Army Men

Army Men arrived on the Game Boy Color in 2000 as part of the sprawling series from studio The 3DO Company, in which plastic green and tan soldiers battle each other in settings resembling an oversized garden or a child's bedroom. The player commands a green soldier and moves through missions from a top-down view full of firefights, mines and simple environmental puzzles, with a signature series trait being the humorous use of household objects as giant obstacles - a garden hose, toys or kitchenware here serve as battlefield scenery. This contrast between the pettiness of the setting and the deadly seriousness with which the soldiers wipe each other out is one of the series' main draws and sets it apart from ordinary military shooters, since the player is constantly aware it all plays out on the scale of a child's bedroom rather than a real battlefield.

The gameplay rests on a classic run-and-gun formula with an emphasis on collecting various weapon types, from machine guns through bazookas to grenades, and on careful movement through territory full of enemy patrols. Compared to the console and computer entries in the series, the GBC version had to simplify the graphics and mission scope, but it kept the basic humorous tone and military parody intact. The d-pad and two action buttons proved sufficient for this type of game, though aiming shots in multiple directions was somewhat less precise than on larger consoles.

Army Men on GBC was never among the series' best-reviewed entries, yet it still found an audience among players looking for undemanding action fun with a wink. Today the game works mainly as a curious detour from the more seriously toned shooters of its day, and a reminder of an era when a military parody starring plastic soldiers could build an entire multiplatform series. For franchise fans it remains an interesting look at how the concept adapted to the limitations of the handheld hardware of its time.