Hands-onArmy Men: RTS

3DO dropped by the office today with Pandemic Studios' Josh Resnick to show off the latest build of their upcoming game Army Men: RTS. As its name implies, it's a real-time strategy game that features the little toy soldiers from 3DO's previous Army Men games. RTS is built on a modified version of Pandemic's Dark Reign 2 3D engine, and aside from the more lighthearted feel of the units and environment, it feels similar to the Dark Reign games.

According to Resnick, the Army Men team at Pandemic--which includes parts of the Dark Reign 2 team--is having a lot of fun working with the Army Men theme, and their sense of humor shows in the game. Players command a group of little plastic soldiers on a mission to stop a colonel who has defected to the enemy side. To complete the mission, the soldiers must fight their way through 15 levels ranging from the front yard of a house, to a living-room floor strewn with toys, to a model train layout in an attic. In addition to the single-player campaign missions, the game includes a number of bonus missions, a full tutorial, and a multiplayer mode that supports up to eight players.

The game's basic mechanics are similar to those of Dark Reign 2, although some of the more advanced features, such as individual AI assignments and waypoint options, have been removed to streamline the game interface and make it more accessible to a wider audience. Players will build structures and units in order to defeat the enemy, and they must collect two types of resources--plastic and electricity--to support their production. Plastic is collected from various toys, as well as from fallen units, who become blobs of plastic after being destroyed. Electricity can be collected from the batteries, watches, and lampposts that are found on the battlefield. To make the game more action-oriented, resource-collecting units will automatically seek and collect the needed resources.

Army Men: RTS features a number of different types of units, including several types of infantry and both land and air vehicles. As the player progresses through the campaign, additional units and structures become available. In addition, a radio unit can call in paratroopers, air strikes, and a giant magnifying glass to melt enemy positions.

Army Men: RTS has been in development for about a year, and it is currently in beta stage. The game is scheduled for release in March.