When 3DO became a software base company after their disastrous self-named system, they had to find a way to rebound. The bounce effect came in the form of little plastic toys from childhood. We knew them, as the Army Men.

     Here’s where it gets interesting. Rather than try and create a child-like environment for the toys, 3DO went so far as to make the toys real, and slap them into a real universe. With such a bizarre concept, the game caught consumers’ attention and went on to become a Greatest Hits title. What followed was no less than ten Army Men games released on a single system, each worse than then the previous, and then continuing the downward spiral into the next-generation of systems until finally closing up shop in the early 2000s. So the question arises: Has the original game that once helped keep 3DO alive stood the test of time? Not really.

     Basically, the most important culprit in the equation is the difficulty. This game is hard, and I don’t mean the plastic. Several enemies, specifically the machine gun nest crew can kill you in one burst. Tie this into very stiff control, along with the very low resolution graphics and you have a recipe for disaster.

     Speaking of graphics, there is so little variety in the level layout, much less the actual level graphics that everything just looks the same. The above three screenshots came from levels 1, 3, and 4 respectively. After researching the net, it’s obvious that there are some other graphics to be found, but it’s too much of a challenge and chore to ever reach those levels. A GameShark with some infinite health might make this a fun time-waster one day, but with 1200+ other games to choose from, I’d rather waste my time on something better.   

• The screenshots on the back of the case do not belong to the game, at least not the PlayStation version of it.



• Released in Greatest Hits and Collector's Edition versions, see below.



• The Army Men series is tied with the NFL GameDay series for the most number of games on the system; 10 titles for each.



• ID Information:
  • Original = SLUS - 00491 / 010570
  
  
  • Greatest Hits = SLUS - 00491 / 010570
  • Collector's Edition = SLUS - 00491CE / 010574
  
  
  
• After closing 3DO, Trip Hawkins formed a new game company called Digital Chocolate. They focus on cell phone games.



• Trip Hawkins became the eighth person to be inducted into the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences' Hall of Fame.



• After the company went bankrupt, developer Ubi Soft acquired most of the intellectual rights, though it remains to be seen if any of the trademark 3DO titles will ever resurface. 



• Out of 10 titles, only 2 became Greatest Hits. Air Attack was the other.



• The manual features various images from war as background bleeds. Ironically, the page dedicated to the customer support is overlaid onto a picture of a soldier cleaning the latrines, foreboding the series eventual path down the toilet.