by: Michael Barnes

Signal Studios’ new XBLA game is a follow-up from the success of last year’s World War I era Toy Soldiers and it continues the concept of translating particularly horrific human conflicts into cleverly satirical battles between toys. Toy Soldiers: Cold War covers pretty much every phase of the post-World War II geopolitical situation ranging from postwar struggles with the Soviets to Vietnam to a “Red Dawn” scenario wherein the Russians invade the US and must be stopped before they take the Capital.

Of course, this is hardly a game with the macho earnestness of a Call of Duty campaign or the ugly political subtext of Homefront. This is a game where an M60 nest opens fire on a stream of miniature Soviets that stiffen up and twirl a little death pirouette as they once again become inanimate objects. No blood is spilled, and the sky above is some kid’s bedroom. The terrain includes totemic 1980s objects like a Keytar and a Rubik’s Cube.

The Cold War edition of the game isn’t tremendously different than its predecessor other than its change of historical clothes, its musical touch point being “Danger Zone” and 1980s toy cartoon themes rather than “Over There”. The game definitely matches the high points of last year’s model, offering much of the same combination of standard turret-building and vehicle combat, with an economy based on scores and achieving combos and strings of kills. Waves might be all infantry, infantry on four-wheelers, helicopters, paratroopers, MiG bombing runs, armor, or a mixture. As in the first game, there are also a couple of huge, over-the-top bosses to contend with including a great submarine that you’ve got to fight with an aircraft carrier and an F-14 Tomcat.

There are a couple of new additions to the formula. When the player takes control of a weapon, if that turret continues to eliminate units it can go into turbocharge mode with unlimited ammo which is a huge benefit since reload times can be killer in this game. There are also killstreak-like “barrages” that offer some kind of advantage like calling in an AC-130 gunship (complete with night vision gun camera) or a nuclear strike in the later levels of the game. The fan favorite barrage will undoubtedly be the Commando, a comically larger-scale Rambo-like action figure that pops up out of a blister pack. While hollering various Stallone-isms, he blazes away with a hip-fired machine gun in one arm and threatens HINDs with the rocket launcher in the other. Like every unit in the game, he’s fully controllable by the player.

Vehicles are very different since we’re looking at modern military hardware here. The wind-up, tin toy like tanks traveling at 4 MPH in scale and belching poison gas are replaced by battery-powered RC IFVs and main battle tanks. Difficult to control (but charming) biplanes have gone the way of the dodo, superseded by AH-64 Apaches with heat-seeking missiles. Each vehicle has a limited battery life, but battery power-ups scattered throughout the level can increase the player’s control period.

Obviously, G.I. Joe and military toys are key inspirations more so than US foreign policy or NATO containment efforts. Coupled with the gleefully trashy 1980s power-rock soundtrack and graphic design, the game has a great sense of character and detail. This attention to detail extends to each and every one of the toy soldiers in the game—the models look amazing, and watching well-thought-out fine points like a bald marine figure holding it down with an M16 while his crewmates load another mortar shell or watching a Soviet tank rocking on its suspension after taking a TOW hit are some of the subtler pleasures this game affords. These are the super detailed, living army toys I wish I had when I was a kid, playing out real-world conflicts in harmless miniature with me in the driver or pilot’s seat.