Army Men: Sarge's Heroes 2

by Playstation

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00004VWGQ
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: March 21, 2001
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,195 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Review

3DO's Army Men titles keep marching onto every platform in sight, including the PlayStation2. The latest is a sequel to the PlayStation's mediocre Army Men: Sarge's Heroes, and there's good news from the front. This sequel is much improved, and not just in graphics, but in gameplay, too.

Army Men: Sarge's Heroes 2 concerns a renegade blue spy named Brigette Bleu who has stolen the plans for a new biological weapon from the evil Tan army. This weapon weakens the plastic in army men bases, so this mission is of paramount importance. It's up to Sarge and his partner Vicki to rescue the spy and stick it to the evil Tan army once again!

Played in an over-the-shoulder third-person perspective Sarge's Heroes 2 pretends to be clever. Its levels take place in the "real world," and use all kinds of props such as soda cans, pencils, etc., but the game is really just about blowing things up. The action is fast, furious, and pretty fun, but, to be honest, lots of shooting games have done the formula better. Though the game's graphics are worlds better than those of the original PlayStation game, it isn't up to the level of games like Quake III: Revolution on the PlayStation2. The game is also hampered by an extremely poor control scheme. You can get used to it, but everything is so sluggish and unresponsive, you might end up putting ol' Sarge on permanent KP duty rather than play any longer. --Andrew S. Bub

Pros:

• Green plastic army men are pretty cool
• Much better than the first one

Cons:

• Bad controls

GameSpot Review

Despite terminally poor reviews, the Army Men franchise spawns sequels and follow-ups like they're going out style. From a purely critical standpoint, it's difficult to see what's so compelling to gamers about a series of games that have typically suffered from poor programming, shoddy control, and uninspired gameplay. Perhaps critics miss the point, though - the series' continued popularity and decent sales record proves that there are a substantial amount of gamers who appreciate the nostalgic kick Army Men tries to impart. The games are slowly getting better, too. As Army Men: Air Combat proved earlier this year, all the series needs is a bit more spit and polish to earn its stripes.

This sets an interesting stage for the series' next installment, Army Men: Sarge's Heroes 2 for the PS2. Developed and published by The 3DO Company and intended as a direct sequel to the events that transpired in Army Men: Sarge's Heroes for the PlayStation, Sarge's Heroes again puts you in the boots of Sarge and the rest of the Bravo Company commandos. Just as in Sarge's Heroes' first series of missions, your objective is to foil General Plastro and his Tan Army minions. General Plastro has teamed up with a partner this time, Brigitte Bleu of the Blue Army, to assist him in conquering the Green Army and their lands. It's up to you to help Sarge, Vikki, and the Green Army combat the foreign encroachers and maintain peace in the land.

Even if you're unfamiliar with the Army Men series, you can correctly guess that all of the games' 18 missions take place in the confines of a realistically scaled world. This means that the levels will take you to such exotic locales as desktops, pool tables, a toy store, a graveyard, the underside of a bed, and the inside of a pinball machine. Sarge's Heroes 2 features the ability to play as either Sarge or Vikki, who both have their own unique control and abilities. Like in the original, weapons are of primary importance for survival. Sarge's Heroes 2 gives you more choices in this department as well, promising the basics that range from the assault rifle, shotgun, and sniper rifle to more extravagant death dealers like the flamethrower, M-60 machine gun, and grenade launcher. Army Men also gives you options beyond the barreled weapons, with minesweepers, mines, TNT, mortars, and the ability to call for help from the air cavalry being thrown into the armament melting pot.

Certainly, Army Men: Sarge's Heroes 2 will look better than any Army Men game to date. The big question, though, is whether or not it'll be able to tap the enormous potential of the PlayStation 2's processors. We can assume that frame rate issues, which have plagued almost all of the 3D Army Men titles to date, shouldn't be a problem here. Resolution will be high - expect intricate, detailed scenes to be pulled off without a hitch. Unfortunately, 3DO seemingly prefers to show off the game's many promises through rendered pictures rather than any actual screenshots, so it's difficult to offer much insight into how the game's visuals will finally turn out. Certainly, a lack of legitimate screenshots combined with a rapidly approaching release date isn't a good sign.

Obviously, time will tell whether or not Army Men: Sarge's Heroes will continue the positive upswing Army Men: Air Command provided to the series. With the power of a state-of-the-art console behind it, 3DO has a golden opportunity to further redeem the Army Men lineage in the eyes of many gamers.

Look for Army Men: Sarge's Heroes 2 sometime late in Q3 2000 on PS2s everywhere.--Chris Kirchgasler--Copyright © 2000 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of GameSpot is prohibited.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Where is 6 Stars???, June 4, 2001

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Army Men: Sarge's Heroes 2 (Video Game)

OK, pump up the crowd!!! Where is the sixth star??? This game is awesome! Everyone says the controls are very bad, the controls are fine to me. I got this game for my birthday and I play this a lot! It's a great game, not too violent, no bad language, and it's perfectly hard. The aiming is presice, the weapon details are awesome!

This game is truly amazing. The levels are hard, but not too hard. If you are an Army Men fan, (like me!) you have to get this game. You wont be sorry, trust me. The graphics are glorious, the detail in the face and and hair are massive. Awesome 3-D environments make it seem like you are 3 inches tall. The world your Army Man walks in is awesome, it looks so real. Take the first level for example, is the Dinner Table. When I play it, to me it's like I am looking at my dinner table from a 3 inch figure's point of view. This is a very real game, it has good cheats, great gameplay, and incredible graphical environments. Here is a list of Pros and Cons:

Pros: Cool Army Men figures Fabulous details in the world around your figure Good controls Awesome guns Difficulty is fairly difficult, but not too difficult

Cons: You must be kidding me, there aren't any Cons!

All and all, this is the best PS2 3rd person shooter in the current time of year!!! Trust me, you wont be sorry when you buy this!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Another Army Men Game, Better Army Men Game, May 19, 2001

By 

Brian (Akron, OH USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Army Men: Sarge's Heroes 2 (Video Game)

Well, there certainly is alot to say about Sarge's Heroes. In comparison to all other army men games, this ranks as one of the top (then again, the other games weren't much competition). The graphics sparkle brilliantly using the advantage of the ps2 console. Each movement and environment is very realistic and clear. But, now comes the bad side. It's play control is somewhat, to be desired. In many points in the game, the controller is unresponsive. You push X to fire your weapon, nothing happens. However, this only happens every so often. Angles you look from can also be somewhat choppy, where you either look right or left, nothing in between. Also, the levels are extremely confusing! The objectives are so undescriptive, you have no clue what you are supposed to do (such as in the "Bridge" level.) The game, however is certainly not the easiest Army Men game! Huge tanks shoot one missile at you, and you're plastic shards. But even though it's moderately difficult in that perspective, it's really fun. Cinema scenes are great and so is the music. Overall, a good army men game worth buying.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE BEST!, June 22, 2004

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Army Men: Sarge's Heroes 2 (Video Game)

Okay, I wrote another review on this game for the play station 1 version. Forget about it. Now, this game is so fun. The sound is like your actually there, the graphics are really good and the enemies AI is good too. I havent played multiplayer yet so I dont know what its like but by the way 1 player is Id say Ill probably think multiplay is good too. I think everybody should rent first THEN BUY! Its a really good game and its a must have!