XBLA Review: Toy Soldiers: Cold War DLC (Evil Empire and Napalm)

“More of the Toy Soldiers series is a good thing, and these DLC packs really try to cram even MORE into More!”

An XboxHornet review by WDesm.

Toy Soldiers: Cold War was awesome.  Don’t get me wrong – Toy Soldiers 1 was amazing too, but the sequel has just more everything crammed into it.  More multiplayer options, more challenges, more abilities, more minigames, more decorations, and more, more more.  Toy Soldiers 1 also had some rather impressive DLC, and it was only a matter of time before the sequel also got an injection of “more”.

In fact, that’s probably the best way to describe the twin expansion packs for Toy Soldiers: Cold War : “More.”  Each DLC pack includes one new mini-campaign (of 3 levels), one new survival map, and one new minigame.  The minigames are rather fresh additions: Pop-A-Pig (from Evil Empire) is essentially Whack-a-Mole with a rocket launcher, while Hang Time tries to recreate the fun of the recent XBLA title Choplifter HD (although, admittedly, not as successfully).  In addition, ALL the survival maps are all given a new game mode per DLC pack, and each DLC pack also unlocks a new barrage feature (either an Orbital Laser from Evil Empire or a Napalm Strike from Napalm).  The Survival Game Modes are a neat twist, as Trauma turns the game far more tactical and Commando turns the game far more action-y, offering really refreshing perspectives on familiar gameplay (Trauma damages your toybox with every turret you place, while Commando has you play as the Commando, with no turret placement options).

The only real problem I see, and I’ll admit, it is both a minor problem and a personal perspective problem, is that the Toy Soldiers series feels like it is hitting Content Critical Mass.  I’ll be the first to admit that despite absolutely adoring both games and the DLC expansions in each of those games, I’m nowhere near completing all of the content I already have before my attention wanders to another title.   If you’re a fan of the series, and have tackled all the myriad of challenges in the base games, then these expansions will certainly offer you more content and leaderboards to surmount, and are WELL worth the cost of admission.  If however, you’re a more Regular Joe, and you have to sheepishly admit that completing Toy Soldiers: Cold War (or even Toy Soldiers 1) is still on your backlog….well, then you’ve hit Content Critical Mass.

A silver lining is that whether you love it or hate it, a free Multiplayer patch is available (see the link below) that allows the base game to play online with people who have purchased the DLC on DLC maps, which ensures that the community will not be split by their introduction, and that if you play enough online games, you’ll eventually enjoy the content anyways for free.  Signal Studios gets a strong kudos for that, as “dividing the online community” is usually complaint #1 about online DLC and expansions.

Game Score: 7.5/10.

Download the DLC packages at 400 MSPoints apiece here.