HYPERCHARGE Unboxed Review (Xbox One)

STAFF REVIEW of HYPERCHARGE Unboxed (Xbox One)

Friday, August 30, 2024.
by Adam Dileva

As a kid, my toy chest was full of classic Transformers, G.I. Joe, Ghostbusters, Hot Wheels, and many more of-the-time figures. Being a kid with a big imagination, I sometimes used to play with my toys, wondering what it would be like to actually be one of them, battling against the bad guys or simply having an adventure. Movies like Toy Story and Small Soldiers brought this idea to life, seeing how toys would be if they were alive. Seeing a trailer for Hypercharge: Unboxed, I instantly thought of the movie Small Soldiers. Originally released on PC then later on Switch, HYPERCHARGE Unboxed is now finally available for Xbox players.

It's clear that I’m still just a grown up kid, as the idea of HYPERCHARGE Unboxed is something that just seems awesome. Who wouldn’t want to play as a collection of action figures, battling it out against other waves of toys? The best part is that you can play solo in a campaign mode or alongside some friends, though if you want to play versus one another, there’s plenty of options for that as well. Clearly a passion project by a small team, HYPERCHARGE Unboxed may have been delayed coming to Xbox, but the wait was worth it.

An ancient power source known as the Hypercore is what keeps all of the memories of humans favorite toys. Major Evil wants to destroy the Hypercore though, because, well, he’s evil of course. So it’s up to Sergeant Max Ammo to stop Major Evil and save the Hypercore. This is where you’ll come in, as you’ll need to defend the Hypercore at all costs, or else all those cherished memories of your favorite toys will be lost forever. I couldn’t imagine not having my fond Transformer toys memories from my childhood, so I of course took up arms to help Sgt. Max Ammo in this wave-based tower defense shooter.

There’s an optional tutorial that will show you the basics of the gameplay, though it’s quite simple. Its main mode is a wave-based tower defense where you’ll beef up your Hypercore’s protection with a variety of different traps and objects, then face off against waves of toys trying to destroy it. It’s simple, and most importantly, fun. Aside from running and shooting all the waves of incoming toys, you can also explore the levels finding stickers, coins and other collectables, as well as work towards optional objectives.

Being able to freely swap between first and third person views, you can play however you wish if you prefer one viewpoint over the other. I found myself switching to first person when shooting a bunch of Beyblades and green Army Men, but swapping to third person when trying to platform around the environments. Since this is a bunch of toys fighting, it takes place in our world, so your levels are within a toy store, a kitchen, living room, shed, playground and the likes. This really makes it feel like you’re actually a bunch of toys battling it out while the humans are away and not looking, much like Toy Story.

For playing as a bunch of toys, I didn’t expect the gunplay to be as good as it is. Weapons feel powerful and like they have some punch to them, as a good number of shots will take down enemy toys easily. You have a wide assortment of weapons too, from rifles, snipers, shotguns, flamethrowers, beam guns, grenade launchers, rockets, machine guns and more. They all have unlimited ammunition as well, so no need to scrounge around for ammo, simply reload when needed.

The catch is that you’ll have to explore the levels for these weapon attachments or find them around the stage to purchase with the coins you gather platforming around as well. Instead of actually carrying two weapons, most attachments allow you to place it on the main barrel or underneath, simply able to rotate and swap the barrel to the other ‘gun’ as needed. There’s also sights, handles and more attachments you can find to really beef up your weapon if you take the time to explore, though the default rifle will certainly do the job against regular foes as needed.

The building phase will begin immediately at the start of a match, as well as in between waves. This time is meant to be used to explore the level, set up defenses, gather resources and coins. You’ll also want to be on the lookout for loose batteries, as these are what powers your Hypercore shields. Most stages have three separate Hypercores spread around the map to defend, so you’ll have to keep an eye on them all. While there’s nothing stopping you from exploring and gathering during the match itself, it’s a bit easier to do when you’re not constantly getting shot at.

