![]() The thrill of piloting an F-14 fighter is somewhat lessened by a lack of room to maneuver. Camera issues also contribute to an odd perception of space, particularly vertically. While the bird’s-eye vantage point does give you a good look at your half of the battlefield, it removes all the excitement of combat. The ground-level camera often angles too sharply near the dirt, obscuring the view. As in the original, the camera can be problematic. While Cold War’s personality does go a long way, it can’t entirely compensate for the game’s few flaws. In both the campaign and other modes, Signal Studios managed to hit the right arcade and strategy notes to appeal to a range of players. There are also several included minigames, which, because of the toy box conceit, have a charm others don’t. ![]() I almost never get sucked into Leaderboard chases, but with Cold War, I couldn’t help the urge to shoot down one more fighter jet than my pals.Ĭold War also features a Survival mode with three specially-designed maps as well as cooperative and competitive multiplayer modes, both of which leverage the strengths of the core game. Small soldiers game boy controls plus#Obsessive stat tracking, which I usually find tiresome, is actually a plus in Cold War you are told in real time and on loading screens how many bullets you’ve fired, tanks you’ve destroyed, etc. Accomplishing specific goals in each level earn you Decorations, which, while not useful beyond the inevitable Achievement, give you a reason to experiment with different weapons, vehicles, and strategies. Tower defense games can get stale quickly, but Cold War gives the player a range of abilities and objectives to keep him engaged. Fair warning: you may find yourself walking around your house talking like Stallone on Novocaine after a few rounds with this mulleted hero.įor me, the most remarkable feature of the Toy Soldiers games is how they make me enjoy things I usually don’t. Emerging from a blister pack, this invincible action figure spouts Rambo-esque one-liners (“This one’s for Jimmy!”) as you use him to devastate enemy forces. Then there’s everyone’s favorite, the Commando. Maxing out the meter awards you a powerful bonus-a nuclear strike, a stint in the gunner’s seat of an AC-130 gunship, an artillery barrage. But there’s even more incentive to jump into them yourself, as racking up a streak of kills fills a turbo-charge meter. The standard turret types are still present: machine gun, anti-tank, anti-air, artillery. While the essential Toy Soldiers recipe is intact, Cold War adds a number of flourishes. The AI is competent enough in managing your turrets, but nothing beats hopping into the gunner’s seat to mow down enemies yourself. And the unique tension that mechanic fosters, the challenge of balancing macro-level management of your defenses with micro-level control of individual units, still makes for exciting play. The remarkable innovation of the first game-allowing you to jump right into the action by taking control of units, thus breaking the reactive mold of most tower defense games-is unchanged. It’s easy to once again slip into the mindset of a kid playing with action figures.Ĭold War is the latest entry in a welcome trend: sequels that improve on their predecessors while preserving the core formula that made the originals successful. The world outside the battlefield-a young boy’s bedroom-is now littered with floppy disks, boomboxes, and other ‘80s paraphernalia. The game’s riffs on Reagan-era staples like Rambo and Top Gun are immediately endearing. The tone is pitch-perfect: from the red-white-and-blue fighter jet exhaust to the synth-heavy soundtrack, Cold War feels like a G.I. This time around, the backdrop is a flashy, tongue-in-cheek recreation of the long-running U.S.-Soviet conflict-as filtered through the stereotypes of an ‘80s action movie. Like its WWI-themed predecessor, Cold War is a twist on the tower defense genre in which plastic armies face off for control of a toy box battlefield. It transcends its gimmick.Īt first glance, Signal Studios’ recent Xbox Live Arcade release Toy Soldiers: Cold War might look similarly gimmicky. But Mahaffey’s knack for catchy hooks, funky harmonies, and effects wizardry make Gizmodgery stand on its own as a rock album, not merely as a novelty. ![]() You’d think that conceit would be a recipe for disaster for any rock musician worth his salt, a one-way ticket to Weird Al territory. Every song was recorded exclusively with toy instruments, such as you’d find on the shelves of your local Toys“R”Us. ![]() As gimmick records go, the 2000 album Gizmodgery by Matt Mahaffey’s band Self is one of the best. ![]()
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