PixlBit

The little plastic toys take to the skies... er, more like ten inches off the ground.

This is one I got for I think $3 when GameStop was liquidating their stock of older games. It's a helicopter shooting game with a top-down perspective involving toy soldiers, and it takes place in real-world environments that are larger than life for the little guys. You take control of a helicopter from the Green Army and are at war with the supposedly evil Tan and Blue forces; there doesn't seem to be much of an explanation as to why these toys can't just get along, which almost makes it seem like the game has some sort of subtle social commentary. Almost. Let's not go there.

I played through the first three levels during my session with this game, all of which took place in a garden. The first two missions were basically going from point A to point B, but the third mission involved finding a battery to power a train, and then protecting the train as it travels along the track to its destination. This gives hope that the remaining missions also contain more interesting objectives than simply speeding through and blasting everything in sight. There have been only a few enemy types so far, which include foot soldiers, tanks, and machine gun towers, so let's hope the variety increases in later levels as well.

The control seems a bit clunky and would probably benefit from a setup similar to shooters like Turok. The stick moves forward and backward, as well as turning left and right, and the left and right C-buttons are for strafing. It would seem that using the C-buttons for movement and the stick for just turning would work out better, but is not an option. The machine gun will auto-aim at targets, which can sometimes be a little problematic when there are multiple enemies on the screen and you're trying to aim for a specific one. Missiles must be aimed manually and have a limited supply, so they are not to be wasted.

Visually the game is competent, but nothing special. There is a fair amount of texture work, though some of it seems rather pixelated. The framerate is a bit low, but steady, so it is manageable. The soundtrack consists of tinny rock music, and it sounds awfully familiar... Wait a minute, this game totally steals its soundtrack from BattleTanx! This is why you went out of business, 3DO! Shame on you! *ahem* Sound effects are fitting... you know what? I'm sure the sound effects were swiped from another game too, but I'm not sure if it's BattleTanx or Army Men. In any case, there is also some sparse voice work, but it doesn't really add anything.

I found myself enjoying this one quite a bit, so I think I may return to it and finish it at some point. Checking GameFAQs, it seems there are only 16 missions, so it probably wouldn't take long. It isn't pretty, but I could do a lot worse for $3.