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MTV Music Generator, Army Men: Sarge's Heroes By Chip and Jonathan Carter Tribune Media Services ARMY MEN: SARGE'S HEROES, FOR N64 � Here's a terrific game that takes a page out of the Toy Story book and does magical things with it. Sure, the concept is copped � those plastic green army men you played with when you were little come to life and battle it out in real-world terrain. But wow, what a terrific job the folks who made this one have done with the idea. You're Sarge, leader of a band of green commandos who do battle with that nasty tan army led by the evil General Plastro. You and your men will face the enemy in all sorts of situations, from realistic combat scenarios out-of-doors to astonishingly realistic settings like your bathtub! It's just like the old days, when you used to set up a sniper behind the shampoo bottle. The idea may be old school, and there's a real nostalgic streak here. But the action and graphics are nothing short of state-of-the-art. The looks and sounds of battle are all right here, right down to the creepy-as-Saving Private Ryan squeaks and rumblings of nearby enemy tanks. The action's great as well, whether you're running for your life across open ground, diving for cover, or grabbing for one of dozens of power-ups like mortars, sniper rifles, bazookas, grenades and minesweepers. There are some drawbacks here to be sure. For starters, the control isn't nearly as precise as it needs to be for an action game. Your character has maddeningly slow reflexes. Fortunately, so do most of the computer opponents, meaning you can take your time and draw a bead on the bad guys. Occasionally, however, you'll become aware that someone or something previously unseen and unknown is now shooting the daylights out of you. That usually means you've entered a new area or room, and before the slow-moving camera can catch up with you as you're looking around, a bad guy has started taking pot shots. It's very annoying. Equally annoying is these toy soldiers' inability to tolerate water. They can catch fire, melt under a magnifying glass, shoot each other and somehow survive. But set one foot in any body of water � creek, bathtub, whatever � and it's curtains. As we recall, army men float just fine, thank you very much. Those may sound like major complaints, but they're not deadly faults. They are, in fact, the only things standing between this game and perfection. But flaws and all, we get the feeling we'll be playing this one for a while. JONATHAN SAYS : The control problems in the single-player game make it kind of unfair because the computer doesn't have any problems! In the brilliant multi-player modes, though, the playing field is even. Everyone has the same slow reflexes, so it's loads of fun. B+. CHIP SAYS : Here's my next favorite game. I love it and hate it when a title comes along that snags me like this. I love it, obviously, because it's a great game. I hate it because I know it's going to turn into a giant time-sucker that's going to leave me wondering where the holidays went. Only the control issues keep this one from cracking, say, my all-time top 20 list. A. OVERALL RATING: A � BUY IT FOR AGES 10 AND UP. MTV MUSIC GENERATOR, FOR PLAYSTATION � How cool is this? Very cool. The people who make gadgets like sampling recorders, keyboards and mixing consoles should be shaking in their boots right now. Here's a $40 piece of software that can take the place of what until now has required thousands of dollars worth of recording equipment. Here's your chance to make tunes that sound like they just came from a professional recording studio. You pick a style and a beat, then start laying on track after track after track to fill out the jams. You can choose any imaginable style and sound of any conceivable instrument from a huge library of samples. Most of them show up as phrases, snippets of notes that you can preview and piece together into entire works with just a few button presses on your PlayStation controller. If you'd rather, you can tackle songs note-by-note � literally the way it's done in recording studios today. The only thing you can't do is add your own vocals. There is a library of vocal clips you can use to fill out your jams, but you can't import outside music sources ... for now. Also, the length for any one tune is just a little over three minutes. The programmers, however, assure us both those limitations will disappear in future generations of the Generator. If your entertainment ambitions go beyond audio, you an also create accompanying videos from an image library. Or, if you're not feeling creative, you can let the computer create one to play along with your jams. This is the perfect argument for all those people who say you're wasting your time messing around with your PlayStation. JONATHAN SAYS : I love music, but I don't play any instruments. The Music Generator lets me sit down and start creating tunes from the get-go. Fantastic jams ... and without all those bothersome lessons! A+. CHIP SAYS : I've been playing the guitar and other instruments for years, sometimes professionally and often in a recording studio. The Music Generator really �, well, it's amazing that someone with absolutely no training can now sit down and craft tunes that sound like they were put together by a team of master musicians. I have a blast playing with the thing. It's terrific. And my guess is it's only about two software generations away from serious and significant professional capabilities. A+. OVERALL RATING: A+ � BUY IT FOR ALL AGES. TIPS AND TRICKS WCW MAYHEM, FOR PLAYSTATION AND N64 � Here's the code for last week's WCW Starrcade Pay Per View event that was held in Washington, D.C. To wrestle the same match card as that event, enter @KcXKF=W?j^pF. ARMORINES, FOR N64 � Try these great codes at the cheat menu. To unlock all cheats, enter GOLDENPIE. For all levels, it's SKIPPY. For all weapons, it's LOADED. For invincibility and then some, enter GODLY. For infinite ammo, it's SORTED. For invisibility, it's HIDEANDSEEK. To run faster, try SONIC. ARMY MEN AIR ASSAULT, PLAYSTATION � To get all co-pilots, at the password screen enter Up, Down, Up, Down, Up, Down, Up, Down. And try these codes for different levels: Mission 2 -- X, Down, Left (x2), Square, Circle (x2), Right Mission 3 --Triangle, Up, Left, Right, Down, Triangle, Circle, Up Mission 4 -- Down (x2), Square (x2), Left, Right, Circle, X Mission 5 � Right (x2), X, Circle, Down, Up, Down, Up Mission 6 � Square, Circle, X, Square, Triangle, Left, Up, Right Mission 7 � Square, Circle, X, Square, Left, Up, Right Mission 8 � Right, Down, Left, Up, Triangle, Down, Up, Down Mission 9 � Circle (x2), Right, Up, Right, Up, X (x2) Mission 10 � X, Down (x4), X, Left, Right Mission 11 � Triangle, Up, Circle, Down, Square, X, Right Mission 12 � Up (x2), Triangle (x2), Left (x2), Circle (x2) Mission 13 � Left, Down, Left, Down, Square, Circle, Square, Circle Mission 14 � Down (x4), X (x2), Circle (x2) Mission 15 � Square, Right, Left, Circle (x2), Up, Down, Square Mission 16 � Down, Up, Down, Up, Circle, Triangle, Circle, Triangle Chip & Jonathan Carter are a father/son gaming team who've been twiddling their thumbs professionally since 1990. For more tips, tricks, reviews and news, check us out on-line at http://vgames.webpoint.com/vid/ecol/mainpage . Or e-mail us at [email protected] . Got a question? An inside tip you'd like to share? Write to Chip and Jonathan Carter in care of this newspaper. While they cannot respond individually, they will answer questions of general interest in their column. (C) 1999 TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC. Techno file index Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA