Back in 2015, a tiny independent studio first began development on a game that put homages to our favortie toys from the 80s and 90s in an all out war across our bedroom. Nearly a decade later and Digital Cybercherries is set for the full official launch of Hypercharge Unboxed on Xbox. This hybrid first and third person shooter game puts millennial’s Saturday morning cartoons in a fun war game.
Hypercharged Unboxed is standard shooter game that uses its unique aesthetic to do some fresh things. While you definitely get Small Soldiers vibes from playing as action figure toys shooting your way through tons of evil toy enemies, the game doesn’t pull back on its requirement of necessary strategy to survive. Most of what you’ll play in the game’s story mode is tower defense based as you’ll either team with friends or bots to defend toy life giving “Hypercores” from hordes of blobs, bouncing balls, evil soldiers, and a variety of boss type enemies to help save SGT. Max Ammo.
1-4 players can team up online or via split screen co-op to survive a variety of imaginative stages such as the toy store, garage, the bathroom, and more ant-man perspective versions of common everyday places. While the story being told through comic book style panels is thin for older audiences, it doesn’t exactly matter. You’re in this game for popcorn action fun and it has it in full. Much of this is in the moments between hordes as you have precious minutes to complete bonus objectives, find collectibles and take in the attention to detail these levels present.
The game’s shooting mechanics are solid. Getting the hang of aiming then incorporating platforming such as jump pad launching in combat is easy to master, opening up tactical advantages you can work out with your team. Where the game will have a ton of replay value is competitive multiplayer. It features modes such as deathmatch, infection, king of the hill and capture the battery.
Hypercharged Unboxed doesn’t break a mold but it’s a solidly made complete package game that fully scales its gimmick. Not only does the art style use homages to toys in a love letter nostalgic way, this design also creates maps with incredible verticality and exploration reward without ever jarring you out of its presented scale. For the $29.99 price point or Game Pass inclusion, we highly recommend jumping out of the toy box for this one.
