Devs/Publishers: Digital Cybercherries
Platform: Xbox, Switch and Windows
This Small Soldiers style arena shooter tugs on the nostalgia strings while still being over the top fun for all the family
Indie Devs Digital Cybercherries’ ambitious toy store shooter finally lands on Xbox with an overwhelmingly positive reception showing that there is still a market for simplistic shooters.
The game sees you play as toys brought to life by magical “power cores” that you must protect throughout the game from your sinister former ally: Major Evil and his army of possessed toys. The story is simple, good toys led by Max Ammo vs. the bad guys led by the aforementioned Major. It has strong shades of the Commando Elite vs The Gorgonites, for those well versed in cheesy 90s classics. The story is as simple as can be expected for a toy game but is engaging enough with well executed voice work from the team of just 7 developers. The choice to tell the story through comic strips was also a smart one as it makes crafting the story easy enough while still fitting the games genre like a glove.
You fight off all sorts of enemies that resemble toys we all recognize: Beyblades, bouncy balls, tanks, flying planes, monsters, UFOs, robots and literal toy soldiers. The variety of enemies keeps each level feeling fresh despite having the same main goal, to protect the cores, you have to adopt various approaches to building your defences based on the enemies each level throws at you. There are also sets of sub-goals unique to each level from flushing toilets to gathering lost keys to throwing darts at a dart board to simply collecting coins, each unique goal gives the campaign stages real replay-ability as you stand to unlock new customisation options for each toy in your chest.
While protecting cores can feel a little repetitive, each level is hugely immersive and clearly crafted with care, looking like scenes ripped straight out of toy story, taking you from back yards to attics and everywhere in between. The arsenal of unique weapons is also vast: machine guns, shotguns, snipers, lasers, flamethrowers, ice guns, mine launchers as well as various attachments for each. The gunplay never feels stale. Traversing each stage is also tons of fun, with sprinting and RANGEY double jumps allowing you to access just about every section of the stage you can lay eyes on, just as well too as some of the coins are annoyingly well hidden.
The Campaign can be played solo, online with friends or LOCAL SPLITSCREEN!! Making this perfect for in-house family fun, a lost art in games these days. Online multiplayer is fun enough but it lacks the same progression as the single player modes with all of its unlockables. Playing against other people instead of waves of toys is a nice change of pace but no real ranking system and a lack of mode variety only keeps you tuned in for a few games at a time.
All in all, this game has been a massive success with its full launch on console for such a modest team. The gameplay is solid, the levels are crafted with care and its a fun time for all the family while hitting all the right nostalgia notes. Multiplayer could be more flushed out but there is still time to address this in future updates, or even a sequel given the audience their debut title has found.
RM RECOMMENDS
PROS
Low price point at £25
Fun for the whole family at home and online
Great enemy and weapon variation
Good campaign replay ability
CONS
Multiplayer lacks progression and variety
Split screen 3rd person looks a little crowded
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