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Hypercharge: Unboxed Review

by | Jun 1, 2024 | Nintendo Switch, Steam, Xbox

Hypercharge Unboxed from Publisher and Developer Digital Cybercherries

Feel like a kid again playing with action figures and fighting epic battles in this 1st/3rd person shooter/tower defense game reminiscent of “Small Soldiers”.

Hypercharge Unboxed is a first/third person shooter mixed with a bit of tower defense. You play as an action figure defending Hypercores from waves of enemy toys (think of the movie Small Soldiers or Toy Story with toys coming to life). You join forces with Sgt. Max Ammo to defeat Major Evil and save the Hypercore. This is the tower defense part and you are able to build objects (buildables) to defend the Hypercore; from traps to gun towers, all are part of your defenses. The in-game currency is used to purchase the buildables and there are set spots where you can build them during the between waves countdown timer. The currency is found around the levels and the enemies drop them when they are killed. 

The story is set in 14 campaign levels that all feel a little different not just due to a location change but with the scale of the levels and the obstacles in them. As you might have guessed, playing from the perspective of an action figure, everything is massive compared to you. The game starts out in a bedroom, goes to a toy store, a backyard, and to an apartment. The levels grow in size as you progress and have more buildables available to add to your defenses as well as new enemies and enemy types. Not all of the levels are large. There are 3 that are pretty small; namely, an Air Hockey table, a backyard shed, and a battle arena for a boss battle. While these are a little on the smaller side they do offer their own challenges and enjoyment. To hit the nostalgia feels the story is told through a comic book style intro to the levels that really captures that sense of childhood memories many of us have. 

One of the things we love about the game is the customization without monetization. All of the customizations are unlocked by completing in-game challenges. Each of the levels has a few challenges that you can complete. Some of the challenges are collecting all of the coins, making jumps from one location to another, and there are some bonus extra ones like finding hidden collectibles, placing stickers, and even shooting a bobble head or two. These are not mandatory to finish the story but if you want the customizations then you want to go for them. Most of them are pretty hidden and will take time to find but the game does have a free play option once you complete the level so you can go back and try for the challenges later. 

The amount of customizations in the game is insane. From the amount of characters you can pick from, and several skins for each of the characters, heads, weapons, and even the boxes for the toys, all are made with care. All of it adds to the enjoyment of the game and really nails the concept of the characters as action figures.

The game has local and online co-op with cross play from Xbox to PC but can be played solo with bots. Like most online games, it is better with friends. There are several online PVP modes to play as well which extends the replayability of the game. You do not have to wait until after you’ve completed the campaign to play the PvP modes as they are not locked away behind story progression. 

The only thing we did not like about the game was the story progression was locked behind getting a certain number of awards from the previous levels. Once you complete a level you are given an award based on how well you did and how many challenges you completed. We ended up replaying a few levels in free mode to complete the challenges before replaying the levels in story mode to get award credit for the completed challenges. There were a few levels where playing with the bots just wasn’t good enough but since you can play online we were able to play with others online and get the higher awards needed to unlock further progression.

Overall we really enjoyed the game. It had a good story and it made us feel like a kid again playing with action figures. We also spent more time than we would like to admit looking for the hidden spots to place stickers and for the hidden collectibles.

Hypercharge: Unboxed is available on Xbox, Nintendo Switch and Steam. A digital copy of this game was provided to SimpleGameReviews for the purposes of reviewing the game.

Papa’s Quiz Review

by | Apr 5, 2021 | IOS, PlayStation, Steam, Xbox

Papa’s Quiz from Publisher and Developer Old Apes

Pretty basic trivia party game. Could be more polished in a few areas but is still enjoyable for those that like quiz show party games.

Papa’s Quiz is a party/trivia game for up to 8 players. Players can either use a controller, phone, tablet, or any web browser to play the game. Much like the Jackbox games, you will go to a website and use the game code on the game screen to enter the game or you can scan the QR code instead. The “controls” appear on the screen of your chosen device for players using a mobile device or web browser. They are simply four colored buttons that resemble controller face buttons. 

There are 2 hosts for the game, Mr. Papa and Sir Monty, who provide instructions and a little color commentary during the game. The host characters’ voice overs are done in a stilted robotic style and could have been better as they are a little distracting at times.

You are able to customize your avatar in several different ways to make it feel unique and more like your own style which is always nice to see. They have a variety of stock hats, eyes, mouths, outfits, and names for you to mix and match.

When the round starts you are shown 4 categories to pick from. Choosing the category is a minigame all on its own as everyone is able to fight for the category they want by spamming the buttons on their screens to move the pointer to their desired category. They have a “junior” category in the lower corner with questions for younger gamers. This is nice to have so gamers of all ages can enjoy the game.

After you fight over the category, the questions begin and the first person to answer it correctly gets the higher number of points, second gets less and so on. When you press the button to select your answer a clock will appear beside your character to let you know how long it took to pick your answer. There is a round where the first correct responder is able to steal points from another player of their choice. In this round that is the only way to earn points. After each round the player with the most points earned in that round is able to show off their dance skills or skip it if you want.

One of the issues we found when playing was that when attempting to stream the game the questions/answers were only present on screen and not on the devices putting anyone not playing locally at a huge disadvantage since the time delay would hurt their score. This puts them at a major disadvantage in the final round where your points get converted to time and the last player standing wins. 

While the game is said to have 3000 questions and 185 categories in our experience a few categories seemed to come up repeatedly making it seem like there were a lot less options. It is still an enjoyable party/trivia game for those like this genre especially if you have a fun group of friends to play it with. 

Papa’s Quiz is available on Xbox, Playstation, Apple TV, and Steam. A digital copy of this game was provided to SimpleGameReviews for the purposes of reviewing the game.

Big Crown Showdown

by | Dec 21, 2018 | Indie, Xbox

A fun couch co-op platformer with several levels, cute characters, crazy hats and combat. The online has a bunch of options including Custom games. Sadly the online is a little dead at the moment for this fun game.