Army Men games are like James Bond movies: You may only like bits and pieces of each game, but nobody can deny that the whole vibe is really cool and fun. If you never played with actual plastic army men, you may be immune to it, but even so, I challenge all but the most calloused gamer to not find some pleasure in wanton destruction and plastic mayhem. Probably the biggest failing of Army Men Final Front is in dated graphics that do little to inspire, but don't ruin the experience. The weapon sound and vehicle noise are nicely done, and contribute to making each setting feel more authentic. There's no denying that better graphics improve the total experience, but if you've been around for previous games, it's all about that Army Men action. And, I have to say that the cut-scenes are nicely done, keeping the mood and presenting the ongoing saga of the war between the Tan & Green with that old-time scratchy newsreel feel.

Final Front has a mix of playing 'in the trenches' and controlling vehicles. Missions are broken into segments where you may be running on the ground, picking up weapons and taking out The Tan, and suddenly switch off to driving a tank, motorcycle or submarine. For anyone coming into the world of Army Men for the first time, there's no real continuity issue that makes you wonder where the story came from. This is plain warfare and battlefield action, so the biggest learning curve comes in mastering the controls and learning strategies for various combat situations. Luckily, a training section is available for everything from basic vehicle control to infantry movement and tactics. Vehicles include a tank, motorcycle, assault raft, cargo truck and submarine. The variety of vehicles and on-foot battles makes Final Front way more fun than any game that only had one side or the other. Everyone may find they gravitate toward a certain vehicle, but learning to use the hardware is fairly simple no matter what you're driving. As you'd expect, the tank is dog slow, but packs a punch. Staying consistent with the control scheme of infantrymen, switching weapons and even some basic movement controls persist in vehicles. Very smart design choice. Playing as the lowly soldier is still a blast, and going through the battlefield missions isn't always just terrain. Very early on, you wage war from the rooftops, clearing out tanks with the mortar while dodging gunfire from Tans above and below. Pickups are available both on foot and in vehicles, in the form of weapons and health. With only about 5 stages, Final Front may not seem incredibly long, but there are quite a few levels in each stage. Plus, the replay value of going back through to try and clear levels with different strategies is always a factor here because of the open-ended gameplay.

Multiplayer has a large part in Final Front, if that's your thing. Four modes make up the offering, and they're a blast. Again, there's a certain suspension of disbelief at the low-quality graphics, but push beyond it and enjoy the good stuff Final Front has to offer. Playing on any one of four maps, you can choose to play cooperatively with a friend or try the Grudge Match for direct competition. More creative modes are Capture The Flag and Steal The Bacon. The really cool thing about Capture The Flag is that while the object is simple, Final Front gives you a level editor for this mode that lets you place men on the field to defend or attack the flag before you begin play. Steal The Bacon has you going for the bacon against a friend and trying to hold onto it for a set period of time. So, even if the campaign action doesn't float your boat, at least rent this one to check out the multiplayer.

There are times when controlling the vehicles can seem clunky and especially the motorcycle suffers from the lack of graphic polish this game has. Working on the ground is really about strategy and planning. Rush in too fast and get clobbered, but hang back too long and your support troops are goners. I think most everything here is well balanced, but 3DO's certainly had time to work out the kinks, so it's to be expected.

Coming in as a newcomer to this franchise would mean learning a lot of controls, but most things are intuitive and make perfect sense. If the classic Army Men action is where you're coming from, controlling the vehicles brings a few things over and adds what needs to be added. The Tank is probably most complex in its controls, just because of that independent tread-based motion a tank has anyway. Otherwise, controls feel simple if a little unresponsive for the quicker vehicles like the Cargo Truck and Motorcycle. Controlling weapons with the vehicles can take some getting used to, and feels almost like a FPS treatment at times. I really like how managing items is done dynamically through keys during the game, instead of requiring lots of menus. This helps keep the action flowing, and with the exception of medpacks you get and don't use, everything is in the battle interface. Sometimes, as a franchise become entrenched, people lose sight of the little things that make a game like Final Front fun to play. It's not pushing any technological boundaries, but give me something entertaining like this any day rather than games that promise the sky and can't deliver. Watching games like this move to the next-gen consoles should be a treat, because I really like way they're designing and thinking about gameplay.