing out the way projectiles exit. Terrain darkens and deforms if hit with an explosion, creating fairly realistic craters and scorch marks where a battle has taken place.
In multiplayer, a variety of skins can be unlocked to personalize a particular match, from zombies to underwear to English football uniforms (the shape of the buddies, however does not change). Depending on the team color a player chooses, his or her buddies will have a different accent, ranging from generic American and British speak to the particular dialog sets of some of the units as heard in single-player mode.
[edit] Crate Formations
In the single-player missions, all missions in a particular world use the same weapon set. One a world has been cleared, that weapon set is available for use in multiplayer. Once all worlds have been cleared, a variety of specialized weapon sets are unlocked, which inlude every weapon and vehicle in the game, with a few notable exceptions (unarmed vehicles and boss vehicles).
Listed bellow are some of the things that can be created in each category:
[edit] Light weapons (one crate)
- Uzi 9mm
- Shotgun
- Pocket Rocket
- Fireball
- Ice Gun
- Tazar
- Pocket Missile
- Laser Rifle
[edit] Grenades (2 crates horizontally)
- Grenades
- Time Bomb
- Napalm Grenade
- Cluster Grenade
- Ice Grenade
- Scatter Bomb
- Lighting Grenade
- Dam Buster
- Ankh
[edit] Heavy Weapon(4 crates horizontally)
- Bazooka
- Gatling Gun
- Flamethrower
- 4-Pack Rocket
- Power Orb gun
- 4-Pack Missile
- Lighting Gun
- Pulse Rifle
- Suicide Bomb
[edit] Units (2 crates vertically creates one type, 4 crates vertically creates another type)
- Infuntry - a basic buddy with decent HP and basic abilities.
- Commando - an improved infuntry with faster strafing and a more powerful unarmed attack.
- Medic - a medic's unarmed attack inflates (or "pumps up") enemy or ally buddies, healing them but restricting their movement and greatly reducing their defense. Medics' hit points constantly regenerate.
- Ninja - a fast unit with a high jump and a fast attack. Ninjas' unarmed attacks can seperate joined blocks on a stacking pad.
- Cyborg - a highly durable unit that cannot be flattened by running it over with a vehicle. In addition, cyborgs' unarmed attacks can damage vehicles.
- Stealthy - statistically identical to an infuntry but becomes invisible after a short period. Taking damage, firing a weapon, or stepping in ater reveals a cloaked buddy.
- Super - a unit with greatly increased statistics, gliding jumps, and a powerful laser-vision unarmed attack. They cannot use weapons or vehicles. A blue crate added to a Super Buddy allows the unit to remain in the air indefinitely by holding the jump button.
[edit] Vehicles (8 crates)
- Tank
- Helicopter
- Aircraft
- Bikes
- Jeep
- Mechwalker
- UFO
[edit] External links
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