Army Men Air Combat: The Elite Missions Review (no fat)

by 3DO Company Platform: GameCube Genre: Sims	ESRB Rating: Teen Release: 2003-05-23	Army Men Air Combat: The Elite Missions Features: Based on Pixar’s Toy Story Battle for air supremacy against the ‘evil tan army’ 4 different types of helicopters 20 different battle sequences
	Egamer's Rating: 6 / 10. Reviewed on: 2005-12-01

Game Description

The Army Men Air Combat series saw its initial genesis in the popular Toy Story motion picture from Disney-Pixar some years ago. When the Army Men Air Combat series initially hit the market, many gamers were eager to take up the electronic quest. The motivation behind the creation of the initial game, in what now has become a seemingly never ending franchise, was to provide intense battles featuring heroes much like those found fashioned on the big screen in Toy Story.

In time, the Army Men Air Combat series or franchise continued to include newly released editions or versions of the game concept, The Elite Missions being the latest in line. Unfortunately, whereas each new installment or edition represents at least some new and innovative work, some level of improvement over past concepts and features, the Army Men Air Combat series and its Elite Missions product appears to be rather like a plastic tank caught in the mud in a player’s back yard -- stuck.

Elite Missions does represent the first installment in the franchise that has made it to the GameCube. Thus, when the GameCube version was announced, many industry leaders and gamers were excited about the prospects. Unfortunately, when the game is initiated, the latest installment is nearly exactly the same as its predecessors. The game actually is a virtual mirror image of what was offered on the Sony Playstation two full years before the GameCube version hit the market. In other words, nothing new here.

Army Men Air Combat: The Elite Missions Gameplay

The game itself puts the player (or one other companion gamer) at the helm of one of several different toy helicopters. The player is assigned to fly missions and engage in battle against the enemy, the same “evil tan army” that has been featured in all prior versions or editions within the franchise itself.

There are some variations between the dynamics of the four different helicopters that a gamer can choose from at the outset of the game. With that said, and without exception, each of the four helicopters are awkward in their performance and difficult to control -- really rather like choppy choppers found in arcades in the 1980s.

A player can select one of ten different and truly distinct environments in which to do battle against the forces of the “evil tan army.” (This is one of the best features of the game.) For example, you can elect to engage in battle in a Japanese garden, a typical flower bed or even the Old Wild West.

There are twenty different battle sequences that you can select from universally in the game. This does provide some degree of variety. However, there are so many similarities between each of the individual battle sequences that when the smoke settles, it appears to be more like looking through a close with twenty pairs of the same shoes -- with different colored laces.

Army Men Air Combat: The Elite Missions Visuals and Graphics

Visually, Elite Missions does not satisfy with very few changes and no improvements from the initial offering of some years back. This flat lack of evolution (let alone revolution) is found in the visuals and graphics as well.

The special effects are rudimentary and there is an unabashed redundancy in the textures and background sequences utilized throughout the game. Indeed, the repetition of graphics within the game is so prevalent you might be in danger of falling asleep.

Army Men Air Combat: The Elite Missions Sound Quality

The developers and designers of this game likely have made a significant mistake by trying to blend real world battle sounds with cartoon audio special effects. By combining the two sounds elements, the game ends up sounding cheesy if not silly in many, many instances.

In addition to the silly brew just described, the sounds effects are notable for their blatant (and oftentimes bland) repetition. In the end, the audio element of this game lacks creativity, inventiveness and rationality.

Army Men Air Combat: The Elite Missions Summary

If you are interested in checking out a game in the Army Men franchise, you might as well pick up the first product that came down the pike after the release of the Disney-Pixar motion picture that was the inspiration for these games (…and it costs less by now). At the end of the day, there is no significant different between the initial game in the franchise and this latest release. Certainly, even toys have developed and improved over this ten year time period, sadly, Army Men Air Combat has not.

Army Men Air Combat: The Elite Missions Price

The game retails for $19.99US at the time for this review.