Your chopper's winch plays a far more important role this go round than it did before. Now, instead of having the ability to use the winch if you choose to, you are required to use it and to master not only picking up and dropping things, but hurling them at enemies. One nicely aimed Our World object can wipe out a pack of enemies instead of depleting your precious ammo. Nice. There are also some nifty power-ups such as camo, which will have you flying about disguised as a bee. Yes, a bee shooting rockets. Interesting to watch. There's also a Disruptor, which reverses your controls (it's the one with the Dreamcast symbol on it. Hmmm) and many, many more. The health seemed to be more scarce in
AMAA2, but again, maybe that is to encourage you to use that winch and get them before they get you.
You use your D-pad to control your chopper and the controls are very responsive. Since each chopper and co-pilot have individual weapons assigned to them via the Square and Triangle buttons, there is no need for a weapons menu. Sending out Woodstock's Kamikaze Paratroopers will quickly become second nature. The overhead map is back again and it's a great help on the single player missions, but gets in the way on the Co-op mode. Not enough screen room. Still, it helps you get to where you need to go and you can switch it on and off when you need to.
For the most part, the enemy AI is very good. Enemy choppers and tan guys assault you with reckless abandon, Roman candles and bottle rockets never miss, and even the insects seem to get in your way just for fun at times.
To sum things up, Army Men Air Attack 2 is a good sequel to the original. More of everything you liked in AMAA is here, plus a few things you never thought of. If mission-based helicopter action is what does it for you, there isn't a finer example of the genre out there. Great graphics and sound effects, an engaging storyline and tons of action are what you'll get when you pick up Army Men Air Attack 2. And I recommend you do.