Army Men III

Army Men III is an entry in The 3DO Company's long-running Army Men series, which built its identity around the miniature warfare of green and tan plastic toy soldiers fighting across oversized human environments. Announced as part of 3DO's E3 1999 line-up, it continued the franchise's core formula of top-down and third-person strategy-action in which the player commands the Green Army against the rival Tan forces. Typical of the series, gameplay revolves around directing infantry and vehicles through battlefields set on lawns, kitchen floors, sandboxes and similar toy-scale terrain, using period-style weaponry, grenades and the ever-present threat of the magnifying glass and other household hazards. The Army Men brand was one of the most heavily produced franchises of its era, with 3DO releasing numerous entries and spin-offs across PC and consoles in rapid succession. That volume made the series ubiquitous on store shelves but also contributed to a reputation for uneven quality and repetition, criticisms levelled at many of its installments. Army Men III sits within that prolific catalogue as part of 3DO's effort to keep the toy-soldier concept in front of players, trading on the franchise's distinctive premise and budget-friendly positioning rather than technical ambition. The series eventually faded as 3DO itself collapsed into bankruptcy in 2003, ending the long run of plastic-soldier games.