Toy Soldiers (video game)
A tower defense game with toy soldiers in World War I dioramas.
Signal Studios created the action-strategy game Toy Soldiers, which first launched on Xbox Live Arcade on March 3, 2010. It appeared in the Windows 8 Consumer Preview Store starting February 29, 2012, and saw a full Windows release on April 27, 2012. A high-definition port from Accelerate Games came out on October 21, 2021, for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Windows.
Quick Facts
- Developer
- Signal Studios
- Composer
- Stan LePard
- Publisher
- Xbox Game Studios, Accelerate Games (Toy Soldiers HD)
- Genre
- Action
- strategy
- First-person shooter
- Modes
- Single-player, multiplayer (XBLA only)
- Platforms
- Xbox 360 (XBLA)
- Microsoft Windows
- Toy Soldiers HD
- Microsoft Windows
- Nintendo Switch
- PlayStation 4
- Xbox One
Facts from the source article.
Gameplay
In Toy Soldiers, you lead one of two armies of miniature toy soldiers across a World War I diorama built from wood and plastic. The battlefield appears in settings like a child's bedroom, a library, and a lounge, with furniture such as dressers and reading lamps sometimes visible in the background. The game offers 50 controllable units, including machine guns, mortars, and tanks, and you can upgrade fixed emplacements to stronger versions. You can command units from a strategic overhead view or take direct third-person control of individual soldiers. You can also operate fixed emplacements like howitzers, mortars, and machine guns, or drive vehicles such as tanks, biplanes, and bombers. When you take control of one unit, the others are handled by artificial intelligence. When shot, toy soldiers break into plastic chunks with no blood, keeping the game family-friendly. The single-player campaign is a tower defense style where you defend a base against British or German soldiers across 24 levels. You earn money by destroying enemies to buy better defenses. Completing a campaign unlocks Survival Mode, where you fight endless waves of enemies for as long as possible. There are four difficulty settings. Multiplayer is available only on Xbox, playable online via Xbox LIVE or locally with two-player split-screen, and scores are tracked on Xbox LIVE leaderboards.
Development
Microsoft had high hopes for Toy Soldiers, expecting it to be one of the biggest Xbox Live Arcade titles of the year. Company representatives likened it to the Battlefield series and real-time strategy games, but with a focus on being easier to pick up and play. A playable demo was shown at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The game's soundtrack includes Goodbye, Dolly Gray and She May Have Seen Better Days, which play during the opening credits and main menu. Stan LePard composed five additional tracks, including The Sailor's Life for Me and There's a Candle Burning Bright, also heard in the opening credits. The game launched on Xbox 360 via Xbox Live Arcade on March 3, 2010. On March 9, 2011, Signal Studios announced plans to bring it to PC, alongside the reveal of Toy Soldiers: Cold War. The PC version arrived on April 27, 2012. A companion Facebook game, Toy Soldiers: Match Defense, was released by Microsoft on February 12, where players and friends match items to conquer countries and take over Europe. The first downloadable content pack, The Kaiser's Battle, came out on June 30, 2010, adding French Army skins, two new French units, a three-level French mini-campaign with the German K-Wagen boss, two multiplayer maps, a Survival Mode map, and three achievements. The second and final pack, Invasion!, was released on September 29, 2010, featuring a three-level mini-campaign with the RoboBob boss, two multiplayer maps, a Survival Mode map, and three achievements. Players control the German Army against British secret weapons like Spacemen, Fire Trucks, Space Tanks, Chivalrous Knights, Flying Saucers, and P-51 Mustangs. Toy Soldiers: Cold War, announced on March 9, 2011, launched on August 17, 2011, as part of Microsoft's 2011 Summer of Arcade. Toy Soldiers: War Chest followed on August 11, 2015, for Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
Reception
Critics were largely impressed with Toy Soldiers upon its early previews. Game Informer's Matt Miller noted his excitement after an early look, while IGN's Matt Casamassina praised the game as fun, inventive, and polished, highlighting its blend of fantasy and authenticity that reminded players the battles weren't real. GameZone's Dakota Grabowski awarded it an 8/10, calling it a unique tower defense title that stood out from others and a strong start for Microsoft's March Xbox Live Arcade lineup. The game achieved a Metacritic score of 81 based on 40 critic reviews. In February 2011, it earned a nomination for Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, competing against titles like StarCraft II and Civilization V. By October 2010, Toy Soldiers had sold over 429,000 copies, and by the end of that year, sales exceeded 471,000 units, with downloadable content moving more than 66,000 units collectively. It was recognized as the top-selling Xbox Live Arcade game of 2010. By the close of 2011, total sales on Xbox 360 surpassed 615,000 units, and downloadable content sales collectively exceeded 100,000 units.
More in Microsoft Games of the 2010s
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