Hypercharge Unboxed

Genre: First-Person Shooter / Tower Defense

Players: 1-4 Co-Op (Local Split-Screen / Online), 8-Player Team Competitive (Online)

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Review:

Hypercharge Unboxed is a game that combines a Co-Op First-Person Shooter with a Tower Defense, using the aesthetic of toys fighting in toy stores, attics, and the like, building structures with non-brand-name Legos, Play-Doh, and so on to assist in your defense of the structures you’re charged with protecting.

The theme and aesthetic here are hard not to immediately fall in love with, not only bringing back fond memories of the Toy Story movies, but also games like Army Men and Toy Soldiers. Graphically, this game does nothing particularly noteworthy, but nothing especially terrible either. It looks fine, but other than its aesthetic is fairly average. The same goes for the sound, aside from the Scottish-voiced general barking orders at you, which is decent… though of course after the Toy Story movies it’s hard not to picture a character like this being having same sort of voice as the late R. Lee Ermey.

As for the gameplay itself, I wanted to like this game a lot more than I did. Honestly, I found it lacking in multiple ways.

Firstly, the gunplay. Aiming in this game is fine, and the game even makes decent use of motion controls with gyroscopic aiming, making it more sensitive when you’re looking down the barrel. However, weapons need to be reloaded far too often and take far too long to do so, which is made worse by the fact that enemies in this game are bullet sponges.

What’s more, basic character movement in this game is frustratingly slow, and the run button only alleviates this somewhat. And on top of that, movement is also kinda’ clunky and stiff, with any change in direction taking a moment to register and slowing you down. And before you get excited at the thought of exploring massive environments as a tiny toy, put those expectations on hold, as this game’s environs aren’t as big as they seem at first, with invisible walls blocking you off from straying too far.

Okay, well what about the Tower Defense stuff? Unfortunately, the game severely limits where you can place structures, and you’re not given many options for building either. As you progress through the game, you’ll gradually unlock different options, but this isn’t the sort of Tower Defense game where you’ll be building up tougher and tougher defenses over the course of multiple waves.

Even more frustrating is the fact that the points you’re defending can be pretty well spread apart, and the game doesn’t show you the potential enemy routes, nor does it indicate where enemies are until they’re already attacking your defense points. I can’t describe how annoying it is to be constantly looking around for enemies, trying to figure out where the heck they are, only to be notified that one is attacking my defense point, apparently getting there via some route I hadn’t deduced… and now I need to slowly trudge my way over there.

I really had high hopes for Hypercharge Unboxed. I think that Tower Defense games can really benefit from mixing in other genres, and the Switch can always use more decent First-Person Shooters, plus this game’s theming is fantastic. But the sub-par gunplay combinede with sub-par Tower Defense elements makes for a pretty mediocre game, all told. If you’re a First-Person Shooter fan looking for something a bit different on the Switch, this game may be worth a look for you, but most will be better off sticking with a better First-Person Shooter or a better Tower Defense game.

tl;dr – Hypercharge Unboxed is a First-Person Shooter with Tower Defense elements that has you as a toy defending various toy-appropriate locales from an invading army of other toys. The idea here is fantastic, but it’s brought down by sub-par First-Person Shooter gameplay and sub-par Tower Defense elements, making for a game that isn’t very fun to play.

Grade: C

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