Review: Toy Soldiers

The Digest: Signal Studios brings gamers back into the muddy trenches of World War One, promising a unique blend of classic RTS elements and real-time control of individual units. Mustard gas, flamethrowers, heavy artillery and even biplanes are all part of your arsenal as you face the enemy in wave after wave. Combined with solid multiplayer, Signal Studios delivers an arcade title that’s perfect for everyone.

THE FACT SHEET

RELEASE DATE: March 3, 2010
PUBLISHER: Microsoft Game Studios
DEVELOPER: Signal Studios
GENRE: Action
ESRB RATING: “T” for Teen
PRICE: 1200 MS Points
PRODUCT OVERVIEW:

Put your foot soldiers, snipers, cavalry, and fighter pilots to the test in Toy Soldiers. Poised to be a smash hit on Xbox LIVE® Arcade, Toy Soldiers is an action-packed strategy-based game in which players command antique WWI toy soldiers vying for control of the trench-filled battlefields of Europe. Deploy an exciting arsenal such as tanks, cavalry, biplanes, and flamethrowers in vintage WWI toy dioramas. Developed by Signal Studios exclusively for Xbox 360, Toy Soldiers allows you to take control of individual units or control the entire battlefield from a strategic view. Integrating multiple game genres and world-class visuals, Toy Soldiers is a unique and action-packed entertainment experience!

PRODUCT FEATURES:

• Toy Battles: Take control of tanks, bombers, biplanes, and more. Play 24 missions in the Allied and Central campaigns. Battle with friends in five multiplayer maps locally and on Xbox LIVE. Command 42 unique units and lead your toy soldiers to victory!
• Easy-to-pick-up controls: Soldiers can fight on their own, or be controlled from a third-person mode.
• An arsenal of weapons: Fly planes and even drive tanks to help your unit succeed in protecting its base.
• Multiplayer: Split screen allows you to easily fight in head-to-head battles with friends over Xbox LIVE, or on the same console.
• Miniaturized mayhem: Unique game visuals and posteffects capture the imagination and provide real world historical events in a playful toy-like miniature world.

Single Player

Sitting down and playing Toy Soldiers for the first time, I wasn’t sure what to expect. What I found was one of the easiest games to pick up and play. Thrown into a mission from the very start, you quickly learn the basics of the game. Building, upgrading, and selling units are all taught within the first 10 minutes, making the learning curve extremely easy.

Showcasing 24 different missions, most of them are built around an ‘attack-and-defend’ concept where players will have time at the beginning of each battle to prepare. At the top of the screen a countdown timer marks the status of enemy waves, with you being able to launch the next wave by pressing the ‘X’ button. Starting off with limited amounts of cash to spend on units, deciding what to build (and when) creates some of the great tactical decisions of this game.

The biggest and most unique feature however, is being able to control your units and fire them like you would in an FPS. Being able to control bombs and artillery shells and slowing or speeding them up along with adjusting their direction gives players the opportunity to create precision strikes. Coupled with a combo system, watching a squad of 10 soldiers explode into toy blocks brings not only additional money but a sensation of satisfaction and achievement.

The few bugs I had with Toy Soldiers came right from the beginning. Adapting to using the right stick used by every other shooter as opposed to the left stick to look around and aim was tedious, but easily defeated… only to hit another wall.

Maybe I had been playing too much Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X. or even Battlefield 1943, but something didn’t sit right with me about how the biplanes controlled. Both the vertical and horizontal axis (moving left, right, up, and down) seemed too sensitive while flying at times. I would routinely find myself overshooting an enemy airplane, exiting a turn too abruptly, or even ending up upside down.

In the end, I was able to adjust how I flew my plane and it didn’t become as big as a problem; but it was something that made flying a hassle and a gamble for good controls every time.

Fortunately, the game allows for unlimited unit combinations letting you use as many, or as few, of a unit as you want. That isn’t saying unit spam is the way to go; you could win every single mission by just building mortars or machine guns, but it’ll be exponentially harder. This is actually one of the few RTS games which handles unit spam well – when the tanks start rolling, don’t expect your flame throwers to do much against them.

On some missions building 4 machine gun nests might make sense against those 5 initial waves of infantry, but when the armored cars arrive, options begin to open up. You can upgrade your machine guns and hope they do enough damage, or you could sell one or two and replace them with anti-tank mortars.

Occasionally, you’ll have a giant boss unit appear on the battlefield which slowly inches forward towards your base while wrecking havoc on your defenses. Requiring thought, strategy, and even an entirely new army at times, they shake up the battle near the end when you’ve already gone through most of the enemy army.

The constantly changing battlefields of Toy Soldiers always allow for new combinations, something that an RTS is supposed to do and that Toy Soldiers does well. Micromanaging, another distinct feature of RTS games, is handled pretty smoothly. Choosing whether to sacrifice managing your entire army for an effective tank or bomber with near perfect aim will test players’ wits and tactical skills.

Multiplayer

The multiplayer is another highlight of the game, bringing everything from the campaign onto the battlefields of Xbox LIVE or local split-screen. It works extremely well, with no two battles feeling the same. With 5 maps and 5 game modes, each time you step into a multiplayer lobby, you walk out with a new experience.

Attack and Defend is the core of Toy Soldiers, with one side building defenses while the other sends wave after wave of troops. Air Attack, Ground Assault, and Tank Combat are as their name implies, pitting two players against each other with only those specific units. All Out Blitz enables all units to be created, ensuring a tough and lengthy battle.

However, there’s only one catch: the matchmaking process. You are only presented with two options: you can join a random quick match, or you can create a private lobby. There’s no way for you to choose which mode you want to play or filter out any options, so going into multiplayer is essentially a ‘leap of faith.’

Conclusion: At the end of the day, Signal Studios has done an amazing job at their first game, taking the best of RTS and shooter elements and bringing them together in Toy Soldiers. While a few minor glitches are present, none of them are game-breaking and are easily ignored. Ultimately, Toy Soldiers proves itself to be a worthy addition to the Xbox LIVE Marketplace and your Game Library.

Single Player: 9/10 | Multi-Player: 9/10

Special thanks to Microsoft Game Studios for providing us with a copy of the game for review.

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