Toy Soldiers: Cold War

It's fun, looks and sounds great, has loads of content, and integrates very well with your friends lists and the leaderboard system...It is, in a word, awesome.

I'm a history nerd splitting hairs about a game featuring toys blowing each other up at this point. Regardless, the two games together represent the best that the tower defense genre has to offer. I'm very interested to see where Signal takes this franchise next…as long as it's not World War II.

Even if you're not particularly a fan of tower defense games like me, simply controlling your units, getting combos, and using the special barrage weapons will win you over.

Toy Soldiers: Cold War is without doubt one of the best games you can purchase on XBL and is a truly great sequel to what was a fantastic game

Incredibly fun. The best tower defense game on Xbox Live.

Toy Soldiers Cold War is a fantastic title.

An excellently crafted game that goes above and beyond all expectations for an indie downloadable title. The action feels tight, it's bursting with content, the graphics and sound are impressive.

The presentation is inspired, and the gameplay maintains a careful balance of strategic thinking and crazy action.

If you're looking for a competitive tower defence/strategy hybrid game, Toy Soldiers: Cold War is tough to put down.

Toy Soldiers: Cold War will be the most fun you've had with your army men in years.

Of all five Xbox LIVE Arcade games that were released for the Summer of Arcade promotion, if you could only get one of them, this is it. It's the most fun, offers the most value, and it's great to play with and against friends.

This game is a vast improvement over the previous one, and is probably the best tower-defence game out there. It doesn't have much replay value, apart from the multiplayer, but it is a game I definitely recommend as an action or tower-defence game.

A tower defense type of game with some action elements – it allows you to actively participate in battles as a unit of your choice. Works best in multiplayer. Fun! [September 2011, p.75]

Toy Soldiers: Cold War is a good conclusion of this years Summer of Arcade. The game play elements not only tieing well into each other but also being great fun by themselves is key to this. Whoever enjoyed the single player experience will volunteer for the Toy Soldiers army in the brilliant coop-mode.

Signal Studios took what was already a great game and made it even better, and that's no easy thing.

While it may be lacking in raw content for some players, it more than makes up for it with layers of cooperative and competitive elements that make it one of the best strategy games on Xbox Live Arcade.

An action-packed tower defense game that improves upon its predecessor at almost every opportunity.

Nails the 80's toy aesthetic while blending great strategy and action gameplay under one democratic roof. While there may be camera problems, the thrill of the fight is too great to deny in this living toy box.

If you were even a little bit entertained by the first game, you will absolutely love Cold War. It has the gameplay you loved, but now with enhanced multiplayer and lots of extra modes, it really does add to the original and is well worth the 1200msp asking price.

Whether you loved the first game or you're looking for something new, Cold War is a great place to jump in to experience one of the best tower defense variations on the market.

Toy Soldiers offers enough from a gameplay perspective to justify its asking price, but its GI Joe-meets-Red Dawn setting is what makes the game truly fun to play.

Toy Soldiers marshals no small amount of personality and polish, and the thoughtful and detailed presentation never misses its mark as it lampoons and celebrates its goofy what-if 80's scenario.

A decent action/strategy game. [Dec 2011, p.87]

Swooping through a virtual boy's room in a miniature jet while fighting a huge submarine is where this game topped for us. Rock solid and inexpensive entertainment for your Xbox 360.

The game we always knew it wanted to be. [Issue#77, p.103]

A bit short, but a nice combination of action and strategy.

Don't let the playful title fool you. Toy Soldiers Cold War can stand its ground between the big wargames. You'll find plenty of action, a challenge and basically a game that will appeal to a lot of gamers.

It's a fun experience while it lasts, even if that might not be as long as you'd like. Still, this is a marked improvement, and even as a kind of iteration, is a reminder of Signal Studios' potential.

The game hits on a lot of levels; it's challenging, full of charm, and genuinely fun. I just wish it wasn't over quite so soon.

Yet another excellent title for Xbox Live Arcade, that although it is not very innovative in comparison with the original, it improves upon it in almost every aspect.

These tiny war heroes have captured our hearts, interrogated them and found out that we love them.

If you grew up in the 80s, playing with G.I. Joes, watching movies like Red Dawn and whistling the Top Gun theme, this is a fun trip back to your childhood. It's not as innovative as the first Toy Soldiers, but we can't think of a better way to end this season's Summer of Arcade.

The sheer bulk of things to do in Cold War does a good job of offsetting a core campaign that's merely pretty decent, and the overall presentation of the package, wailing guitar solos and all, make it a game that tower defense fans ought to feel good about playing.

Toy Soldiers: Cold War isn't out to change any paradigms. It's a game through and through, a game based on perhaps the oldest boyhood pastime there is. I'd never dream of recommending it over real toys and childhood imagination but, for the adults who want to remember – and maybe share some of that 80s magic with their own kids – it definitely fits the bill.

Cold War is a very challenging game with a nice atmosphere. The mini-games and the co-op add extra length but it would have been nicer to see a second campaign like in the first game. There's not as much improvement as we would have liked, but just enough additions have been made to make Cold War a respectable followup game.

However, Toy Soldiers: Cold War easily shrugs off these complaints and will force a grin onto the mug of even the most sceptical player for the duration of its campaign. There is not a lot of offer beyond that, but for twenty bucks it'll fulfil your hankering for both action and '80s nostalgia with winking enthusiasm.

Improves on the first game in almost every way.

Cold War's sense of fun is backed up with a more measured, rewarding battle structure. [Nov 2011, p.112]

Quotation forthcoming.

TS:CW provides plenty of semi-mindless macho thrills, but, like a one-hit wonder, if you ever tire of the main hook it'll all fall down. Much like ... well, toy soldiers.

Even though Toy Soldiers: Cold War has a few new features, it doesn't seem to have quite the depth of the original.

The battery packs offer a nice sense of urgency to controlling the vehicles in every stage, because as powerful as the fighter jet or the tank might be, there's a built-in shelf life they have now - you can either return them to the charger in time or risk them self-destructing and therefore waiting a few minutes before you can use them again.

Being very similar to the original, game this is more an expansion than a sequel. There is a new focus on getting down on the battlefield yourself piloting tanks or helicopters, but some of the charm is lost in the process.

Stuck awkwardly between action game and top-down strategy, Cold War is an affectionate and exhilarating blast in the short term - but much like the cheap action figures it pay loving homage to, it can't survive more than a few days of intense play.