In one of the early missions, I slammed into the edge of the cube and fell off the nightstand onto the nursery floor. That's when Hypercharge: Unboxed got me. Not because of the action, or because of the retro vibe, but because it doesn't pretend to be more than what it is: a toy box where plastic explosions have more charm than most realistic shooters.
You won't find bayonets or a deep philosophy of war in the game. Instead there's an army of toys, plastic dinosaurs, an onslaught of zombie Beyblades and a base you must defend at all costs. Hypercharge is frankly childish and that's his superpower.
The game functions as a cooperative tower-defense FPS. In each round you collect parts, build base defenses and destroy waves of toys that look like they escaped from the market in 1997. Classic FPS controls are sharp and clean: zero lag input, fluid jumping off shelves and shooting that gives every player a small dose of serotonin.
What's really cool is the world design. The levels are carefully orchestrated, and each area is full of miniature jokes and subtle references. Hypercharged is a game that the developers clearly enjoyed working on — and it shows. But of course, not everything is as wonderful as it seems at first.
Solo gameplay quickly becomes repetitive, and the AI comrades are as functional as a dead cell phone battery. Voice acting can be so bad that it becomes ridiculously brilliant. But somehow it all falls into place: this is not Call of Duty, this is Call of Nostalgia; Toy Story: Warfare; or maybe Small Soldiers: The Video Game.
Multiplayer is chaos in the best sense: it's reminiscent of old LAN parties, and Hypercharge breathes full steam there. Four players, tons of colorful plastic, screaming, laughing and…just one more round.
Hypercharge: Unboxed is not for everyone. If you're looking for a deep narrative or sophisticated mechanics, look elsewhere. But if you've ever built your own bunkers as a kid and imagined your plastic soldiers waging a secret war while you weren't looking, this is a game that knows exactly how to take you back in time. In an age where games all too often try to be 200 things at once, Hypercharge isn't afraid to be just a fun single player or multiplayer game that reeks of plastic, dust and lost imagination. And that is absolutely enough.
A copy of the game was provided by the publisher Digital Cybercherries Ltd. for review purposes.
