The Toys Are Back In Town
HIGH Cool concept and highly customizable gameplay.
LOW The main horde mode can get stale.
WTF Looking up Spider-Man 2 action figures on eBay.
Growing up, I had plenty of action figures ranging from the then-new Power Rangers Wild Force line to some pretty sick hand-me-downs I got from my older cousins. I have distinct memories of crafting wild storylines involving the Tobey Maguire Spider-Man, Rey Mysterio, Beast from X-Men, and a velociraptor from Jurassic Park working together to save the world from destruction, all while driving a red Tonka truck. I outgrew those toys and moved onto videogames, seeking handcrafted experiences that can rival the scenarios I created in my head.
Hypercharge: Unboxed, a shooter from Digital Cybercherries, allows players to relive their own childhood memories of staging great battles between their action figures. Played from either a third- or first-person perspective, players control a customizable action figure tasked with protecting a central MacGuffin known as a Hypercore. In a fairly expansive and somewhat bizarre story, this Hypercore keeps the memories of action figures alive for the kids who play with them.
Presentation is a strong suit here, reminding me of Saturday morning cartoons like G.I. Joe or even the hilarious Action League Now! Its approximation of real-life toys, like the aforementioned G.I. Joe, He-Man, and even Beyblades, was cool to see, and I appreciated the comic book-style presentation the cutscenes employed. They’re fully voiced, too, adding context to why players are defending a Hypercore and why they have to shoot enemies.
The story mode introduces all of the core concepts while players control their chosen action figure in gargantuan recreations of children’s bedrooms, toy stores, and even a bathroom. Similar to how 2023’s Hot Wheels Unleashed 2: Turbocharged used scale to highlight the feeling of controlling a toy in real-world settings, seeing the shelves of a toy store warehouse look as tall as buildings or a simple garden feel like a battlefield is a cool design choice.
In these levels, players are tasked with protecting three Hypercores in a wave-based horde mode. Before each wave starts, there’s a brief build period in which defenses can be built. These range from LEGO-like blocks that surround the Hypercore to anti-air turrets that scan the skies for flying enemies. This downtime also allowed me to explore the maps. While not huge or completely open-ended, there are a cool secrets to find, like collectibles that can be used to unlock customizable items and money used to build structures or buy weapons between rounds.
Once a round starts, combat is the priority. The shooting feels satisfying, though enemies are fairly bullet-spongey, though nothing too egregious. Enemy types range from mindless drones that will walk towards any of the objectives to smarter opponents that can fire guns at the player. The variety in enemy types is solid, showcasing things like green army men that parachute to the battlefield and even Madball-ish slime monsters that explode before dying.
The gameplay loop of defending and shooting is agreeable, and the variety of each level means I was always seeing something new. Players have the choice to go through the entire campaign solo or with other players. I liked the difficulty options and how smart NPC teammates acted, meaning I didn’t feel too bad about playing by myself when I couldn’t squad up. While not the deepest single-player shooter around, it still provided a lot of entertainment, and I was happy to go back and replay levels to explore parts of the maps I may have missed.
Players who are exhausted of horde modes might be more interested in the suite of competitive modes that Hypercharge offers. Like the single-player, these are highly customizable and can either be played online, split-screen, or against AI bots. Modes include deathmatches and even objective-based types, all set within the maps of the main adventure. Being able to play against bots and customize what weapons spawn on the map is a great throwback to the days of playing old console arena shooters, and I spent a decent amount of time running through multiplayer levels with ultra-skilled bots.
If I had to nitpick anything about HYPERCHARGE‘s gameplay loop, it’s that the main mode lacks depth. While the levels are fairly big and lend themselves to extra objectives and exploration, offering only horde modes in the campaign becomes too repetitive. I would have loved to see a traditional single-player campaign focused on changing things up with some linear shooting levels or even large-scale arena firefights. I got a lot of enjoyment from what’s offered, but this feels like an excellent jumping-off point for a much better sequel.
Overall, Hypercharge: Unboxed is a delightfully enjoyable old-school shooter that harkens back to games of the past and action figure-obsessed childhoods. Being able to fine-tune many aspects of the experience with various options on top of the solid action and exploration makes this one of the most enjoyable shooters I’ve played. If the devs can use the groundwork laid here to deliver an expanded experience in a potential follow-up, I have no doubt it’ll be even better. For now, though, anyone with an appreciation for action and action figures will want to keep an eye on this.
Rating: 7.5 out of 10
Buy Hypercharge Unboxed: PS5— Xbox — PC — Switch
Disclosures: This game is published and developed by Digital Cybercherries. It is available on PC, PS4/5, XBO/S/X and Switch. This copy was obtained via publisher and was reviewed on PS5. Approximately 10 hours were spent in single-player and the game was not completed. 5 hours were spent in the multiplayer modes
Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated E10+ for Fantasy Violence. The game is a first/third person shooter, with violence happening to plastic toys. There’s no blood and gore, and the violence is over-the-top and cartoony. Parents should be fine with their kids playing this one.
Colorblind Modes: Colorblind modes are present in the options menu.
Deaf and Hard of Hearing Gamers: There are subtitles in both the cutscenes and gameplay, and there are also visual cues alerting players of enemies around the map. These can all be adjusted and resized, and as such I’d say it’s fully accessible.
Remappable Controls: Controls can be remapped.
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