{"id":107637,"date":"2020-01-19T18:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-01-19T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/reviews\/switch-eshop\/hypercharge_unboxed"},"modified":"2020-01-19T18:00:00","modified_gmt":"2020-01-19T18:00:00","slug":"review-hypercharge-unboxed-lighthearted-fps-action-that-mixes-toy-story-with-small-soldiers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2020\/01\/19\/review-hypercharge-unboxed-lighthearted-fps-action-that-mixes-toy-story-with-small-soldiers\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Hypercharge: Unboxed &#8211; Lighthearted FPS Action That Mixes Toy Story With Small Soldiers"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"media_block\"><a href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/reviews\/switch-eshop\/hypercharge_unboxed\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/reviews\/switch-eshop\/hypercharge_unboxed\/small.jpg\" class=\"media_thumbnail\"><\/a><\/div>\n<div id>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"HYPERCHARGE: Unboxed Review - Screenshot 1 of 4\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/102127\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/102127\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"HYPERCHARGE: Unboxed Review - Screenshot 1 of 4\"><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>The Switch\u2019s ever-expanding library of games is slowly but surely bringing more and more FPS titles into the fold. Juggernauts like <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/nintendo-switch\/overwatch_legendary_edition\"><strong>Overwatch<\/strong><\/a> and <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/switch-eshop\/alien_isolation\">Alien: Isolation<\/a><\/strong> rule the roost, but there\u2019s definitely a conspicuous gap in the market for a true co-op FPS game, and that\u2019s where <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/switch-eshop\/hypercharge_unboxed\">Hypercharge: Unboxed<\/a><\/strong> comes in. Channeling the spirits of <strong>Toy Story<\/strong> and <strong>Small Soldiers<\/strong>, Digital Cybercherrie\u2019s sophomore title sees you fight off wave after wave of enemies in a bid to protect toy-kind from being forgotten by their human owners.<\/p>\n<p>Taking place within a typical suburban household, you\u2019ll be exploring bedrooms, bathrooms, gardens and more. This might sound a bit mundane, but in practice, the stages look pretty remarkable. You play as a 5-inch tall toy soldier, so naturally everything else around you looks absolutely massive in comparison; you\u2019ll be jumping on top of toilet bowls, sprinting across desktops and diving off the edge of a <em>vast<\/em> bookcase.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"HYPERCHARGE: Unboxed Review - Screenshot 2 of 4\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/102161\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/102161\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"HYPERCHARGE: Unboxed Review - Screenshot 2 of 4\"><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>What\u2019s even more impressive is that the game actually looks pretty incredible, too. Opting for style over realism, you get a real sense that you\u2019re taking part in a CGI movie, and the framerate stays at a solid 30FPS at all times. It\u2019s a shame they couldn\u2019t have pushed for higher, but we certainly appreciate the efforts to keep the gameplay at a level pace. The lighting effects are also really nice, with plenty of variety from sunsets leaking through window blinds to cold light from a computer monitor illuminating tabletops.<\/p>\n<p>With the ability to play on your own or with friends locally and online, you\u2019ll need to protect what the game calls \u2018hyper-core\u2019 systems dotted around the maps. The waves of enemies naturally gravitate towards these, and it\u2019s up to you and your comrades to defend them. Along with standard weaponry, you\u2019ll be able to construct fortifications between waves with Build Mode, utilising coins picked up during gameplay to purchase more effective blockades. As you progress, the waves get more and more intense, with a definite increase in both enemy numbers and variety.<\/p>\n<p>The first thing you\u2019ll want to do upon booting up the game is change the default button layout. A rather bizarre decision was made to map the sprint and jump abilities to L and R respectively, which quite frankly feels completely unnatural. Thankfully, whilst there are only two button layouts available, the alternative is <em>much<\/em> better (and of course, you\u2019ll want to invert the Y-axis, since <em>everyone<\/em> knows that\u2019s how FPS games should be played\u2026).<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"HYPERCHARGE: Unboxed Review - Screenshot 3 of 4\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/102126\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/102126\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"HYPERCHARGE: Unboxed Review - Screenshot 3 of 4\"><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>There\u2019s plenty of opportunity within the game to customise and enhance your characters as you progress. You can pick up gun upgrades within the maps themselves \u2013 provided you have enough coins \u2013 and be rewarded with more permanent upgrades to your armour and fortifications as you work your way through the stages. The games doesn\u2019t immediately make any of this particularly clear, as there\u2019s a distinct lack of any tutorial to start your off, but we\u2019ve been assured that this will be patched in by the devs at a later date.<\/p>\n<p>There are a few key areas where the game falls down a bit, unfortunately. The overall gameplay is great for the most part (and the inclusion of gyro aiming is <em>very<\/em> welcome), but jumping up obstacles can often prove to be a bit tricky. Taking cues from more modern FPS titles, you can scale up objects by tapping the jump button again, but doing this often causes you to mistakenly jump too many times, resulting in you accidentally leaping off the object you tried to climb in the first place.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, and perhaps more crucially, there\u2019s never a real sense of danger in the game. There are plenty of tense moments when you\u2019ll need to really scramble to defeat the attacking forces, but they\u2019ll rarely actually attack <em>you,<\/em> so you can more or less wander around without much fear of dying.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"HYPERCHARGE: Unboxed Review - Screenshot 4 of 4\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/102130\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/102130\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"HYPERCHARGE: Unboxed Review - Screenshot 4 of 4\"><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>On the flip side though, considering it\u2019s more-than-reasonable price, Hypercharge: Unboxed is a neat introduction to the world of co-op FPS action. There\u2019s more than enough here to keep you occupied for hours on end, provided you have like-minded friends who can join you. If you\u2019re looking to play on your own, however, then you\u2019re best off looking elsewhere.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"conclusion\">\n<h2 class=\"heading\">Conclusion<\/h2>\n<p>If you consider the fairly sparse selection of FPS titles on the Switch, Hypercharge: Unboxed is a genuinely tempting prospect, boasting solid gameplay that is an absolute blast with friends. There are a few issues with the gameplay that may need addressing with patches, and as a whole the game feels like a bit of a walk in the park for the most part, but otherwise it\u2019s an impressive, unique title that you\u2019d do well to check out.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Switch\u2019s ever-expanding library of games is slowly but surely bringing more and more FPS titles into the fold. Juggernauts like Overwatch and Alien: Isolation rule the roost, but there\u2019s definitely a conspicuous gap in the market for a true co-op FPS game, and that\u2019s where Hypercharge: Unboxed comes in. Channeling the spirits of Toy [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-107637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nintendo-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107637"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107637\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}