Army Men: Air Attack was the first and last Army Men game that I came in contact with. The game left a lasting impression on me because of how fun and detailed it was in comparison to my make believe games with toy soldiers. In addition, the game had a cooperative mode (one of the first PC games I came across to do so) that was extremely fun for me and my sister.

Green Army Plastic Figurines

The game was based off the toy action figurines that I played with as a boy. The Green Army “good guys” were up against the Tan Army “bad guys.” The result was an endless war between the two colored factions. Both sides had the exact same models being used with the only difference being color. There were the regular riflemen, bazooka troops, jeeps, tanks, and helicopters available for both sides. However, the Tan Army usually had some secret nefarious top secret technology to deploy to the battlefield. During the imagine games with the plastic toy soldiers, the size of the army usually depended on how many models you collected for both factions.

Unfortunately, for me I had only a small kit of Green Army soldiers without any helicopters. However, that did not stop me from supplementing my existing Green Army with other toy helicopters not from the Green Army collection. I used a remote controlled helicopter as a stand in for my non-existent Green Army helicopter. I also used other toys such as Hot Wheels cars and Legos to help diversify the various scenarios I made up. My favorite scenario was a Green Army’s equivalent of D-Day that was a complete copy of Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan. I would have the Green Army soldiers run up the styrofoam beaches while being attacked by plastic machine guns in Lego pillboxes. Yet despite all the creative ways I was able to use my toys I still felt something missing.

When I came across Army Men Air Attack I figured out what was missing, a challenge. In my make believe scenarios I always had the Green Army win regardless of the various obstacles they faced. However, in a computer game the real possibility of losing made the games more exciting. Here was a computer game that made my battle scenarios come to life. Even better, it presented the battle scenarios that others had made. I got to see the whole battle unfold in a dynamic environment from my top down view as a helicopter pilot in-game.

In Game Mechanics and Layout

Every time you started up the game there was an introduction that played. The screen displayed a black and white film with a countdown like you see in those old war films. The film describes the Tan Army menance and how the Green Army is preparing to defend itself with its new air force of helicopters. The game film transitions from black and white to colored as the helicopters take off and fly from the kids room into the distance (beyond the window). The game then cuts to the main menu displaying a Green Army tank base in the woods.

Before starting every mission you are brought to a green briefing screen that details your objectives for that mission. On this same screen you are given the option to choose your helicopter and pilot. The helicopters available are the Huey, Chinook, Super Stallion, and Apache.
– Huey: From the good old days of Vietnam. Basic helicopter that you start out with. Quick, but lightly armored.
– Chinook: Suppose to be a transport helicopter, but somehow the game magically gives it the ability to fire bullets and missiles. Slower, but tougher. True to its real life counterpart, the helicopter is better able to carry objects with the winch.
– Super Stallion: Another transport helicopter that the game somehow gives upgraded weapons systems. Has better mobility than Chinook and more firepower than the Huey.
– Apache: Modern US attack helicopter with all the offensive armament you need. Reflected in the game by being the last helicopter you unlock. Has the best stats in the game.

The pilots available are Woodstock, Hardcore, Rawhide, plus an additional unlockable character. I never significantly noticed what benefits the different pilots gave.
– Woodstock: Glasses wearing, Black afro dude. Suppose to give machine gun perks.
– Hardcore: Bionic man with the one glass eye. Perks for homing missiles.
– Rawhide: Stereotypical cowboy. Somehow his lasso skills are analogous to using the helicopter winch.

Once in game the helicopter remained at a fixed height above the battlefield. The WASD keys moved the helicopter forward, back, and side-to-side. Your primary attack is the machine gun that shoots out an unlimited number of bullets towards the enemy. Your secondary special attack depends on your selection at the bottom left side of the screen. These special attacks provided you with a variety of options from missiles to napalm. Unlike your primary machine gun, secondary special attacks have a limited munitions count. Your E key has the important function of deploying a winch. When you press the key the winch is deployed down and attaches to the first object it comes across. You can fly with the object attached, but your speed is significantly lowered while doing so. Pressing the E key again drops the attached object and retracts the winch.

