Title: The Mean Greens – Plastic Warfare
Version Tested: PC
Available On: PC
Developer: Virtual Basement LLC, Code Headquarters LLC
Publishers: Virtual Basement LLC
Genre: Third-Person Shooter
Official Site: https://www.themeangreens.com/
Release Date: December 8th, 2015
Where to Buy: Steam
The Mean Greens – Plastic Warfare poked me with a nostalgic stick every step of the way. I remembered as a child spending countless hours playing Army Men Sarges Heroes–a series created by 3DO for N64 and Playstation–and was captivated. I would, occasionally, recreate scenes with my Army Men soldiers and pretend they were alive–from those games. The Mean Greens – Plastic Warfare revolved, solely, on this same outlook as portrayed in previous, genre styles from other generation perfectly–well almost.
The Mean Greens – Plastic Warfare was incredibly entertaining and had loads of game modes–along with cleverly, creative maps. Serving as a multiplayer only game for the price of $9.99 was not a bad deal, considering with the amount of content and levels offered. Every map has its own, personal game mode. Take for instance, a specially released Christmas-themed level took place on a train, following on a track, and circling a Christmas Tree. The objective was to capture certain points (total of three flags) in a tug of war battle. Other levels involved pushing a Foosball across either side of the board within a Foosball table or battling in Team Deathmatch on the streets of a mini-city setup located in a kid’s bedroom. Even with the endless amount of entertainment radiating from The Mean Greens – Plastic Warfare, the server structure was the downfall.
If you’re one of those people, like myself, that hate poorly constructed server navigation then The Mean Greens – Plastic Warfare may not be the title for you. What do I mean by “poorly constructed server navigation?” Well, upon launching up the program and presented with the main title screen, I was left with an array of confusing choices on how to start a match. The initial instinct would be to click “Join Game” but with this option a majority of the time I was either left in a match by myself or waiting, patiently, for 10+ minutes. Next was “Server Browser”, although the same issue happened except I was shown a list of 10 or 20 servers and only 5 were occupied with full parties. The local play was available for LAN parties but none of my friends had the title, leaving the last option, “Party”. Even though I wasn’t intended to be in any party or game with a group of online buddies, this was the only option to use when wanting to access a random match.
Gameplay was intense and incredibly gratifying when blowing a toy soldier to plastic bits. There are no specific classes to select before each match which means everyone started off with all the weapons: Assault Rifle, Sniper Rifle, Flame Thrower, Rocket Launcher, and Shotgun. Even though having all the weapons bunched into one character I felt it defeated the purpose of being balanced. Literally, a person can be invulnerable if they were skilled enough. Health regeneration was a pleasant touch and brutal damage almost makes some matches unforgiving. Spawn killing is a thing in The Mean Greens – Plastic Warfare. I can’t tell you how many times I was infuriated by spawn and instantly being blown up by a rocket. Also, respawn times are incredibly quick. On paper this may look like a fantastic idea but when given the option to kill spawn tended to cripple replay value.
Graphically, The Mean Greens – Plastic Warfare achieved the best it could. Using the Unreal Engine 4, motion blur and highly detailed soldiers, objects, water, and particle effects can be seen throughout each of the levels. Even when caught sprinting from one point to another and tumbling to the nearest cover position the amount of swiftness between each take was more enjoyable the last.
Sound effects seemed to take a dosage from older style titles like Call of Duty or old-school Medal of Honor games. A limited amount of emphases from certain weapons like assault rifle or shotgun through sound dropping or creating bland effects. While the sound effects perceive as generic it’s made up through the wacky, Danny Elfman style of music. Seriously, the opening theme song, alone, slowly booted up with soldiers chanting and slipping into a trumpet/brass filled dance from something seen in the Tim Burton’s Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory; the frightening thing was I really liked it. A variety of songs heard from the intro screen and can be listened to throughout the entire game and they all sound fantastic.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67v4rd3ePn0[/embedyt]
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The Mean Greens – Plastic Warfare served as a thrilling, third-person shooter experience throughout intuitive maps and ingenious gameplay; capturing the soul essence of a toy soldier in an epic battle between tan and green. The problems hindering the title from being an overall, immense success would be server issues, kill spawning, slightly bland sound effects, and no specified class. Until these complications are corrected I can’t see The Mean Greens – Plastic Warfare being any more popular than it should be.
- Gameplay: Intense, arcade feeling but can do without spawn kills or fast respawns.
- Graphics: The best-looking plastic toy soldier I’ve ever seen.
- Sound: Music is unique but sound effects downplay the experience.
- Presentation: Servers needs some re-working but other than that, slick concept.
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