Who doesn’t love a bit of mindless fun? John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando is a squad-based FPS game that tasks you with saving the world from the Sludge God, fighting off hordes of zombies along the way.
Saber Interactive’s shooter is similar in a lot of ways to modern CoD Zombies modes. You search a map for powerful gear, head to various objects to interact with terminals, and fight off easy-to-mow-down zombies. Where it differs is in the complexity of its missions. While Zombies tended to give you quite complex objectives, even before diving into Easter Eggs, Toxic Commando always follows the ‘drive somewhere, interact with a thing, and fight off a horde’ structure.
Aside from a cool boss fight right at the end of the game, you won’t be surprised by anything in Toxic Commando. It’s a very, very simple experience, and that’s why I enjoyed it so much.
Across just nine main missions, which took little more than five hours to complete, everything is designed with ease in mind, keeping the focus on zombie slaying. Maps are easy to navigate, ammo is plentiful, vehicles handle smoothly, and weak points always glow a luminous red. You jump in with your squad, grab a few spare parts to unlock unique weapons for the final battle, shoot whatever you need to, and head back to Leon’s base to get ready for the next one.
That simple structure is kept engaging by Toxic Commando’s really satisfying FPS mechanics. Unlike a lot of multiplayer zombie shooters, Saber’s game actually feels good to play. There’s a weight to all the weapons, and a crunch to splatting all the undead. I didn’t really feel the draw to replay missions, but there are tons of weapons and a full competitive shooter-level suite of attachments to unlock and equip to improve your firepower.
If you find a reliable group of friends for a squad, there are harder difficulties to attempt, four different characters to play as, and lots of weapons to hit max level on. There’s plenty to grind, if you’re so inclined, but replaying the same nine missions is going to get tedious after a while. While they’re all fun in their own right, and Toxic Commando really does feel good to play, every mission is the same thing on a slightly different map. If you can’t get enough of the loop and zombie massacring, though, then there’s plenty of replayability.
Playing solo is pretty seamless, too. I played about half of the story missions on my own, and my three AI squadmates were probably more useful than the real people I played with online. They’re so obedient and focused on the objective – it’s a dream come true. The moment I get back in the driver’s seat of our car, they race to join me and jump on the mounted gun instantly. They’re useful when fighting the zombie hordes, save their spare parts for when I need them, and never get in the way. They’re very well-balanced, which ensures Toxic Commando isn’t a write-off when playing solo.
For me, as someone who was looking for a quick in-and-out FPS I could spend time with over a weekend, Toxic Commando is perfect. Mindless zombie action that feels good to play. What more can you ask for?
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