‘Hypercharge Unboxed’ Review (Xbox): Small Soldiers, Big Fun

The Xbox Series X|S release of Hypercharge Unboxed has been a long time in the making–I previewed it back in March 2023 fully expecting it to drop in the months after, but it took over a year since its preview to land. Thankfully, it’s worth the wait.

Hypercharge’s arrival on Xbox caps off a seven-year journey from PC early access. It’s not the most inventive or groundbreaking game, but it’s a hell of a lot of fun. It also keeps its promises: it delivers plenty of replayability, a fantastic mix of single-player and multiplayer action–with up to eight players online, and four through couch co-op–and best of all, there are zero microtransactions.

This Small Soldiers and Toy Story-inspired first- and third-person shooter transforms you into an action figure tasked with preserving the memories of childhood toys that are stored in ancient power sources known as Hypercores. However, a twisted toy–Major Evil–seeks to destroy them with his legions of possessed playthings.

It’s a simple but effective idea, and developer Digital Cybercherries succeeds in creating the definitive toy-based shooter–for the most part. While it takes some getting used to, there’s a lot of value in this $30 package, especially when you’ve got a few friends willing to lend a hand.

Hypercharge takes place across different rooms of a suburban house, with trips to a toy store, arcade, and a rental home for good measure. It’s Tinykin, if the world is filled with plastic possessed by the devil. You act out those battles you created with your own toys as a kid; it’s a game rife with Proustian rushes.

At its core, Hypercharge Unboxed is a PvE horde mode across over a dozen levels. You’re tasked with protecting those all-important Hypercores from an ever-growing, real-life-inspired army of evil toys, using defensive installations, upgradeable weaponry, and crucial teamwork with your fellow action figures.

A strong start

From the moment your character climbs out of their plastic box at the start of each battle–an effect that never gets old, and sets the scene perfectly–you’re met with a gorgeous-looking game that runs at a mostly consistent 60fps. Pop-in graphics are minimal–usually restricted to the first two seconds of a loaded map–while the lighting, colors, and scene building can be spectacular. It doesn’t look true to life but it doesn’t try to.

As you adjust to the game in its tutorial, it’s initially baffling. First and foremost, Hypercharge Unboxed’s default controls are confounding–they’re like no other FPS, and all the worse for it–but they’re mercifully replaceable with its more natural secondary loadout. You’ll probably make other tweaks, specifically the ability to toggle running, as there’s next-to-no reason to walk. Given the number of objectives you’re tasked with, you can’t do things slowly.

Hypercharge Unboxed is split into two core modes: building and combat. Throughout these waves, you have primary and secondary goals, mostly met during the downtime between each horde. Some are consistent–collecting secrets, placing stickers, getting all coins in a level–while others rely on finding level-specific items (cookies, rings, map pieces) or destroying specific targets like cobwebs or price stickers. These are easier said than done.

Navigation frustrations

Even when you’ve perfected your controls, Hypercharge’s platforming is inconsistent. Certain sections can be too narrow to land on comfortably; the character-flinging vault ability is hard to time and doesn’t trigger as dependably as it should; certain ledges within grasp aren’t scalable. It forces you to learn planned routes for traversal, which wouldn’t be too annoying if they weren’t so frequent.

As a result, attempting 100% completion in single-player mode with AI compatriots demands absolute perfection. This is especially true in medium-to-large environments because there isn’t enough time to explore and defend everything. Installations must be built, items must be discovered, coins often appear sequentially after you find the first in a set, and point-to-point running challenges can be brutally timed. Your AI friends aren’t programmed to collect; for solo completionists, it can be a plastic-heavy Helldivers 2.

Hypercharge Unboxed’s AI isn’t brilliant–you’re usually the savior, even if the end-of-level awards rarely reflect that. Your teammates are pretty tasty in combat and can collect and relocate all-important AA batteries for defense, but you still do the heavy lifting. Luckily, to Platinum a level, you only have to protect all cores from damage; you only need to keep them intact to get the all-important Golds to unlock the final stage. Nonetheless, a few levels require a bit of luck–the loft and back garden spring to mind.

Comfortable combat

Combat, however, is very dependable. Aiming is initially tricky to get used to–there’s a level of auto-aim you need to account for–but you soon get into the groove, upgrading to your preferred weapons alongside your go-to defensive installations. Smaller weapons–the rifle, machine gun, and sniper–can be swappable on your two-slot gun, but you can also pick up game-changing double-slot weapons like a minigun or one-shot, chargeable freeze ray.

Enemies are inventive but usually manageable. Once you learn the limits of each threat, you can adjust based on your surroundings, and plan defenses for future waves. Some quickly become the bane of your existence–drones that crowd you, spinners that gravitate, and bosses that are impossible to find for minutes at a time.

Hypercharge Unboxed forces you to learn each wave carefully. You won’t get it the first time. In some cases, you won’t get it the fifth time. Still, you learn, you go again, and you get better. Offense is the best defense; planning against each stage’s baddies is vital; anti-air is usually the priority.

Amid all the battles, you unlock new characters, skins, outfits, and defenses–even naming conventions. The random name generator is one of the game’s greatest strengths; I played as Captain Rainbow Speed, Mister Fancy Finger, and Super Weirdo Girl, and was inspired to create marketing plans for their action figures while I played.

All the while, Hypercharge Unboxed is tied together with a delightful soundtrack and good sound effects, even if these can be undermined by repetitive voiceovers, which get especially annoying when things are going wrong. Having Sgt Max Ammo repeatedly telling you to rebuild defenses under attack (you can’t until the round’s over) or to replace a battery at a node (even though there aren’t any) can make certain enemy waves unbearable.

There’s also plenty of childish humor for the eagle-eyed. Props, in particular, go to the knock-off Scalextric sets that boast circuits including “Pen Island” and “Flaccid Peaks”–shaped like cartoonish gentleman’s members.

Hitting the mark

Hypercharge Unboxed isn’t perfect, but it’s the type of PvE game that will shine in couch co-op or with online friends, rather than on your own. There’s a real potential for a strong online community through both the standard PvE, plus a few PvP options including Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Battery, Infection, and King of the Hill.

Digital Cybercherries has done a great job realizing an idea many of us dreamed of long before Toy Story and Small Soldiers, but have demanded ever since. With a few post-release tweaks, it should be a cult classic that all ages can enjoy–even if it’s rated Teen. Maybe it’s because of the dick jokes? In any case, worth it.