Review: Toy Soldiers (XBLA)

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Toy Soldiers

Developer: Signal Studios

Publisher: Microsoft Games Studio

MSRP: 1200 MP ($15)

Release Date: 03/03/2010

Platform: Xbox LIVE Arcade

ESRB Rating: T (Teen)

I’m a huge fan of just tower defense games as a whole. I mean, when it comes to having something you can pick up & play without having to invest too much time into it, the tower defense genre ranks right up there with casual puzzlers & anything from PopCap (yeah, I count PopCap as a genre all their own). Anyway, for me, Toy Soldiers came right out of left field as I had no idea what it was before Microsoft’s keynote at this year’s CES. Once I discovered that it was not only a tower defense title, but set with WWI-themed toys as the playable characters, I was all in!

At it’s core, Toy Soldiers isn’t much different from other tower defense games. You are still defending your base (your toy box in this case) from wave after wave of enemies. You’ll place various towers along the paths to the base in hopes of destroying the enemy before they can breach your line. Towers are purchased using money earned through enemy kills & they all follow the standard rock-paper-scissors formula. That in itself is fine for me as I love the strategy involved with deciding what tower to use, where to put it on the map, & when is the appropriate time to place it. But, Toy Soldiers has a couple of other things that will make it stand out from the rest of the pack.

First is the direct control mechanic. Just about every unit you have, you can jump into & take control. From flying fighter plans to driving tanks to lobbing Howitzer shots, you have the ability to jump in & control the action. As an added incentive, units you directly control will be more powerful, making their shots more damaging (and more damage is pretty much a necessity in the later levels). Second is just the setting. I’ve longed for a solid WWI game for a long time now. Granted, it’s with toys from WWI, but still the diorama truly adds a level of enjoyment to this game that few others can lay claim to. Throw in the large amount of extras like the four difficulty modes (including an Elite mode where your towers won’t fire a single shot unless you’re controlling them), 24 campaign levels (12 for the British & 12 for the Germans), plus the challenge objectives for each campaign level to unlock rations (aka collectibles). Multiple Avatar Awards, robust leaderboards, and the elusive golden boxes make this one game that packed full.

My biggest complaint about it though is the skimpy multiplayer mode. With only roughly 6 maps to play on, the 1v1 gameplay gets tedious very quickly. After the first 2 games, I had to force myself to keep playing it just for the achievement. That’s a real shame as tower defense games have a lot of great MP potential. I’ve heard the folks at Signal Studios are possibly planning some DLC, so hopefully they can spruce up the multiplayer a bit. Don’t let that sway your decision though (unless all you’re looking for is the MP, in that case you will want to pass this one up). There’s plenty of tower defense/strategy goodness in this 1200 MP package that will keep you busy for awhile.

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