There are set tiles near and around each Hypercore, and this is where you’ll place your defenses such as LEGO brick walls, poison traps, turrets, spikes, and more. You only begin with a few traps to place but unlock more as you progress and earn match XP. You’re able to repair battered defenses during this build phase if needed, or can demolish what’s there and place something new. Maybe a teammate is short a few credits to place his turret, well you can easily hand them some of yours if you’re so inclined. Teamwork makes the dreamwork. Depending on the difficulty you choose, this will give you more, or less, time in between the waves, and if you’re playing solo, you can have bots on your team to help as well.

The defense time is up, now it’s time to survive against waves of enemies trying to destroy the Hypercore. There’s no map or HUD to indicate where waves are coming from (aside from a handy ‘heartbeat’ sensor weapon attachment if you can find it), so you’re going to have to move from area to area to cover each of the cores. Some enemies are easily spotted, whereas others like the green Army Men, can be a bit more challenging, as they are smaller and they tend to stay ‘dead’ once defeated and toppled over, littering the bedroom battlefield.

Choosing your action figure in the beginning you’re only given a few options, though there are plenty of ways to customize your toy, simply by playing. You can unlock new figures, heads, and skins for body and weapons (though most are simply palette swaps). There’s twenty buildable traps and objects to unlock to defend your base as well, and along with 200 hidden objectives, there’s almost always something to work towards. There’s more than 600+ unlockables, and you do so simply by playing. No microtransactions to nickel and dime you, no terrible battle passes, just play, have fun, and unlock new stuff for your action figure.

While you can play completely solo and with bots, HYPERCHARGE Unboxed shines with playing with friends and communicating with one another. Work as a team, call out enemies or pickups, and strategize which traps to lay. Cross-platform play made it so I was always able to find a match, even in the middle of the night when I wanted to get a few waves in. The difficulty scales with the player count as well, so you can always feel challenged, yet not unfair. There’s even split screen mode for up to four players, a long-lost feature in most modern games.

Playing cooperatively with others is fun, but sometimes you just want to shoot each other for a good time. This is where the competitive modes come into play, allowing for your typical PvP modes such as Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Battery (AKA Capture the Flag), Infection, and King of the Hill for up to 8 players. Having all these modes was surely a surprise, and never once did I run into any lag issues. Impressive for such a small team.

HYPERCHARGE Unboxed looks as though your toys have come to life. There’s a good amount of different character figures to unlock, and a number of different enemy toys to face against, but the environments are the real star. Jumping around a kid’s bedroom, avoiding burners on the kitchen stove, going down a slide at the park, or jumping across the ceiling fan to reach a collectable all makes it truly feel like you’re a toy in this world. The colors are bright, the framerate is solid, and it simply looked great overall where everyday objects look huge.

The soundtrack has an 80’s/90’s feel to it, but the audio really shines with the weaponry. Guns not only feel powerful but sound it as well. Blasting an enemy with a charge beam rifle sounds great, gatling guns sound fantastic unloading a massive amount of rounds in a few short seconds, and even hearing planes and jets fly overhead trying to bomb you all sounds wonderful with a pair of headphones on. The story sections are done in a comic book style and voiced well across the board.

At first, I was a little unsure about its $29.99 USD / $38.99 CAD price point, but after a handful of hours, I realized I was having fun and I wasn’t being nickel and dimed with microtransactions or asked to purchase battle passes. There are plenty of modes to enjoy, single or multiplayer, and makes for a simple and enjoyable game you can play for a few rounds or number of hours. It’s clear HYPERCHARGE Unboxed was made with a lot of care, and if you’ve ever wanted Small Soldiers to be a game, this is it.

**HYPERCHARGE Unboxed was provided by the publisher and reviewed on an Xbox Series X**

Overall: 8.7 / 10
Gameplay: 9.0 / 10
Visuals: 8.5 / 10
Sound: 8.5 / 10

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STAFF REVIEW of HYPERCHARGE Unboxed (Xbox One)

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