They Drew First Blood, Not Me!

By Tom Hodgson

The 1980s were an eclectic time. Thankfully, I was too young to understand what Member’s Only, parachute pants, and Jordache were and walked away remembering the finer things. With Ninja Turtles, Domino Rally, Nerf, Super Soaker, Ghostbusters, and Mario bed sheets (which I may or may not still use), I had it made. But there was nothing I owned that got more use than my Ziploc bag filled to the brim with plastic army figurines. The rifleman, the rocket guy, the poor bastard with one grenade, and all the “eh eh ehs” and “kahpcchhh” noises that accompanied them as we stormed the ant hill will resonate with me until I’m six feet under.

Toy Soldiers: Cold War on Xbox Live pays homage to all those afternoons spent being a boy. It is similar in design to Toy Story, where a larger-than-life design delivers you to a place steeped in smiles and memories. The battle against Communism takes place on cleverly-designed bureaus and beds, surrounded by shelves adorned with Lava Lamps and Rubik’s cubes.

The game is a tower defense hybrid, allowing you to control the armaments you deploy. A set number of spots are designated for turrets on each map, the management of which will either liberate you from the Russians or lead you to drinking a lot of cheap vodka in their rule. While you can leave battlements to their designated abilities, alternating waves of enemies will often require careful and hasty redistribution of your weapons to accommodate their varied attack styles.

Aside from the assortment of turrets, each map offers a unique battery-powered toy you can operate. From tanks to helicopters, they allow for momentary Reagan justice all over the USSR. The jacked up attack, however, comes at the cost of viciously fleeting battery life. Leave it off its charger for too long and you can consider yourself grounded from it for the rest of the level.

The light-hearted nostalgia of the design is complimented perfectly by a very accessible arcadey style of play. Hop on a turret and mow down waves of Commie scum to accumulate your multiplier. The higher your successive slaughter rate climbs, the more amply you are rewarded. The ultimate is the Commando Action Figure, the plastic Rambo incarnate which drops from the sky in its packaging dual-wielding a machine gun and rocket launcher, with over-the-top 80s action movie catchphrases to boot.

Often times though you’re stuck with a camera system which implements angles with the quality of VHS, which in a Blu-ray era of games feels as dated as the action figures. Slow and clunky controls sometimes overwhelm your overhead perspective as you roam the map constricted by the hidden barriers.

But for $15, you’d currently be hard-pressed to find a title more worthy of your money on Xbox Live. With co-op options, varying difficulties, and multiple game modes to conquer, crushing comrades hasn’t been this enjoyable since Rocky beat Drago. It’s a great way to waste away an afternoon and reminisce while doing it about all those years ago you were on your bedroom floor doing the same thing.

Rating: 88%

*****

Prepare to Defend Against the Zombie Horde! Dead Block Is Here!

SHOCKING! HORRIFIC! AWESOME!!!

By Tim Branch

Digital Reality and developer Candygun Games’ zombie defense game, Dead Block, shambled onto Xbox LIVE® Arcade for the Xbox 360® videogame and entertainment system for Microsoft on July 6th, and onto PlayStation®Network on July 20th ~ and the reviews are in! Dead Block is an engaging, campy and humor-filled title that mixes zombie killing with tactical defense strategies, letting players defend their territory by discovering new weapons to strategically rock ‘n trap the invading zombie horde!

Set in the U.S. during the idyllic 1950s, Dead Block takes players to a simpler time when a gallon of gas cost a few pennies, the “golden age” of cinema was in full swing, and that new (and apparently insanely evil) craze called rock ‘n roll swept the nation ~ and caused an apocalyptic musical plague to turn the deceased into the walking dead!

As one of three survivors of the shuffling zombie onslaught ~ Boy Scout Mike Bacon, construction worker Jack Foster, and no-nonsense meter maid Foxy Jones, each equipped with his/her own unique “Smart Bomb” attack ~ players will fortify their area by boarding up windows and setting a variety of unique unlockable traps, collecting items and power-ups, taking on zombies one-on-many with a variety of upgradeable weapons, and even rocking them to shreds with awesome guitar power!

“We’re a huge fan of zombies, but we’re even bigger fans of finding the most creative ways of disposing of the undead buggers,” said Balazs Horvath, Director of Publishing of Digital Reality. “Dead Block has been a dream project of ours, and we’re elated to finally unleash it upon the world.”

Team up with three of your buddies and drop-in/drop-out of play for the most addictive co-op zombie thrashing experience ever with Dead Block.

For more information, please visit the Dead Block website at www.deadblock.com.