Army Men: Toys In Space

Army Men: Toys in Space is a 1999 top-down tactical action game developed and published by The 3DO Company. Releasing just months after Army Men II, it represents the exact moment The 3DO Company realized they could smash different action figure genres together to keep their massive, rapidly expanding franchise feeling fresh.

Leaving the gritty, WWII-style warfare of the original game behind, Toys in Space fully embraced the campy, 1950s B-movie sci-fi aesthetic. It asked a simple playground question: what happens when your classic green army men have to fight a horde of plastic alien bugs?

The Narrative: First Contact

The story picks up shortly after the events of Army Men II. The heroic Sarge and his Green Army are defending a base from the villainous Tan Army when a flying saucer suddenly crashes into the Plastic World.

From the wreckage emerges a brand-new line of toys: the Galactic Army, led by the courageous space-ranger Captain Tina Tomorrow. She warns Sarge that her ship was shot down by a terrifying hive-mind of plastic extraterrestrials known as the Alien Swarm. Naturally, the evil Tan commander, General Plastro, immediately allies himself with the monstrous aliens to gain access to their advanced technology. Sarge and Tina must team up to fight the Tan-Alien alliance across the Plastic World, Real World environments (like a suburban sandbox and a treacherous bathroom bathtub), and ultimately take the fight to a massive, plastic Space Station.

Gameplay and The Sci-Fi Arsenal

Toys in Space runs on the exact same isometric, top-down 3D engine as Army Men II. You still navigate the map with tank controls, manage a small squad of specialized grunts, and fight through highly lethal battlefields.

However, the massive hook of this game was its completely unhinged, sci-fi weapon sandbox. Alongside your standard rifles and flamethrowers, Sarge gains access to:

The Shrink Ray: Arguably the most satisfying weapon in the game. Hitting a Tan soldier with this beam reduces them to a microscopic size. Sarge can then simply walk over them, crushing them beneath his combat boots with a hilarious “squeak.”
The Freeze Ray: Instantly encases enemies in a block of solid ice. Once frozen, a single bullet (or a swift kick) will shatter the soldier into dozens of plastic shards.
Laser Rifles: These high-tech weapons fire concentrated beams that physically bounce off walls, allowing clever players to shoot around corners to clear out entrenched Tan bunkers.
Alien Spit/Slime: You can harvest the corrosive acid deployed by the Alien bugs, using it to melt Tan soldiers much like the flamethrower.
Fly Swatters: A melee weapon specifically introduced to swat the annoying, flying alien drone toys out of the air.

The Factions

The game doubles the faction roster of the previous games, introducing two completely new toy lines:

The Green Army: Led by Sarge, representing classic mid-century American G.I.s.
The Tan Army: Led by General Plastro, who have now been heavily augmented with alien shielding and sci-fi weaponry.
The Galactic Army: Led by Tina Tomorrow. They are a hilarious homage to retro sci-fi toys like Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon, wearing bubbly space helmets, jetpacks, and wielding ray guns.
The Alien Swarm: A terrifying faction of xenomorph-inspired, bug-like toys controlled by the Overbrain. They rely on overwhelming melee swarms, corrosive acid, and terrifying spider-like units that drop from the ceiling.

Development and Legacy

Released in late 1999—the exact same year as Army Men II—Toys in Space is the poster child for The 3DO Company’s relentless, almost exhausting release schedule. Because it used the same engine, same UI, and many of the same assets as its predecessor, critics at the time were highly polarized. Many felt it was essentially a standalone expansion pack being sold at full retail price, rather than a true sequel.

Despite the criticisms of 3DO’s business practices, the game itself is fondly remembered as one of the most creative and purely fun entries in the classic PC series. The addition of the Shrink Ray and Freeze Ray added a massive layer of chaotic joy to the combat, and the sci-fi setting prevented the “Green vs. Tan” formula from going entirely stale.

Today, Army Men: Toys in Space remains a nostalgic cult classic. Thanks to 2K Games, it has been rescued from the 90s CD-ROM era and is beautifully preserved and fully playable on modern PCs via digital storefronts.

Key Features:

Plastic Sci-Fi — Expand the toy box by introducing retro space-rangers and terrifying alien bug action figures into the classic Green vs. Tan war.
Unorthodox Arsenal — Ditch the M16s and utilize Shrink Rays, Freeze Rays, and bouncing Lasers to dispatch your plastic enemies in hilarious new ways.
Real World Battlefields — Wage war across massive Real World environments, navigating the treacherous waters of a bathroom tub and the dunes of a backyard sandbox.
The Galactic Alliance — Team up with Captain Tina Tomorrow and her jetpack-wielding Space Troopers to take down the Alien Overbrain.
Late 90s Nostalgia — Experience the peak of 3DO’s top-down Army Men era, perfectly preserved for modern Windows hardware.