HYPERCHARGE Unboxed Xbox Review

I don’t think there’s been a kid who hasn’t wondered about the secret lives of toys, and HYPERCHARGE Unboxed taps into that idea that they were intrinsically alive, waiting for their time to live their own lives while we slept or were absent from the room. It’s an idea that’s inherently thrilling, but also ever so slightly terrifying, though I can’t imagine there isn’t anyone who didn’t wish their favourite action figure was secretly alive. While we’ve had enough movies on the subject, from the delightfully whimsical to the downright terrifying, game-wise, well, there could be more.

Seeming to hear our call for more action figure-related mayhem, developer Digital Cybercherries has answered the call with the plastic-infused battling mayhem that is HYPERCHARGE Unboxed!

The premise of HYPERCHARGE Unboxed warns against the horrors of leaving toys boxed on a shelf, their purpose unfulfilled! Well one toy experienced this horror and his response was to become Major Evil and have his revenge on the children of the world! Or, perhaps, just one house? It’s a little difficult to tell on that point. To do this Major Evil decides to destroy the Hypercores, doo-hickeys that preserve children’s good memories of their favourite toys.

Enlisting a group of evil toys, Major Evil set out to do, well, evil. Standing in his path are his counterpart and a small group of toys desperate to make sure children’s memories remain untouched. To do this they have to defend the Hypercores and put down a boatload of fellow plastics.

You commit all this miniature warfare in a multiplayer horde mode, a tower defence shooter. You’re popped into the tiny shoes of an action figure and have to defend the Hypercores in life-size environments such as a child’s room, a kitchen, a toy store, etc.

Mechanics are incredibly simple. You and a team of three other toys have to defend the Hypercores spread across the level from increasingly difficult waves of toys. You can set up defences around the Hypercore and in specific places across the map, ranging from castle walls to fire traps. Defences require build credits to set up and these are scattered across the level for you to find in the five minutes you get to plan between waves.

There’s a decent amount of platforming exploration across the levels. You are a toy after all and reaching the top shelf of the kitchen is going to take some work. The exploration ties both into defence, finding hidden items and completing main and sub-objectives.

You make relatively short work of a gamut of classic toys, ranging from those wonderful green army men, complete with tanks and jeeps to ninjas and robots trying to kick your walls down. Bosses rock up in the form of gunships and UFOs and take a fair amount of little orange pellets to take down.

You only have one weapon but it can hold two attachments at the same time, letting you roll between rifles and grenade launchers or a laser and a shotgun.

All of the action can be played in first or third person, both of which have their uses. The first person is great for combat while the third-person is better suited to platforming.

HYPERCHARGE Unboxed features fourteen levels for its campaign, along with Free Roam, Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Infection and Capture the Battery modes. All of this can be played solo with bots or in multiplayer. Best of all is that the game features split-screen local co-op for up to four players and this is, arguably, the best way to play it. While the bots do a pretty good job of defending and setting up defences, they do struggle a bit in the later levels when more bullet sponge enemies show up.

Building on the toys-at-war aspect, HYPERCHARGE Unboxed goes all in on customisation for your little fighters. From their paint jobs to individual headpieces, you can customise each of the unlockable characters. You can even pick your own toy box style and when levels start, you get to bust out of your box, leaving little plastic sleeves at your feet. The animation as well is superb, with the toys moving in jerky, robotic motions when you least expect it. It’s a nice touch that’s ever so creepy.

The game’s levels as well are fantastically designed. From the cookie jar at the kitchen level to the various model kits lining the shelves at the toy store level, HYPERCHARGE Unboxed is just gorgeous and full to the brim with little details and jokey Easter Eggs. I wanted to explore each level in-depth just to get a good look at the various everyday objects, now rendered huge, in detail while searching the nooks and crannies for any hidden objects.

If HYPERCHARGE Unboxed has any issues, it would be that, as with all games of this ilk, it is best played with others. After completing the campaign with the bots, which was a satisfying experience, I’m not sure I’d want to return to it without another player though. It’s a fun blast, but you can’t beat coordinating with another player, especially if they’re on the couch next to you.

The other issue is the game’s use of Depth of Field when aiming down the sights. It’s aggravating and makes precision shots at a long distance a chore.

In an age where early access and monetisation rule the roost, HYPERCHARGE is one of the few multiplayer games launching features complete with a straightforward, easy-to-pick-up-and-play experience. There are no monetisation features here. The developers wanted to return to the good old days of gaming when a game launched completely and all of its unlockables could be gained by simply playing the game across its various modes.

To this end, I’d say they’ve valiantly succeeded as HYPERCHARGE Unboxed gives you a whopping ton of options and gameplay customisation without having to wait for further features to launch somewhere down the line.

If you’re looking for some family-friendly, couch co-op fun, then you should check out HYPERCHARGE Unboxed.

HYPERCHARGE Unboxed Launch Trailer

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