Army Men: RTS review (GameCube)

One of the biggest hurdles for real-time strategy console games has been the controls, but Army Men: RTS gives you a pretty good level of control over your units. You can select all the units in a certain area by tapping the X button, or you can select all units of a specific type by moving your cursor over a unit and holding down the X button. You can add more units to your selected group by pressing the B button, and previously selected groups can be selected again by pressing the Y button. Units will generally do what you tell them to, though their pathing abilities are somewhat questionable, and they will usually take a straight path rather than seek out an easier alternate route. In general, the controls are relatively easy to get the hang of, though it's strongly recommended that you go through the game's tutorial before jumping into the main campaign, because the controls are not necessarily that self-explanatory.

The highly conventional gameplay structure makes Army Men: RTS feel pretty dated, and the graphics make this trait even more pronounced. The game wasn't graphically impressive in 2002, and it just looks old now. The frame rate is extremely choppy during in-engine cutscenes, and though explosions and other displays of special effects can cause things to chop up a bit during gameplay, it's otherwise pretty stable. Army Men: RTS maintains a pretty modest scope with the size of its levels, as well as with the level of its detail, but the game still does a good job of capturing the feel of its different environments. You can tell when you're in the kitchen, the living room, or a planter box out in the garden with just a quick glance.

Just like the game's look, the voice acting in Army Men: RTS evokes a certain whimsical feel and does a good job of instilling each of your units with some personality, though the limited vocabularies can become tiresome over time. Sarge comes off as a gruff, tough-but-loving drill sergeant; Colonel Blintz has a calm, vaguely European accent; and your medical units have droll English accents not unlike the character Winchester from M*A*S*H. The music has a very epic, sweeping feel to it, and its militaristic seriousness acts as a counterbalance to the game's otherwise lighthearted presentation.

With 3DO quickly becoming a distant memory, it feels really weird to see an Army Men game coming out in 2004. Army Men: RTS was a significant high point for the franchise, and it retains some of its fun even today. But most GameCube owners looking for a good strategy experience are probably better off with one of Nintendo's strikingly original Pikmin offerings.