Army Men Air Attack 2
Review of Army Men Air Attack 2
The one thing I was expecting when seeing this is on DVD, was super high-quality FMVs as well as the general gaming graphics (I know, DVD doesnt make the in-game graphics look better). Well I wasnt disappointed. The cut scenes were very high quality and much what I expected them to be. The in-game graphics though, while very good, just werent as cutting-edge as I expected or hoped for. For the most part, the graphics render very well, there are no signs of pop or any other PSOne-style quirks. There are some odd happenings though that does defy the laws of physics, which this game doesnt try hard to follow (hey, theyre plastic toys fighting wars), but not so good. One very noticeable thing is the tendency of items that the helicopter picks up and drags to not get hung up or move when they come in contact with immovable objects. For example, in one of the scenes, your chopper can pick up a spatula by the grill. The spatula not only doesnt spin when it hits a wall or other object, but if you put it down next to a wall, part of it may disappear when it lands…eck, bad collision detection.
What is very good about the graphics is the movable and stationary items dont look blatantly different from each other. Youre probably familiar with older games that the pickup items look almost as if they are floating on the background. It doesnt happen here…objects look solid and part of the overall settings.
Animations are pretty good overall and shouldnt disappoint. The little green guys move about fighting their battles and the 3D world is nicely displayed.
Thankfully, this game more than makes up for its visual shortcomings with its excellent playability. The controls are easy to master and various extras are easy to use. The key to the game is your grappling hook. The hook can pick up items like the spatula I mentioned above and release them onto the enemy, which destroys him. This is the ONLY way to defeat the enemy as the game progresses, as there are just too many Tan Army soldiers, etc. to kill with the limited ammo provided on the choppers. With one toss of a glove, your chopper will take out a couple of tanks and a gun tower. It also makes quick work of taking out the Tan factories that are the goals of many missions. One thing I didnt care for though is unlike most other PS2 titles, this one does not automatically select the analog mode for you. Analog has to be selected manually and you will want to use it to be truly successful. Other than that, the learning curve is fairly flat, but the game remains quite challenging throughout. There are also some breaks given here that allows you to continue play where you stopped the first time you get blown up. The second time ends the mission with a newspaper headline stating the Tan Army has succeeded. When you complete the mission, the headline shows how you saved the day. The other thing that is nice is you will get additional characters and choppers unlocked in certain missions as you complete the designated goals that have been presented. That is a more progressive way to earn rewards.
The sound effects are excellent and realistic. There are some shortcomings mainly being that certain sounds just are omitted. There are no dragging sounds of items picked up with the grappling hook, etc. Other than that, its what you can expect in a 1st gen PS2 game these days.
OUR PLEDGE: We promise that we have fully played 'Army Men Air Attack 2' before writing this review. The scores given above are our honest opinion and were not influenced in any way by the manufacturer or distributor of the game.
This review was written by Tom Downey © Absolute PlayStation
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