Team Buddies

Psygnosis Camden Town studio

Company type	Video game developer
Industry	Video games
Predecessor	Psygnosis Camden Town studio
Fate	Transitioned to Sony
Headquarters	London (Camden Town) , United Kingdom
Parent	Sony Computer Entertainment

Team Buddies is an action-strategy video game released in 2000, developed by Psygnosis and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation. In North America, Midway Games handled its distribution. This title marked the final project of Psygnosis' Camden Town studio before its transition to Sony.

Plot

The narrative unfolds in Buddie World, a realm inhabited by pill-shaped beings known as "Buddies." Conflict ignites when weapon-filled crates descend from the sky, triggering battles among color-coded teams competing for supremacy.

As hostilities intensify, players learn that rival factions receive support from Doctor Madasalorrie, a scientist conducting experiments on native fauna. After convincing him to switch allegiances, Madasalorrie vanishes during a mission aimed at destroying an adversary's factory, leaving the player to complete the operation.

These crates originate from Baddie Moon, the domain of cube-shaped "Baddies" who drop them onto Buddie World to capture the ensuing turmoil for a television program. The player’s objective becomes eliminating the Baddies and obliterating their capital city—the source of the crates.

It is eventually uncovered that Madasalorrie is actually a Baddie in disguise, who has intensified the violence to boost TV ratings. In the climactic sequence, he attempts to annihilate Buddie World using a death ray. The player overcomes Madasalorrie, rescues alien inhabitants from the moon ahead of a volcanic eruption, and destroys his ultimate weapon, thereby restoring tranquility to Buddie World.

Gameplay

The gameplay blends the comedic tone reminiscent of Worms with real-time strategy mechanics. A key feature involves teams stacking crates within a 2×2×2 formation at their base area. Different configurations yield various items upon breaking: a single crate produces a light weapon; arranging four crates horizontally grants a heavy weapon; filling the entire pad generates a vehicle. Battle toys differ according to each world, which includes eight original environments plus bonus sets unlocked after completing story mode. Most vehicles accommodate two crates, while larger vehicles and golf carts can carry three. Vertical stacking of crates creates extra "buddies," controllable units capable of attacking, defending, or independently constructing structures. Players can switch control between buddies to employ specific abilities or weapons.

Each team’s starting location contains a sizable base building that can be destroyed. Eliminating this base disables its crate-stacking pad, preventing further unit creation and ceasing weapon production—making base destruction crucial for victory. Teams lacking bases must depend on weapons dropped by foes or scavenged from the map; agile units can capture weapons from enemy pads during deployment.

Maps feature designated "crate drop" areas—usually positioned near bases and central zones—where crates fall from above for assembling weapons and units. Most crates are yellow with red borders; occasionally, yellow crates with blue borders appear, enhancing produced items with increased firepower, range, or durability. Certain maps include mega-crates—large grey and yellow containers holding rare weapons or vehicles—that can be transported by Mechs but not by other vehicles.

Team Buddies offers split-screen multiplayer accommodating up to four players across multiple game modes:

Deathmatch

Victory is achieved by eliminating every opponent on the rival team. When the game involves at least two human players and a minimum of three participants overall, the "rabanete" mode becomes accessible after completing the main game. In this variation, the final surviving member of a defeated team transforms into a slow-moving, invisible ghost. This ghost can revive by coming into contact with the smoking boots left behind by a recently fallen player, allowing it to re-enter the battle, continue stacking crates, and attack adversaries.

Domination

Scattered throughout the map are "domination points," such as ankhs or trees, which teams must seize to accumulate points. Securing a point for five continuous seconds grants one point; controlling several points simultaneously yields multiple points per interval. The match ends when a team reaches the predetermined score target, or if time runs out, the team with the highest total wins. Capturing these points requires only physical contact. Teams cannot be fully eliminated; if every member is defeated, a basic unit respawns at their stacking area equipped with the weakest available weapon, provided that pad remains active.

Capture

This mode resembles capture the flag gameplay, where teams attempt to steal animals—dogs, penguins, pigs, and sheep—from opposing pens and transport them back to their own enclosures. Animals must be stunned before they can be picked up and cannot be killed during multiplayer matches. While being carried, animals will attempt to flee back to their original pen. If a carrier is shot, the animal is dropped. Successfully capturing an enemy animal awards 10 points, plus an additional 5 points if your own animal remains unharmed.

Bomball

A volatile grey ball appears at the center of the arena. Each team consists of three players equipped with the weakest weapons; eliminated players respawn shortly after death. The goal is to carry the ball into an opposing team's goal and throw it between the goalposts. Once thrown, a countdown begins; when it reaches zero, the ball detonates, inflicting damage on nearby players. Scoring by throwing through the goalposts earns one point, with an extra six-point bonus if the explosion occurs within the goal area behind them.

Style

Team Buddies is characterized by its unique visual design and dialogue style. Due to censorship regulations in the United States, originally crude and stereotypical character speech was softened for that region. The European release assigned distinct voice traits to each character class and attributed nationality-based stereotypes to multiplayer team colors—for instance, blue represented English players while purple portrayed 'engrish' Japanese stereotypes.

Characters feature pill-shaped bodies with detached limbs reminiscent of Rayman, except for moon-based enemies encountered in single-player mode. The environments are vibrantly colored and angular, relying primarily on textured surfaces rather than intricate polygonal models. Weapons are simple in design, mostly solid colors marked with arrows indicating projectile direction. Explosions cause terrain to darken and deform realistically, leaving behind craters and scorch marks.

Multiplayer includes unlockable skins for player customization, such as zombie outfits, underwear-themed skins, and English football jerseys.

Reception

According to review aggregation on GameRankings, Team Buddies received above-average evaluations. Scott Steinberg from IGN commended its presentation and described it as "fun, original, and a little clunky," labeling it "a thinking man's shooter." Conversely, Frank Provo of GameSpot criticized the title for its "main flaw: boredom," despite its multimedia elements. GameRevolution published a positive review more than a month prior to release.