Toy Soldiers: Cold War In XBOX 360 REVIEW

Toy Soldiers: Cold War is a new Arcade game added to XBOX Live Marketplace on Tuesday, August 17,2011 for 1200 Microsoft points. The game is based on the cold war that took place during the 1980's when the United States and Russia could not stand one another. Toy Soldiers is based on toys and action movies from the same era. The game was developed by Signal Studios using the Sig Engine which was built from the ground up.

Toy Soldiers: Cold War gives players the chance to step into the role of a Toy Military unit and control every aspect of the game. If you remember back in the 1990's a series of games called 'Army Men', well this game is a little like that, expect you control units but battle a Russian toy army in the campaign mode. Toy Soldiers: Cold War features tons of challenges that you can complete, Achievements to unlock and even Avatar items to get. You can control and upgrade 16 different units, some of which are upgrades to current units.

For me the catcher in purchasing this arcade game was the fact that one of your Barrage rewards is Rambo, also known as the Commando in the game. Nothing can beat using Rambo to destroy things, and he has unlimited ammo and is invincible, though once his timer runs out he is gone. The challenges in make the game well worth it, because even after you beat the game, you can go back and play it over and over to either complete something you missed or beat your best time. Toy Soldiers: Cold War is the second game in the series the first one was Toy Soldiers: Man the Guns and it was an instant hit with a lot of gamers. The purpose, protect your toy box and don't let the enemy get to it and destroy it.

Toy Soldiers: Cold War gives you control of various playable units throughout the game, including Aircraft, Armor, Machine Gun Turrets, Mortars, Make Shift Weapons, Anti-Tank Turrets, Artillery, Anti-Air weapons. Each one with upgrades that only make them better, the strategy to completing each round is really in where you place you units and how you choose to use them. Once you place a unit you can take control of it or allow it to fight automatically, but keep in mind you have to protect your toy box. The most effective unit in the game is the Machine Gun Turrets and Anti-Tank, since you will come across more ground units being soldiers and armor than anything else.

Barrages are selected at random and from the list, you don't actually choose which on you get so you might get the best one or you might get the worst one, but no matter which one they are all effective in eliminating enemies. Each Barrage award has a timer and only lasts for a few seconds, but in that time the devastation that it can bring can change the tide of battle in a matter of moments.

Artillery Barrage, This barrage slams your enemies with firepower that kills everything that is spawned.

The Commando, One word 'Rambo' Invincible, and unlimited ammo makes the Commando the perfect barrage for all types of wars.

Bombing Run, brings in B-52 bombers that drop bombs on the ground destroying your enemies that are in the path.

Close Air Support, Control an AC-132 and drop your enemies where they stand.

Nuclear Strike, the only thing I can say about this is that once it happens, you win.

In the Campaign mode you will face off against three different bosses each one with a different strength and each one with it's own disadvantage to certain units. The bosses seem to have four different levels to them as you destroy the health on one level a new one forms. The boss AI is decent, but a more random path for movement would have been better. No matter, this does not ruin anything in the game as it is still fun to fight each boss and figure out what unit works best against it.

Toy Soldiers: Cold War is going to be big on XBOX Live, with everything that is offered to players who wouldn't want to play the game. You are drawn in with the fact that you unlock avatar awards in the demo and if you want them you will buy the game. Well worth 1200 Microsoft points due to the game being consistent with something to do at all times, no matter if you beat the storymode of the game, you can jump into co-op, multiplayer or go back and beat your own high scores throughout the game again and again.

So what are you waiting for? Go, go, go........