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Army Men Air Attack
"Command 4 green plastic helicopters loaded with missiles, guided missiles, swarm missiles, and napalm"
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Developer  3DO Game Type  Action
Distributor  3DO Review Date  Apr 00
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Playability:
 
      Army Men Air Attack is viewed from the third person perspective and involves the player taking control of a command helicopter loaded with missiles, guided missiles, swarm missiles, and napalm. Ground support is offered in the form of CPU controlled troops, tanks and occasionally mysterious craft such as UFO's. The plot thickens!

At the start of the game only the Huey helicopter may be chosen. It is one of the fastest moving and most agile available, but its speed is greatly affected when carrying heavy loads. As you progress more helicopters become available for mission selection. The Chinook may not be the fastest, but it can carry a heavy load and take a vicious beating. The Super Stallion is fast, has powerful weaponry and can carry heavy loads without taking a huge performance hit. Finally the Apache is the ultimate in modern day helicopter technology. It is fast, agile, has the most powerful weapons and the strongest armor. It can carry heavy loads with little affect on its speed.

Your Co-Pilot is responsible for winch operation and aiming the guns and there are three different men to choose from. You get the chance to select a different co-pilot at the beginning of every mission with each affecting your abilities and performance.

Before any of the 16 levels begins a mission briefing offers insight into the task in hand. This may be a simple 'destroy all enemy presence in the area', but as the game progresses more sinister tasks must be achieved.

Straightforward missions include the protection of a train passing through enemy territory. Sounds simple enough... but the train cannot begin its journey until you find its battery. You see, while Army Men 3D concentrated on many real aspects of war (clearing mine fields, rescuing POW's, blowing up bridges...), Air Attack is set in a much more fantasy filled world. This is most noticeable when the enemy helicopters are joined in their attack by giant bees, tanks line up alongside remote control cars, and ground troops mingle with rather large spiders.

One of the strangest missions involves fending off a plague of ants that are attacking your troops in mass numbers. It doesn't help that your base is situated in the middle of a picnic rug surrounded by lots of gigantic tasty goodies. You quickly realize that shooting the ants is getting you nowhere as more and more just keep on coming. The objective is achieved by lowering the winch from the helicopter and picking up items of food such as a giant doughnut. These are then transported and deposited within the base of your enemy. The ants follow the food and destroy their enemy camp instead of yours. Simple but effective.

What more could you want to assist on your missions than an upgraded helicopter and a sure shooting co-pilot? Weapons would be nice. Machine guns have unlimited ammo and rockets come in straight, homing or swarm. Napalm bombs are a tasty piece of hardware because they cause a series of explosions across a large area of terrain as the effect of the jellied explosives spread across the land. Finally firing a flare calls in reinforcement ground units. Two paratrooper M-80 Infantry men will drop from passing planes and join in the action.

Army Men Air Attack is a little too easy at the start and you will find yourself half-way through the game in no time. As you advance missions do become slightly tougher and more involved but the maps are hardly complicated and your route always remains linear. Control is nigh on perfect, which could possibly have something to do with the ease in which the enemy can be defeated.

Overall a tidy looking game that will probably be completed within the week. To prolong gameplay there is a neat two player mode. Viewed in horizontal or vertical split screen all missions may be attempted in Cooperative mode. There is also a two player Deathmatch mode.
 
Game Options:
 
      This is a 1 disk game for 1-2 Players. It is compatible with the standard (digital) joypad and the analog stick controls of the dual shock joypad. Games can be saved via memory card (1 block per save).
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Staff Opinions
Martin  "While Army Men Air Attack helped pass by a few spare hours I much preferred the ground warfare of the original game. Stealth is what action games are all about these days and blindly flying headfirst into an enemy base is just asking for trouble. What it all boils down to is that Air Attack is a pure arcade shooter. It's fast. It's furious. It packs a punch. It's brawn without brains!"
Graphics  19/20
Playability  38/50
Sound  7/10
Lastability  13/20
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