Army Men: RTS
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| Army Men: RTS | |
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| Developer(s) | Pandemic Studios |
| Publisher(s) | 3DO |
| Platform(s) | Windows PC, PlayStation 2, GameCube |
| Release date | Windows: NA March 28, 2002[1] PlayStation 2: NA March 29, 2002[2] GameCube: NA November 10, 2004[3] |
| Genre(s) | Real-time strategy |
| Mode(s) | Single player, Multiplayer (Windows only)[1] |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: T |
| System requirements | P233MHz processor, 64MB RAM, 4MB VRAM video card, 250MB free disk space [1] |
| Input methods | Gamepad (PlayStation 2 and Gamecube) or keyboard and mouse (Windows) |
Army Men: RTS is a game in the Army Men video game series. It is a real time strategy game. The game includes 16 campaign missions, 8 "special operation" missions and 8 "great battles" missions. The game revolves around collecting resources (Plastic & Electricity) and using it to build structures and troops while fighting the tan army. Each structure/soldier requires a certain amount of resources. The game is heavily based on the movie "Apocalypse Now", as the player has to hunt down an insane colonel. [4]
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[edit] Gameplay
Army Men: RTS's gameplay requires the acquisition and control of two resources; plastic and electricity, which are necessary to construct combat units and buildings. Plastic, which is required for all normal units, is taken from everyday objects, including Frisbees, dog bowls, and toys. Additionally, whenever a unit or structure is destroyed, a chunk of plastic worth a fraction of its initial cost appears where it was destroyed. Plastic is 'harvested' by Dump Trucks. Electricity, which is required for vehicles and Radio operator stuff, is drawn from electrical objects, such as batteries, toasters, and walkie-talkies. A particular structure, the Resource Depot, must be built to collect the resources gathered by the Dump Trucks.
Players use their resources to construct buildings and units. Since both factions have access to the same buildings and units neither side has an innate advantage over the other. Some buildings construct new units while others provide defense for a base. The production buildings can be upgraded to produce better units. Units are either infantry or vehicles. Infantry troops are cheap to produce but are not as tough, while vehicles tend to be costly. Vehicles range from passive (dump trucks and base-building bulldozers) to aggressive (tanks and half-tracks) to defensive (mine layers) to suicidal Dum-dums, robots armed with firecrackers). Aside from grunts and grenadiers, infantry units have a special task; minesweepers clear out traps, snipers are potent anti-infantry units, and mortar men can annihilate buildings from afar.
Due to the nature of each unit, players must be able to counter whatever they are facing. A group of snipers could wipe out a force of grunts with ease, but the same group of snipers would be helpless against a half-track. Countering the half-track with a tank would leave a weakness to choppers. Players must balance both the relative 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, can cause great damage 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.
[edit] Multiplayer
The Windows version of Army Men: RTS allows for multiplayer with up to eight people.[5] A copy of GameSpy Arcade was bundled with the game. 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. Most people are part of a Clan when using Gamespy Arcade.
[edit] Storyline
Army Men: RTS takes place in the fictional Army Men universe, where tan and green army men wage war across two different worlds, their native plastic world and the real world. RTS only takes place in the real world, however. A key concept of several other games, plastification, the transformation of plastic soldiers into regular, immobile toys after spending too much time in the real word, is ignored in RTS.
The story centers around a house in the real world. Although the house had been under control of a Green officer, Colonel Blintz. After part of his head was shot off in a battle, Blintz disappeared, only to later reappear as a leader of Tan forces. The house fell into Tan hands, and Sarge was dispatched to terminate the traitor and regain control of the region for Green. [5]
[edit] Trivia
This is the last game of the series that 3DO made before Global Star Software bought Army Men.
[edit] References
- ^ a b c Army Men: RTS (Windows) at IGN
- ^ Army Men: RTS (PlayStation 2) at IGN
- ^ Army Men: RTS (GameCube) at IGN
- ^ Review on CNET
- ^ a b Army Men: RTS manual (online version)
[edit] External links
- Army Men: RTS at the Open Directory Project
- Army Men: RTS at MobyGames
- Trial version available for download
