PAX Prime 2014: Toy Soldiers – War Chest

One blessing of the 8-bit days was that the pixel-on-pixel violence didn’t seem very real. But, the same game in today’s hi-fidelity photo-realistic worlds could be viewed very differently. This was why we murdered dictators in the old days, and Nazis in the early 3D era, but nowadays it’s gotta be zombies or robots we shoot with impunity. Or, toys. Toy Soldiers: War Chest is a tower defense game set in a toy chest, pitting, say World War I Germans against a swarm of sparkly fairies.

Such cross-theme pairings can’t really be done in a “serious” game, but here it not only makes sense but opens up a wealth of interesting tactical problems. To add a spin on the other genre, the player has the option of personally controlling towers for a more hands-on approach to his defense, lending a bit of action to the game as well. It’s an interesting mix, and likely you’ll find at least something to like about it. As a whole, though, the game is intended more as an introduction to the tower defense genre than an outright entry in it, given the simple, easy-to-understand controls and options, not to mention the inherent silliness of a unicorn taking out a tank.