00:00As I look at the seemingly endless torrent of zombies that Toxic Commando sends hurtling towards me,
00:07trying to stem the flow with an assault rifle like Wile E. Coyote trying to protect himself from a falling
00:12anvil with a tiny umbrella,
00:14I think, this is a good time.
00:17This is a very good time.
00:19Poke into the murky recesses of my mind a dozen hours after finishing the story for the first time, however,
00:26and you might find me distractedly wondering what I'm going to have for dinner.
00:30Let's get one of the main questions out of the way first.
00:32It's called John Carpenter's Toxic Commando, but is it actually his?
00:37The legendary director has had a hand in the music, and his name is all over the marketing,
00:42like police tape covering the entrance to a crime scene, but his involvement beyond this is unclear.
00:47Let's just say that if he had taken charge of the writing and cutscene direction,
00:51and was providing regular feedback from playtests, I'm pretty sure we would have heard about it.
00:56This might sound like I'm being snide, but I'm really not.
00:59To be honest, his mostly hands-off approach is probably a good thing.
01:03He knows how to make a good movie, and he's famously a fan of video games,
01:07but that doesn't mean he knows what it takes to make one.
01:10This is Saber Interactive's Toxic Commando, and it has good reason to be proud of that.
01:20The immediate comparison is Left 4 Dead, or, indeed, Saber's own World War Z,
01:26a team of four set out to survive and complete missions in a world swarming with the undead,
01:31which come in a variety of flavours.
01:33While the enemies are arguably over-familiar, the standard grunt, the one who grabs you,
01:38the one who runs at you and explodes, the one who runs at you and explodes but in a different
01:42colour, etc.,
01:43there are a few fundamentals that help carve out a unique identity.
01:47First mission aside, which is essentially an extended tutorial,
01:51the action takes place in large, open maps.
01:53As a result, there are vehicles scattered around for you to use,
01:57sometimes compulsory for objectives, often not.
02:00Each has a unique ability, too, such as the military trucks armed with a machine gun or a flamethrower,
02:05and the police car, which can be set as self-destructing bait.
02:08Working in a squad of four, using vehicles to drive across huge maps,
02:11gives things a slight Battlefield feel.
02:14Distinctly un-Battlefield-like are the four character classes.
02:17You may not get to play as your preferred character when joining a game,
02:20but there is no limit on classes.
02:22Thanks to a story-dictated mishap, each finds themselves with a special ability.
02:26The strike can launch explosive projectiles,
02:28the defender can put up a temporary force field that damages enemies who enter,
02:32the operator has a drone accompanying them,
02:34and please don't tell me that you need me to explain what the medic can do.
02:37This element is something of a misfire, though,
02:40in that when it comes to these special abilities,
02:42cooldowns are long and durations are brief.
02:45This certainly makes sense for the medic,
02:47but it means you only get a few seconds of fun at a time,
02:49flinging balls of energy around as the strike.
02:51The defender's force field only makes cameo appearances,
02:54and the operator's drone only makes itself useful in battle for brief stints
02:58while the ability is active.
03:03Toxic Commando is, however, brilliantly designed when it comes to making everyone feel useful.
03:08Wandering off on your own is often to invite death,
03:11so you're incentivized not to do that.
03:13All vehicles, apart from one plot-specific one,
03:16can carry the whole squad, for example,
03:18and it's never just the driver that has something to do.
03:20If there's a turret, of course, someone can jump on that and let loose,
03:23while all passengers can shoot from the windows.
03:26This is especially useful when enemies are chasing after you,
03:29and when zombies jump onto the vehicle,
03:31likely when your car's speed plummets while stuck in mud,
03:34things can go from see-ya laser losers quite quickly to...
03:38Oh, um, hello again.
03:40Saber's swarm engine, as seen in World War Z,
03:43and Warhammer 40K Space Marine 2,
03:45allows for absolutely huge waves of enemies
03:48to come thundering towards you during siege sequences.
03:51For this reason, you're encouraged to explore the map and dig out spare parts,
03:55which can be used to repair defences, such as turrets and barbed wire.
03:58Resource gathering can easily double the length of a mission,
04:01but building those defences can and will make those sections much more manageable,
04:06so it's worth the time and effort.
04:08If you don't bulk up your defences,
04:09a good squad can still emerge victorious,
04:12but things can get pretty stressful.
