Lots of Zombies, Not Much Plot
Director of The Thing (1982) and composer of the Halloween movie soundtrack, John Carpenter should be a household name. Today, the Carpenter name reaches beyond the film industry and into gaming with the release of John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando. Toxic Commando is a first-person shooter developed by Saber Interactive and Focus Entertainment Publishing, centred around the titular group. As with any production decorated with a prolific name, this draws in existing fans but does Toxic Commando succeed beyond its used of Carpenter’s name? Let’s have a look. There may be spoilers ahead, read with caution.
Our game is set in the near future, as a group of mercenaries enter a failed industrial site. Our soon to be Toxic Commando has been tasked by an anonymous buyer to deliver a package here. Unfortunately, this is an action shooter so the delivery was not successful. The industrial site is actually a containment zone for an eldritch abomination released after a failed experiment – the Sludge God. The site is terraformed at the whim of the Sludge God birthing the living dead (artfully caled Homo morti) from its grounds. Good thing there’s a team of trained killers on site.
Toxic Commando is a very cinematic game, as expected when John Carpenter supported story development and soundtrack composition. I was honestly impressed with the quality of the cutscenes – everything from lighting to ambient sound was excellent. It worked well to introduce our protagonists (the Toxic Commando) and their bond as a group, as well as their distinct personalities. We have multiple people of colour in the lineup, and I was ecstatic with realism of the hair textures. A breath of fresh air compared to some games that shall not be named. The voice acting was also good, really emphasising the character archetypes. These are also a group of anti-heroes, so expect many quips and one liners to pop. The game’s page refers to it as “buddy-movie vibes” with “over-the-top humour,” which is somewhat achieves.
The game is designed for up to four player co-op, with each person taking control of one of the Toxic Commandos. Bots can fill in any absent seats, allowing for single player and smaller parties. From my play experience, the bots were never a limiting factor to gameplay, however more hardcore gamers may find bots more problematic if they’re used to precise control. Solution – have three friends or play with strangers. Otherwise, suck it up.
Keeping with the cinematic themes of the game, Toxic Commando separates its missions into acts beginning with Act 1: the tutorial. From zero to 100, we are thrown straight into the action to learn the ropes. I would say that is the one key downfall of the game. There is a lot going on, with very few moments of reprieve. Zombies come in massive swarms giving little time for strategy. There’s also the sentient sludge tendrils that will strike you and your vehicle. And the zombie variants with weird names (like slobs) that are far more frequent than you would expect for a stronger enemy. At times, Toxic Commando played as more of a shoot ’em up than an action shooter. Later are acts are appropriately dramatic in their names, the “Church of the Damned” being the first mission unlocked.
Weapons wise, the arsenal available in Toxic Commando is widely varied. My gun savvy partner was particularly pleased with the games reload mechanics, allowing for one in the chamber and a full mag. Vehicles overheat and require repairs, as well as collectible spare tools being available to repair and setup defensive points. Weapons are categorised in a tier system, based on power and magazine capacity with customisation and personalisation available. These upgrades are afforded using currency, collectible across game maps. There are three types of currency, availability based on the mission difficulty. The main currency is appropriately named “sludgite” and is heavily spread across the map. Unfortunately, each sludgite crystal must be collected individually, with many crystals clustering together. This is a tedious necessity for certain objectives and upgrades.
It doesn’t stop there though! In case you weren’t overwhelmed by the existing weapons and enemy tsunamis, we also have abilities. Each character has a different class of ability giving certain perks, but the choice is largely cosmetic. Strike, Operator, Defender, or Medic, if you don’t take on the role the bot will use the abilities when they situation calls for it. Supernatural abilities also accompany their vast collection of weapons. The Toxic Commando do not do this willingly, they were exposed to Sludge God’s toxins and infection flows through their bodies. This allows them to channel kinetic energy to form Chidori like blasts that can be weaponised against the sludge. The Toxic Commando’s supernatural perks must be charged for use, limiting this overpowered weapon.
Simply put, Toxic Commando is very cinematic and aesthetically pleasing but very overwhelming. There is so much happening at once, it’s a lot to absorb. I can imagine with repeated gameplay, light is shone on the mechanics and design choices, however for a new player it is a staggering amount of information to learn. The tutorial cutscenes build an underlying plot, but the cinematics don’t hide the fact that the plot is actually quite weak and generic. A failed science experiment created a being of unimaginable power, now you must destroy it by collecting items for your contact and killing any zombies in the way.
There is no obvious sub-plot and no development of the narrative during missions. We are fully reliant on the introduction and cutscenes to build the storyline. This is great if you’re just in it to shoot and have fun. Players looking for a more narrative-driven game will struggle to invest in Toxic Commando. Overall, Toxic Commando was fun and had lots of cool features of mechanics but was overwhelming and rather generic. The visuals and cutscenes stand up to John Carpenter’s legend, but everything else is standard.-
The code for this review was provided by Focus Entertainment Publishing. This review has been cross-posted to OpenCritic.
