John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando Review

John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando is set in the near future where a well-intended scientist tried to harness the power of the Earth’s core which resulted in the creation of the Sludge God. As the Sludge corrupts the world by turning everything into undead monsters, the scientist hires a squad of commandos to clean up the mess.

Toxic Commando is a first person shooter in the same vein as Valve’s Left 4 Dead and Back 4 Blood: team up with 3 players (or A.I. bots), jump into a story based mission in order to complete a specific objective. While it does have a few similarities with L4D and B4B, it does have a few mechanics unique to it that adds a layer of challenge; solo or with friends.

The game offers four different characters/classes: The Strike (Walter Irons), The Medic (Ruby Pelicano), The Operator (Astrid Xu) and The Defender (Cato Arman). As you’d expect, each class has its own perks. The Strike is the all around damage character; the medic is pretty self explanatory. The Operator operates a flying drone that provides support and can boost vehicle perks. And finally The Defender can also be referred to as the tank; can take a lot of damage and deploy defensive barriers.

Each mission is its own mini map area where on the map you can easily spot anything useful such as resources, objectives, vehicles, parts; etc… . While more often than not you can simply go from point A to point B, it’s highly recommended that you explore every bookmark on the map for new weapons or parts. The latter are incredibly useful as it can allow you to restore defenses and fix switches for doors.

And yes, completing certain objectives will put you face to face with a massive horde of the undead. Triggering certains things or turning on certain switches will cause loud noise that will attract enemies. This is where parts come in handy as areas where you have to stand your ground, you’ll find things like turrets or electrified panels on the ground that needs to be fixed before used.

Another fun mechanic is the vehicles. Some levels have a vehicle that can be repaired for usage. And yes, you’ll need to find gas cans to fill up. While of them can be used for convenience and “faster” movement around the map (riding in the mud isn’t fun), others are required to complete objectives because they have a winch that is required to access items or getting through certain barriers. The winch can also help you get out of a muddy situation.

In between missions, you’ll be roaming around Leon’s base. While you can go directly into the next mission, you can change and upgrade your gear. As you complete missions and level up, you’ll unlock new weapons and new attachments for your weaponry. You’ll also be able to upgrade your character’s special skill. For example, The Strike can shoot blue electrified fireballs and you can alternate between its mechanics in the skill tree. You can also enable/disable any unlocked skill. Disabling a skill will return your skillpoint so nothing is lost. You can mix and match perks for a unique build for each class tailored to your playstyle.

The game looks great as a whole. It has a classic horror B-movie campy look and feel; although don’t expect Call of Duty level of visuals. I believe the PS4 and Xbox One could’ve supported this game, but I can certainly understand the decision not to bring it to last gen consoles. The environment is dark and drab showing the devastation of the outbreak. There’s not much difference in terms of level design. Each map is unique and offers different challenges to overcome to complete the objective. The soundtrack is a banger; clearly inspired by 80s campy horror movie with a dab of synthwave.

While there’s nothing inherently wrong, it’s incredibly annoying that due to the game’s constant online requirement renders Quick Resume, Xbox’s best feature, incredibly useless. While expected when playing with other players, Quick Resume should still be functional when playing solo with bots. Missions aren’t that long as they can average 30-45 minutes, but things happen that require to stop gaming sometimes and having to start over is a tad annoying. Also the minor nuisance of playing with bots is that they’ll rarely pick up parts, key items or gas cans. Driving in the mud is also a pain in the ass.

John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando is an absolute blast to play solo with bots or with friends online. It has enough unique nuances that give it a different flair compared to Left 4 Dead and Back 4 Blood. The gameplay is solid, each class feels unique with their own perks, the driving is tight and it has a fun B-movie presentation. While it’s a bit annoying that it’s requires to be online at all times so people can join, playing with bots is as enjoyable as playing with others for the most part. John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando is one of the most enjoyable games of the year and it features big dumb fun. Whether to play solo or with friends or randoms, if you enjoy a good shooter, John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando is for you.