04:14I'm reminded of one occasion where I was the last member of my squad left standing,
04:18and I was surrounded by zombies in every direction,
04:21with no way of getting to my teammates to revive them.
04:23There were just 10 seconds left on the clock,
04:26but 10 seconds is a long time when you're stranded in the middle of a sea of zombies,
04:30let me tell you.
04:31Still, I managed to survive, and the mission was a success.
04:34Toxic Commando can be something of an anecdote generator in this way.
04:38Despite the sometimes panic-inducing number of enemies on screen at once,
04:42all of the weapons are viable.
04:44In part, this is because Saber understands that it's important for a basic zombie
04:48to collapse like Blamange when hit,
04:50and for basic zombies to make up the majority of foes.
04:53It is also, however, in part due to the weapons packing a decent punch,
04:57and being fun to wield.
04:59I've put my favourite pistol through the Call of Duty-style Prestige system twice so far,
05:03and it's yet to feel like a grind.
05:08Regarding solo and offline options,
05:10for which there is an undeniable appetite here,
05:13as I've seen through some chatter on Steam,
05:14yes, you can play this alone.
05:17Well, sort of.
05:18Toxic Commando is an always-online game,
05:21so if you lose connection during a match,
05:22you'll be booted back to the hub,
05:24even if you're playing on your own.
05:26As for the bots,
05:27they are...
05:27on lower difficulties at least,
05:29admirably competent in combat.
05:31However, I found that I had to kick the difficulty down to story
05:34for the last two missions when playing alone,
05:36simply because bots are completely unable to interact with objects
05:39or follow instructions.
05:41If you mark a switch for them to pull,
05:43an objective for them to defend,
05:44or an object for them to carry,
05:46they'll just stand around and stare at you blankly,
05:48like cats watching you trying to teach them to play fetch.
05:51Played with others,
05:52Toxic Commando is good fun,
05:54but there's a big old question mark over its longevity.
05:57There are only nine missions,
05:58including that introductory one,
06:00and despite a small amount of randomisation,
06:03like your squad's initial spawn point can change,
06:05and the location of some items and objectives might shift,
06:08the vast majority of tasks and important locations
06:11are the same every time.
06:12If you have three buddies keen to make this a regular thing,
06:15I can see it lasting you hundreds of hours.
06:18Otherwise, I'm not sure.
06:20Each character class has a skill tree,
06:22and individually earned skill points to play around with,
06:25pleasingly you can redistribute them as much as you like,
06:27but the grind is primarily concerned with the weapons.
06:30All are available immediately,
06:32just as well there's not a huge amount of them,
06:34but attachments and skins are not.
06:37These are paid for, once unlocked,
06:39via the sludgeite that can be harvested from the maps,
06:41in between decorating the ground with the undead, of course.
06:44If you find weapons you're particularly enamoured with,
06:46you can go through the previously mentioned prestige
06:48to unlock fancy animated skins,
06:50at the cost of losing all attachments,
06:52and no, your sludgeite is not refunded.
06:54Despite the supernatural tint to your enemies,
06:57and your intrinsic powers,
06:58the weapons are an unambitious,
07:00and disappointingly grounded selection
07:03of assault rifles, shotguns, and so on.
07:05If there were some futuristic or inventive weapons to chase,
07:08after once the story had been completed for the first time,
07:11or perhaps upgrades that, say,
07:12made your powers more regularly accessible
07:14while limiting your ammo reserves,
07:16I'd find that more exciting to grind for
07:18in this zombie-filled world than a new gun barrel.
07:21As it is, it's mainly things for controlling the recall on your guns,
07:25and pretty colours for your cars.
07:27Make no mistake, though,
07:28Toxic Commando is a lot of fun.
07:30Making terrifyingly huge waves of enemies manageable
07:33is a hell of a challenge,
07:35but Saber has nailed it.
07:37You're gently nudged to stick together and help one another,
07:39everyone feels like a useful part of the team,
07:42and taking down the undead is consistently satisfying.
07:45How long you might keep coming back for all of this, however,
07:49well, that remains to be seen.
07:51We give John Carpenter's Toxic Commando 3.5 stars out of 5.
07:58So, will you be picking up Toxic Commando,
08:01squatting up with your pals,
08:02and laying waste to the zombie horde?
08:04Let us know, and stick with GamesRadar
08:06for the latest on the greatest games of 2026.
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