Small Soldiers User Reviews

Project Genesis

Mar 22, 2008

REGARDING GRAPHICS: Small Soldiers (for PSX) has pretty average PSX graphics and was in its time most likely considered state-of-the-art. However there is the occasional 'texture spasm' where walls and other surfaces appear to be twitching. The graphics do their job well enough so that you can recognize the characters instantly, which is very important in a video game using characters from a movie. I give the graphics specifically a 4.4 out of five because they are dated today but actually are quallity graphics if you think hard enough.

REGARDING MUSIC: At first, when I first played Small Soldiers, I didn't really understand why they used an 0rchestra/Opera type sound score. It is performed by the Northwestern Sinfonia (at some time it must have been prestigious) and is actually pretty suitable for some levels. But it gets to be annoying when they use bits (if not the whole) of the credits theme music in four or five different levels. I was never really into this type of music but at least while playing Small Soldiers I enjoyed it, so I'm going to give it a 4.7 out of five.

REGARDING CONTROLS: Small Soldiers, I'm sure, is infamous among those who have played it for its horribly sluggish control. The reason for this is unless you are using Analog mode and tilt the joystick ever so slightly, Archer is always sprinting and makes Semi-Trucks look graceful when they turn. And also, there are some ledges that you can't climb up on from certain angles (Lord only knows why) and as you're trying to climb up, the end result is you falling into a leak and loosing a life. An example of this is on level 3: Floating Fortress in the room where you fight the last StarFighter, there are giant 'steps' that Archer has to jump up and climb on to make it to the harpoon cannon so he can defeat the StarFighter. However, almost every time I forget that you can't climb up via the curved-edge side and almost always die. This happens in a few other levels and is so freaking annoying. Because of it, I'm giving the control a rating of 2.1 because they weren't as bad as some other PSX games.

REGARDING GAMEPLAY: While Small Soldiers has many flaws, it is still a very fun game to play. It is a third-person shooter (damn, I love those) that takes place in the 'magical' realms that the toy figures from the movie are set in as part of the story. The gameplay is especially fun because it's all fast-paced, and you are always seriously outnumbered, which gives a sense of thrill and suspense- the player starts wondering if he/she can defeat the opposing Commando Elite troops. But, the so-called puzzles are kind of stupid because when you think about it, they really are not puzzles. It's just a matter of killing the right guy and getting the right key to the right gate, which is falsely called a puzzle. I was also very dissapointed with the inconsistency. In only ONE level (level 2: the Dimensional Temple) do you need all four keys/chanters to complete the level. In all others, it uses three, and after level 5 (the Canyon Village) you won't be seeing any more chanters. It will all be card keys and at that, there will only ever be three different colors of gates involved, rather than all four. The platforming parts are extremely dangerous because of how hard it is to control Archer's footwork, but hey, everyone loves a good challenge. The game does have a good arsenal, but it's dissappointing because the trailers advertise an arsenal of 13 weapons. But the only way you get thirteen is if you add-up Archer's weapons, Chip's weapons and the enemy-only weapons do you get 13. And Chip and Archer have the exact same weapons, though their effects look different. It also kinda sucks that the max 1-Up limit is 10. The gameplay is fun, but not good enough to make the game popular, so I'm giving it a 3 out of 5.

REGARDING ART/CREATIVITY: It's obvious that a lot of hard work and art went into creating a game the same year as the movie release, and the game does have some creative aspects to it like the Chanters, who are Gorgonites who Archer needs to open gateways to other worlds and activate machinery on his quest, and the ability to summon an ally in real-time (as far as I know, untill then summons were exclusive to turn-based RPGs). Other things, like the portals and pick-ups were pretty unique, but the game also lacked in creativity. The game introduces new Commandos and Gorgonites, but even that couldn't amend for the following blows. In story mode, the levels aren't as imaginative as they could be- alot of levels reminded me of environments from other games and movies- and also it sucks that in any level you fight one Commando type (ex. in level 1: Gorgonite capital, you fight an army of Kip Killigan troops) and one support battle robot (Bipod, Sentry, etc.). The argument here is that the Commando Elite are given different colors representing different strength levels. But it makes the game far too easy when there are just two attack patterns to remember to dodge. Every level should have at least two Commando types and two support types to have to fight. Also, the multiplayer is far from creative, with an extreme lack of match customization.

REGARDING REPLAY VALUE/TARGET AUDIENCE: At best, Small Soldiers can be replayed three times before it gets old. Once through each difficulty (easy, normal, or hard), and if you're up to it, countless times in multiplayer. The Small Soldiers franchise may look like it's directed at children, what with the toy soldiers and all, but it really isn't, which I think is a reason for the game getting the parental rating it did. I think it being rated T affected what parents would buy it for their children, which would seriously hurt the games popularity. And also the fact that the game has the same title as the movie, it would lead one to believe that the game is based on the movie. But it isn't, and this probably turned the hardcore fan off. I give this aspect of the game a 2.9 out of five. There's plenty of room for imprvement here.

The reason I'm giving this game so generous of a rating is because this game has a lot of potential. If its flaws could be fixed and be made into a sequel or remake, I'd bet your life it would sell well. I know I manged to enjoy it (after all, I'm a HUGE Small Soldiers fan), and I'm sure many more would if somebody re-made this game. It would have launched perfectly with the special edition DVD of the movie, and would have re-introduced the awesomeness of Small Soldiers to the world.