John Carpenter's Toxic Commando

John Carpenter's Toxic Commando is a cooperative first-person shooter for four players in which the main objective is to survive gigantic waves of zombies. Each character follows classic RPG archetypes—support, tank, operator, and striker—and can upgrade their skills and powers through a skill tree tied to the Sludge God's toxin. Missions involve traversing large maps following waypoints until the final showdown, but exploration is essential to recover heavy weapons, ammunition, and medkits. The pace is almost musou-like: endless hordes of undead to be mowed down amid blood, dismemberment, and constant chaos, with the option of running them over even while driving heavy vehicles. Even solo, thanks to well-managed bots, the action remains frenetic and fun.

John Carpenter's Toxic Commando is a solid fun time. It isn't a revolutionary game in the four-player co-op genre, but all of the changes it makes have a positive impact on the experience. The performance is very good all around, and despite having a linear storyline to follow, it's replayable thanks to the classes, skill trees, and number of things to level up. For those looking for a return to a co-op experience that's about more shooting and less thinking, Toxic Commando is it.

Toxic Commando doesn’t quite measure up to Left 4 Dead 2, but it still delivers an entertaining shooter experience featuring hordes of zombies and vehicles.

John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando is a loud, proud, and stylistically sharpshooter that shines brightest when you're tearing through hordes of gunk zombies with a group of friends.

John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando delivers a wild ride through the undead apocalypse with just enough new to make it worth your time. It takes the familiar bones of the genre and wraps them in something bigger and louder. Sometimes that spills over into repetition, but when everything clicks, which it will for your first several hours of play, it feels like standing in the middle of a raging river (of zombies) and letting the current (of zombies) carry you straight through the storm.

John Carpenter's Toxic Commando is a throwback to co-op shooters of yesteryear, filled with bombastic action, 1980s cheese, and a wicked soundtrack. It impressively holds its own on the Asus ROG Ally, making it an ideal handheld experience that's worth sinking a few hours into. If you're eager to relive the glory days of Left 4 Dead and classic era Call of Duty Zombies, then Toxic Commando gets you closer enough.

John Carpenter's Toxic Commando is a title that doesn't try to reinvent the genre, but rather delivers a fun, stylish cooperative experience with its own personality. For those who enjoy games focused on team action and appreciate a good dose of humor and chaos, this is a very solid option within the genre to try in 2026.

This isn’t a revolution for L4D-inspired games, but it is indeed a great example of how to do something that feels both new and traditional at the same time.

John Carpenter's Toxic Commando offers a solid experience. It doesn't do anything particularly new and focuses on just a few elements, but it handles them well with care and obvious devotion to the source material. The missions aren't too varied at first, but the frequent occurrence of grotesque, unexpected, or crazy situations makes every game enjoyable. The bots also work well.

There are nits to pick with Toxic Commando​​​​​, but how egregious they are will ultimately come down to player preference. Some may find its accessibility a win for the multiplayer experience, while some may find it too easy. Some will appreciate its lack of bloat, while others will want deeper skill trees and more customization. All in all, though, fans of cheesy horror and zombie co-op shooters will find plenty to love in it. John Carpenter's Toxic Commando is not a game-changer, but it doesn't pretend to be, and it's all the better for it.

In its best moments, John Carpenter's Toxic Commando is an unbelievably good time. Even in its worst moments, it's still a pretty solid zombie shooter with some great set pieces. That being said, any problems with the game can and probably will be fixed in time. The janky bots and frustrating solo player experience definitely make things a little rough around the edges, but underneath that is a fantastic game that will absolutely exceed your expectations if you give it a chance.

John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando focuses on delivering a very specific pleasure. Four buddies, a towering horde of undead, and a soundtrack that sounds like it escaped from something covered in dust in your basement. It identifies that particular itch perfectly, and it leans into it with a sense of gleeful, gory enthusiasm.

An intriguing blend built on the core of classic cooperative zombie action, enhanced by well-made vehicle traversal across challenging terrain. Randomized map layouts boost replayability, though greater variety would help. John Carpenter’s name isn't there for nothing; the epic visuals combined with a bombastic soundtrack do justice to the horror master’s legacy.