The Green Army units, our allies, are mostly green colored soldiers, jeeps tanks, and helicopters. However, the enemy units in game have a larger diversity of possible color palettes. Besides the units that are carbon copy tan army units (same as the Green Army just colored differently), there are insects (ants, bees, flies), RC cars, battleships, rockets (these hurt quite a bit), cannons, and even RC robots. Some of these enemies are extremely dangerous (such as the rockets). Other types of enemies pose little to no threat (regular infantry).

The Storyline

Army Men: Air Attack comes from a long tradition of single-player only games that have become more rare as multiplayer has come to dominate the market. The game is designed as a set of specific missions for you and or your friend to play. The additional cooperative partner has no impact on the story. Each mission starts off with vocals from either the Green/Tan Army as soon as you spawn in. In the case of the Green Army the vocals you will hear are from the General, Sarge, and the pilots. For the Tan Army you will hear the streotypical evil voice of their General. The unique scenairo then unfolds, in which you will have to use your skill as a helicopter pilot to achieve victory. Once the victory conditions are fulfilled the game will zoom in on your helicopter and rotate the camera in a 360 degree motion while the Green/Tan Army soldiers comment on your actions.

The first mission is simple enough. Destroy the Tan Army forces attacking the Green Army base. Once the Tan Army troops and tanks are neutralized, carry the Green Army shipment into the portal. The second mission is more challenging as it is a timed attack mission. In this second scenario the Tan Army are deploying weaponized toy cars into the portal. The goal is to stop the cars before enough of them get into the portal. Once you destroy the cars’ spawning buildings, the rest of the mission is easy.

Later on you will have the joy of freeing imprisoned insects and carrying donuts to tan army bases. Unfortunately, the insects on later levels are mostly hostile. Ants are also featured on a few missions, with one of the mission objectives to destroy anthills by using cherry bombs. While the insects become mostly hostile in the second half of the game, there are still some notable allies. A laser shooting UFO comes to your aid on one mission, while a rampaging teddy bear leads the way in another.

A few more notable missions include: using a green crayon to change tan army soldiers into green army soldiers, protecting a teddy bear as it flows downstream, saving Sarge from a deadly magnify glass laser, and powering radar stations by transporting batteries. However, the last mission remains the most memorable mission. As expected for the finale, there is a boss in the form of a RC robot. At the start, the robot is invincible all types of attacks due to its electrical shields. The shield is powered by battery stations located throughout the map. The only way to destroy the batteries is to get a cherry bomb from one of the randomly passing tan army trucks. Only after you destroy all the battery stations, can you start unloading on the main RC robot. Defeating the RC robot results in the final animation of the game with the Green army Huey destroying the robot and Green army soldiers hoisting the flag over its charred remains.

First Coop Mode

Army Men Air Attack had the additional benefit of being the first coop game I had come across. Previous games my sister and I played often had one of us backseat gaming. This game was the first experience we both had with split screen computer gaming. Perhaps that is why I have such fond nostalgia for the game. I remember playing with the left side of the keyboard (WASD) while my sister played with the right side (arrow keys). The split screen interaction completely blew me away. The only other games that had similar multiplayer gameplay were NASCAR driving games and Super Smash Bro Melee. It was amazing to see our helicopter duo flying into action just like in the movies.

Particular levels made ridiculously easy by the coop mode were escort and defend the base levels. Escorting Sarge and the runway troops/scientists is a lot easier when you have double helicopter over watch. One helicopter flies ahead and clears the path while the other helicopter hovers over the VIP. Defending the base from ants is also easy with one helicopter dropping the cheery bombs onto the ant hills while the other shoots at the incoming ant waves.

Yet the one level that the both of us often struggled with was the final boss. The amount of firepower and anti aircraft fire (AA) that was being fired at us made the computer lag. The first time we reached the level we made the stupid mistake of constantly attacking the RC robot directly. We could not understand why it refused to die even after we dumped all our rockets and napalm on it. Later through process of elimination, we discovered that we had to reduce the RC robot’s shields first. The strategy was for one of us to distract the RC robot, while the other frantically attacked tan army trucks to look for cherry bombs to drop on the batteries. Unfortunately, the withering amount of AA fire made the distractor die way too quickly. So instead both of us went chasing the tan army trucks hoping to get as many cherry bombs as possible. Luckily for us, this blind dash for the finish technique actually worked and we were greeted with the final animation.