Army Men (series)

Army Men is a series of video games developed by 3DO and Global Star Software. It is based on various conflicts between four kinds of plastic army men, distinguished by their color: the Green, the Tan, the Blue, and the Grey. Two other factions, the Red and the Orange, as well as a much smaller army, the Black, also contribute to the story. Two additional factions, the Galactic Army and the Alien Army, were introduced in Army Men: Toys in Space.

Factions

 * Green – The protagonists in the series, the Green are a representation the U.S. Army of the Vietnam era. . In the first few army men games, the political balance is unstable, and they are fighting against the Tan and the Blue, with the Grey being sometimes allies, sometimes enemies. In Army Men: World War, the Green side with the Blue against the Tan. In Army Men: Sarge's Heroes, the Blue are spies for the Tan, and the Grey are allied with the Green.


 * Tan – The Tan are the usual antagonists of the series, with influence from the real-world German and Japanese armies of WW2.. They started the current war with the Green when they invaded three main areas of the Green Nation: the Desert, Alpine, and Bayou regions. At the beginning of the game, they have a partial alliance with the Blue Information Network, though this alliance remains solid throughout the series.


 * Grey – The first encounter with Grey forces is in the original PC game, especially in the Bayou campaign, but not common. While they are both at war with the Green, they are also at war with each other and Sarge finds himself in a three-way shooting match. Shortly after, Sarge discovers the Grey have formed an alliance with the Tan in order to generate some rather bizarre weapons of mass-destruction Seen in the later games as a magnifier glass.


 * Blue – The Blue Army (often with a French influence) seem to have very fluid alliances. They are rarely seen on the front lines. The Blue Army's real talents lie in espionage, sabotage and other kinds of covert missions. The Blue Nation is often depicted as working toward anything they see beneficial, often meaning that they offer their services for a charge. In some of the games, they have an alliance with the Green Army, but in others they are on the opposite side.


 * Yellow – They only appear in the Multiplayer mode in "Sarge's War".


 * Red – They appear in the Multiplayer mode in "Sarge's War". One of them is rescued from Dr. Madd's castle. Additionally, in Sarge's Heroes, there is a cut-scene where Shrap is rescued from the spider machine. Although they are really supposed to be gray.


 * Orange – They are mentioned only in Sarge's Heroes 2, when General Plastro is bragging about conquering all the nations in the plastic world. Not related to the Orange Aliens. Not much is really known about the Orange as they are never really seen and only mentioned. However, in the multiplayer mode of Army Men RTS, you can play as the Orange army.


 * Black – Like Orange, they are not involved in any of conflicts, and appear about as much as the Red. Black civilians are seen in a level in Toys In Space. As zombies in Army Men II, they also may occasionally sport a black-colored limb or head.


 * The Aliens – The main enemies in Toys in Space. They appear only in Portal Runner and Toys in Space. As Tina Tomorrow secures an alliance with Sarge, the aliens form an alliance with the Tan Empire and join in their quest for domination by providing a whole new armada of lethal creatures and deadly new weapons to make Sarge's life miserable.


 * The Galactic Army – Allies of the Green Army in Toys in Space. They only appear in that game. Led by Tina Tomorrow, the Galactic Army is light blue in color. The main army is female with the support troopers (e.g. Mini-Gunners) being male. The Galactic Army provides a number of unique weapons to assist Sarge through Toys in Space.


 * The Cult – Only appears in two levels of Army Men 2. They are composed of Blue, Green, Tan, and Gray soldiers, as well as suicide bombers, led by an AWOL Colonel from the Green Army. Sarge was originally tasked to locate the Colonel, but after learning of the Colonel's insanity, he is ordered to kill him instead along with his cult followers.


 * Malice's Tans – They only appear in Army Men: Sarge's War. They are responsible for planting the bomb in the statue and delivering it to the Green/Tan peace ceremony which destroyed it, with all Greens (except Sarge and the remnants of the Green Army) and all of General Plastro's Tans caught in the blast.


 * Bugs and Insects – While not always seen in the Army Men Series, Bugs and Insects appear in Army Men: Air Attack (2), Army Men RTS and several other games. They are usually hostile to every army and pack some heavy firepower.


 * Dr. Madd's Creations – The demented Grey doctor's creations range from the walking dead to mutated, mutilated varieties of insects. The doctor is often seen working for the Tan nation, however, due to his mental instability, it is believed that his reasons for experimentation stem from his state of mind, rather than to please Plastro's desires. These creatures are trained to attack only the Green Army and their allies, though they may sometimes harm the enemy.


 * Other Toys – Other everyday toys, such as action figures, robots, and even Lego figurines make an appearance in the series. Other species of plastic include (or sometimes include metallic) creatures. They are used and controlled by every nation. These "other" toys are very commonly used in the Air Attack games.


 * Purple – The purple army are usually just high ranking soldiers in the blue army although rarely seen they do play a role commanding most of the blue army.


 * Knights,Dragons,& Dinosaurs; Knights vs. Dragons and Dinosaurs both make their only appearance in "Portal Runner".

The Plastic World
Much is unknown about the Plastic World, mainly because it is never shown on a map or discussed for an extended period of time, though there are certain things that can be inferred.

There is a Pacific island area (stated in "World War"). The eastern part of the world houses the Blue Nation (a border is seen but it is unknown if this is another country), while the Western part houses the Tan. It is unknown where the Green, Orange, and Red Nations reside, as it is never stated.

The Gray Nation is in the western area as well because it borders the Tan nation according to Army Men. The only thing known about the Green Nation's homeland is that it contains desert, alpine, and bayou regions.

As seen in Army Men (the first game in the series) during the beginning movie, it is revealed that the Green Nation is almost completely surrounded by Tan territory. The bayou is in the south.

End of 3DO
Army Men: RTS was the last Army Men game to be released by the 3DO Company before they filed for chapter eleven bankruptcy. The major franchises were auctioned off, and Army Men was purchased by Global Star Software (now known as 2K Play).

In 2004, Global Star published Sarge's War. The PS2 and Xbox versions were completed by some members of the original Sarge's War development team from 3DO. Global Star then released Army Men: Major Malfunction for the Xbox (as well as for the PlayStation 2 in limited regions), and planned a Nintendo DS version, which was not released. Army Men: Mobile Ops is currently the latest game in the series. Future installments are possible, but unlikely, due to the poor critical and commercial performance of Major Malfunction and Soldiers of Misfortune.

Criticism
While originally well-received, the sequential titles seemed to decline in quality. The Army Men series has been heavily criticized by several parts of the video game media, including X-Play and Seanbaby of EGM, for the frequency and declining quality of each new title.

Reviews frequently emphasize the series' lack of consistency. Gameplay constantly changed in a game from version to version. There is also an inconsistency in the time period in which the series takes place. Many of the games, such as the Sarge's Heroes games, employ World War II and Vietnam war era weaponry (Ex. the M16 assault rifle and the M2 flamethrower), whereas the Air Attack/Air Combat games use helicopters from the Vietnam War era. However, this is likely due to the fact that the 'modern' plastic soldier came around during the Vietnam War, and thus, many iterations of plastic soldier employ weaponry from this time period.