Developer: Digital Cybercherries
Publisher: Digital Cybercherries
Platform: PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
Tested on: Xbox Series X/S
HYPERCHARGE: Unboxed – Review
HYPERCHARGE: Unboxed is actually a title that was released on Steam slightly over four years ago, and when it was initially released, it also made waves in the gaming landscape. The game already has a nearly spotless track record when looking at the Steam reviews, but we never really thought this original toy soldier shooter would get a second lease on life via an Xbox release. Even so, we were more than happy enough this pick this nostalgia-infused army men shooter a go on consoles.
Story
The story in HYPERCHARGE: Unboxed is actually quite simple. It tells the tale of two brothers, each getting an action figure. The youngest brother cherishes his action figure by always playing with it, while the other prefers to keep his action figure in pristine condition by keeping it in the box. Sadly; due to this, the boxed figure gets upset, and he decides to escape from his cardboard prison in order to take out the competition. Things go awry, however, and he ends up being damaged, making him a worthless toy. This escalates the conflict even further, turning things into an all-out toy war.
Even though the story is simple and lighthearted, we still enjoyed the fact that there was a story present in a shooter such as this. You’ll be presented with comic book-like cutscenes in between missions, and these further flesh out the conflict between the different toy soldiers.
Graphics
If in any of our other reviews we would write that the character models looked like plastic figurines, it would be something extremely negative. In the case of HYPERCHARGE: Unboxed, however, that’s actually an amazing accomplishment. From start to finish, the game truly gives you the impression that you’re playing with real-life action figures. We absolutely loved the many different character designs and their impressive amount of unlockable parts to further customize them. The stage designs are also amazingly handled. Some of the assets used here looked photorealistic, creating a perfect contrast between the actual furniture pieces and the plastic toys that wage all-out war. The splash effects from weapons looked impressive, and it proved to be extremely satisfying to see enemy toys get blown to pieces.
The game can be played in a first-person view, but also from a third-person view. Depending on the objective, or the stage you’re in, it does help to swap between the different views to get a better overview. We loved having the option to choose between the different angles, which is quite nice for a genre that traditionally offers only one viewpoint. When playing split-screen, the overall view is still clear, but the font for reading text is extremely small.
Sound
As a whole, HYPERCHARGE: Unboxed’s sound design is quite good. The music is very cinematic, the guns provide great audio feedback, and even the occasional one-liner during matches is well-delivered. The cinematics in the campaign are also fully voiced, which gives the game a bit more charm. Most lines sound a bit cheesy, but it fits the overall atmosphere and mood of the game.
Gameplay
HYPERCHARGE: Unboxed is a first-person (or third-person) shooter that allows you to play through its story mode, local split-screen matches, or even online competitive matches. The offset for most matches or modes is the same, however: you blow other toys to smithereens while scoring points for kills or while completing objectives. Some modes offer a free-for-all format, while others allow you to play in teams. The game doesn’t have many complex mechanics, and there’s a tutorial present to cover some of the more complicated features.
For the most part, you’ll be spending your time playing through the adventure mode or the short PVP matches. In the adventure mode, you’ll mainly occupy yourself with defeating waves of enemies, while also keeping several cores intact by protecting them. You’ll have to collect resources to do so to build structures around the cores, providing them with additional protection. Everything in the game can be played locally via split-screen, which is quite rare these days.
The PVP matches offer fairly traditional modes, ranging from free-for-all and domination to team deathmatch and infection. As a whole, the game does nothing new in terms of what it offers, but the developers clearly spent a lot of time polishing the experience. The combat is extremely satisfying, the different weapons are a lot of fun, gunplay feels balanced, and so on. We did notice that the auto-aim feature is a bit janky at times, as it even directed our movement more than once when trying to run away from targets or land tricky jumps. Other than that, some key-binds felt a bit weird, but we did get used to the control scheme quite quickly.
Another thing HYPERCHARGE: Unboxed absolutely nails is the amount of unlockable content. Even though most of the content you can unlock is just cosmetics for the different playable characters, there is so much available (for free) that it simply keeps you motivated and engaged to press onward. We loved customizing our toy soldier, and we found it an admirable choice of the developers to not add paid cosmetics or DLC.
Conclusion
HYPERCHARGE: Unboxed is truly a love letter to old-school action games, where you could simply play with your friends and family via local split-screen. The overall formula works great, the gunplay is satisfying for both younger and older gamers, and the visuals are absolutely impressive. It’s been a while since we were able to enjoy simple straightforward fun without being bombarded with possible DLC, paid cosmetics, or other shady tactics. If you’re looking for a fun competitive shooter with an entertaining but shallow story, then we suggest checking this one out.
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