John Carpenter's Toxic Commando is a satisfying spiritual successor to World War Z and a moreish co-op zombie shooter with enough new mechanics to stand out. The shift towards larger, more open maps and the addition of vehicles are both enjoyable twists that add more gameplay possibilities than ever and, although the campaign is a little brief, there’s plenty of room for the game to grow like the studio’s previous effort.

With four classes with distinct powers to upgrade and over a dozen weapons, each with a bevy of unlockable attachments, players will have no trouble finding a build that appeals to them, so long as they’re passionately invested in mass-murdering zombies and the various mutant gunk creatures that come along for the ride. With a fast pace, extreme replayability and irreverent tone, Toxic Commando is a blast from beginning to end — I just don’t understand why it’s not called Toxic Commandos — because, again, there are four of them.

John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando brings a fresh twist to cooperative zombie shooters by mixing large-scale hordes with semi-open sandbox maps and vehicle-based gameplay. The freedom to explore, gather resources and plan routes adds an interesting layer of strategy beyond simply mowing down enemies. However, the weak narrative, forgettable characters and repetitive mission structure prevent the experience from reaching the same impact as classics like Left 4 Dead. Technical performance issues on PC also hurt the overall experience. It’s a fun co-op shooter with solid ideas, but not the genre-defining return many fans were hoping for.

John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando doesn’t reinvent much within the cooperative shooter genre, but it’s fun to play and the addition of vehicles proves to be a winning feature.

Toxic Commando feels like a game that knows exactly what it is, and makes no apologies for the classic titles it riffs on. It’s a bit of a blast-from-the-past, that smartly imbues plenty of modern design ideas and gameplay components resulting in a relatively satisfying mix of systems and replayability. The plot? Beyond stupid. The writing? Dated and painful. The fun? Thankfully, the developers have got that part nailed. John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando is really, really dumb, but I can’t deny that I had a pretty good time playing it – and that’s got to count for something.

John Carpenter's Toxic Commando is a solid and entertaining cooperative shooter that takes the classic Left 4 Dead formula and introduces several important twists, from open maps (though they do end up looking a bit too similar to one another) to the use of vehicles, as well as special powers and a customizable arsenal. The starting content offering is fairly generous, especially considering the relatively low price, and the Swarm Engine puts truly massive and spectacular hordes on screen, creating a chaotic battlefield that is a real pleasure to tackle alongside friends.

John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando is a polished co-op zombie shooter that prioritizes satisfying gameplay over originality. It delivers massive undead hordes, strong weapon feedback, and chaotic defense sequences that shine when played with friends. While the story and characters are shallow and some progression systems need refinement, the core gameplay loop of exploring open maps, gathering resources, and surviving overwhelming waves of zombies remains consistently fun. Toxic Commando may not reinvent the genre, but its excellent game feel and spectacle make it an enjoyable experience for co-op shooter fans, especially at a discounted price.

If you're simply looking for pure shooting and explosions and don't mind the game's relatively small scale, John Carpenter's Toxic Commando can still be a decent option. Its large scale set pieces are something you rarely see elsewhere, and the satisfying gunplay makes blasting through hordes of zombies genuinely enjoyable. Beyond that, however, Toxic Commando mostly shows its flaws. Both its level design and core gameplay feel monotonous, dated, and lacking in excitement.

Toxic Commando delivers chaotic co-op fun and explosive action, but shallow progression and a repetitive structure hold it back. A solid shooter for short sessions with friends, though not one that will leave a lasting impression.

John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando feels like the ultimate fantasy for Black Ops fans who dream of Treyarch releasing the Zombies mode as a standalone game. However, Saber Interactive takes it a step further by offering vehicles with advanced physics.

