“War was never this fun!” is what defines this fantastic game. I do say that with a big smile and a pair of sore thumbs to prove it, after a session i was hooked from start to end of the campaign.
As i played the game it was giving me a free ticket to memory lane, making me remember the GIJOE toys from the company Hasbro, the style in which they present the game made me go back to my childhood. Sadly i missed the first title in the series, something i now regret.
This, the latest title in the Summer of Arcade for the Xbox360 arrived with a real blast, we had some good titles in this promotion but Toy Soldiers Cold War may be one of the best!
Gameplay
This is a sort of tower defense type game, after a brief tutorial to learn to use the different turrets at your disposal, you are deployed to your first mission.
The objective of the game is to defend your base from the russian strikes, the more russians that make it thought your defenses and invade your base will substract hit points, so you have to prevent that from happening.
You have several types of turrets to help you defend the base, including Machine Guns, Anti Tank, Anti Aircraft, Mortar, Artillery and Makeshift (which is a sort of toxic weapons turret).
These turrets can be upgraded as you defeat enemies and gain money, not all the enemies can be defeated with one type of turret, for example machine guns wont do much against heavily armored tanks, while anti tank turrets will obliterate them.
Creative and detailed scenarios for each stage
As a bonus when an enemy soldier or unit display a red star and you get the kill (this does not count, if the AI is controlling the turret or vehicle) you get a Barrage to make use of special attacks.
These include bombarding the area; aerial support with heavy artillery, a nuke or my personal favorite a commando using a bazooka and a machine gun which is a parody of Rambo, truly funny and made me laugh a lot, just to hear him say “You wanted a war? You got a war!”.
The way Barrage works is random so you dont know which support you will obtain, sometimes it’s a life saver and other times it will not help you destroy the current wave of soldiers.
Aside of the turrets you can get a vehicle or two to help you stop the red menace! You will have the chance to pilot and drive tanks, helicopters or even a powerful jet.
"I just wanted to go home!" unleash a powerful barrage!
Co-op
The game offers both, online and offline co-op and versus modes. This is a very good asset as many developers add just one of them, the offline mode features a split screen.
Downsides
Camera can be annoying, i cant deny that. Often using a turret or a vehicle, as you move the angle to aim at enemy units it’s common to see a building blocking the screen as it gets behind your vehicle.
This can be nasty especially when you are in a pinch and need to destroy the enemy fast. Other than that.. to be honest, i can’t find any other issues with the game.
Defend your base, destroy the enemy
Extras
Oh boy! The guys at Signal Studios decided to spoil us here, giving us a good amount of freebies including Gamer Pictures and 3 different avatar awards, including the commando hairstyle plus the red bandana, a neat military jacket and a shirt.
Overall
All in all, Toy Soldiers Cold War is a tower defense game you mustn’t let pass, good soundtrack with excellent gameplay and controls. Online and offline co-op and versus modes, plus upcoming DLC, giving this title a high replay value that’s worth 1200 Microsoft Points. For more screenshots of the game please visit our image gallery.
So join the Toy Soldiers army and get ready to defend the freedom and our right to order a whopper with fries and a vanilla milkshake, we need you soldier!
we give the game a 9.4 out of 10
~Mario