John Carpenter's Toxic Commando reimagines a tried-and-true formula, transporting it to a new open-world setting where the Swarm Engine's capabilities once again demonstrate their effectiveness in managing hordes. The result is a riot of blood, bullets, gasoline, and ignorance that will delight anyone looking to spend an evening hunting zombies with friends. When everything runs smoothly, Saber Interactive's title effectively conveys the feeling of being in the middle of one of those apocalyptic films where the only priority is surviving yet another wave of the undead. However, the game's offerings, as they stand, are far too limited and quickly become repetitive. The project's underlying structure is solid and shows promise, but new content will be needed to transform Toxic Commando into something more than a fun cooperative shooter for a couple of evenings.

Best enjoyed with friends, John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando has some solid, if not amazing or transformative gunplay, paired with some fun class abilities and a more open-world approach to the genre’s typical level design. The narrative can be gripping, making for an engaging first playthrough, but there isn’t too much to come back for after that.

Toxic Commando has immaculate vibes and incredible set pieces for fans of post-apocalypse mayhem, but it struggles with mission design and performance issues. For fans with friends, it might still prove indispensable.

Legendary director John Carpenter lent his name to this zombie-filled co-op action game, which is acceptable but doesn't quite measure up to the quality of the master's films.

Toxic Commando never really manages to be more than the sum of its parts. It's enjoyable, and the big horde set pieces remain a gaming highlight, especially at its peaks in the finale, but like a 90s family holiday, there's also just a lot of time spent looking at a map to plan your route, and then driving to the next sightseeing stop while the kids in the back pretend to shoot stuff out the window.

John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando is a simple but effective cooperative experience, brilliantly combining action, tactics, progression, and fun. It’s a solid choice for groups of friends looking to refresh their catalog for a few explosive evenings.

John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando feels like the kind of game I would’ve rented on the Xbox 360, for better and worse. It’s a simple, no-nonsense shooter that offers some classic arcade-like fun. That comes at the cost of narrative and mechanical depth, but it’s still a good time if you’re looking to restore that old school feeling.

Toxic Commando is a fun game that offers some meaningful shifts on the four-player zombie-killing genre. While the story is goofy and fun, true to John Carpenter's legacy, the characters can be grating and the missions feel somewhat narratively disconnected. Gunplay and progression are well-honed, though, offering an engaging zombie-killing time any group will have a good time with.

What Toxic Commando does, it does very well – but most of it has already been seen elsewhere. Carving through zombies is fun, but by failing to leverage the idea of superpowered protagonists, the threat of fatigue after completing the story for the first time looms large, which isn't ideal for an online game like this.

A fast-paced, brutal, straightforward shooter spectacle – the kind horror film alumnus John Carpenter lends his name to. If you want to unleash Snake Plissken-style co-op mayhem, you'll love it. Solo players should look elsewhere.

Like the zombie shooters that came before it, John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando is all about shooting monsters and spilling guts with big guns, and fending off hordes with your best pals. Some aspects of the game are suspect but aren’t game-breaking. That said, the biggest issue with Toxic Commando is that it doesn’t strive to be anything more. As long as you’re not looking for a groundbreaking experience, Toxic Commando can be a great way to burn your weekends with.

There are some good laughs here, along with sporadic moments of showstopping spectacle. [Issue#422, p.102]

John Carpenter's Toxic Commando blends Left 4 Dead-style zombie blasting with systems borrowed from Saber's back catalogue. The results work well enough, but are undermined by flabby mission design and unnecessary meta-progression.

It's yet another shooter in an already overcrowded genre and despite Carpenter's name and the (at times) beautiful aesthetics, there's nothing here that stands out or makes you react. Fun in small doses? Absolutely. But something you'll be talking about in a year's time? Hardly.

Especially when playing with mouse and keyboard, Toxic Commando is a fine shooter for up to four players - even if lacking variety in the long run.

Toxic Commando is ultimately fine, but there are many better co-operative shooters you could spend your time with. Perfectly competent shooting is brought down by repetitive missions and an absolutely threadbare campaign. If you absolutely must play a new zombie shooter, you might find some fun here, but if you’re looking for something more fulfilling than video game junk food, look elsewhere.