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What is Toy Soldiers?

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/t/toysoldiersxbla/

Put your foot soldiers, snipers, cavalry, and fighter pilots to the test in Toy Soldiers. Poised to be a smash hit on Xbox LIVE® Arcade, Toy Soldiers is an action-packed strategy-based game in which players command antique WWI toy soldiers vying for control of the trench-filled battlefields of Europe. Deploy an exciting arsenal such as tanks, cavalry, biplanes, and flamethrowers in vintage WWI toy dioramas. Developed by Signal Studios exclusively for Xbox 360, Toy Soldiers allows you to take control of individual units or control the entire battlefield from a strategic view. Integrating multiple game genres and world-class visuals, Toy Soldiers is a unique and action-packed entertainment experience!

* Toy battles: Experience epic action-packed battles with more than 50 unique units across two distinct armies, across five unique maps with their own special characteristics and multiplayer options.
* Easy-to-pick-up controls: Soldiers can fight on their own, or be controlled from a third-person mode.
* An arsenal of weapons: Fly planes, zeppelins, and even drive tanks to help your unit succeed in protecting its base.
* Multiplayer: Split screen allows you to easily fight in head-to-head battles with friends over Xbox LIVE, or on the same console.
* Miniaturized mayhem: Unique game visuals and post-effects capture the imagination and provide real world historical events in a playful toy-like miniature world.

Date and Price And Xbox Live Arcade Block Party Details

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=235151

Microsoft's dated the Xbox Live Arcade games featured in its Xbox Live House Party promotion, which kicks off next month.

Top of the pile is the remake of Rare's excellent Perfect Dark, which will hit Xbox Live Arcade on March 17. Virtual, PlayStation Home-esque arcade, Game Room will follow later on March 24.

Anyone who buys all four of the House Party releases will have 400 MS Points refunded, says MS, and existing Gold members will get an extra month's game time for free. Generous.

Full list follows:

Toy Soldiers - 3 March
1200 MSP
Your army of antique toy soldiers battles it out across five unique maps, all with multiplayer potential. Deploy infantry, pilot zeppelins and fighter planes, or send in the cavalry...whatever it takes to earn victory in this action-packed strategy game.

Scrap Metal - 10 March
1200 MSP
Use rocket-launchers, flamethrowers and more dastardly tricks to ensure you finish first in more than 60 single-player missions. Or challenge friends to a Destruction Derby plus other superb multiplayer modes in split-screen or across Xbox LIVE.

Perfect Dark - 17 March
800 MSP
The celebrated action adventure from Rare, starring Joanna Dark in her landmark first mission. Newly 're-mastered' in high-definition and upgraded character models, you can play this classic shooter solo, 2-player split-screen or 8-player online.

Game Room, 24 March (Free download)
400 MSP dual-platform, 250 MSP single-platform, 40 MSP single play
More than 30 arcade classics in their original cabinets can be yours in your virtual game room. Couch Play mode lets you invite friends for two-player challenges at home, but the fun really takes off across Xbox LIVE with leaderboards to aim for.

Toy Soldiers Match Defense Facebook Game: (Thank You Chespace)

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=387750

Internally here at Microsoft Game Studios, Ken Lobb's (yes, of the Klobb gun in GoldenEye) team recently launched a beta of a Facebook-compliment game to Toy Soldiers called Match Defense. I've been playing it on and off for the past week and, as a fan of Panel de Pon/Planet Puzzle League, I think it's a great match-3 game with a ton of depth.

http://apps.facebook.com/matchdefense/

From moment to moment, it's got the combo chaos of Tetris Attack, and from a higher level, it forces you to think about positioning and strategy (a la M&M: Clash of Heroes). There's also Facebook persistence for the overall war effort and how much money you contribute -- a meta-game that's reminiscent of Chromehounds. Both the Facebook game and the XBLA game Toy Soldiers feeds real-time data to the LIVE LSP server that reports on which side is winning the war.

Anyway, Ken, who reads GAF but doesn't post, wanted me to put the word out there for GAF to check out the game. His team is looking for feedback on Match Defense so please post 'em in this thread or PM me and I'll pass your feedback/suggestions along.

An idea I've already told him is that this game is RIPE for a multiplayer versus mode (instead of garbage, you're sending over attack units). And I guess I'd like to see a version that isn't just on Facebook/PC but one that can be played with a real controller (console or portable).

Here are screens in case you're allergic to loading up Facebook games (which I thought I was until I played Match Defense, honestly).

And for shits and giggles here's a screenshot of Toy Soldiers (comes out in a couple weeks), which is an interesting mix of 3rd person action and tower defense. Reminds me a bit of Men of War but you shouldn't take that too literally. Still, surprisingly epic and polished for a LIVE arcade title.

Screenshots:

Video:

Youtube
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Toy+Soldiers+XBLA+Video&search_type=&aq=f

GameTrailers
http://www.gametrailers.com/game/toy-soldiers/12107

IGN XBLA
http://media.xbox360.ign.com/media/033/033542/vids_1.html

Previews:

Gamespot
http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/strategy/toysoldiers/news.html?sid=6245102&mode=previews

Joystiq
http://www.joystiq.com/2009/09/25/tgs-2009-impressions-toy-soldiers-xbla/

BraveNewGamer
http://www.bravenewgamer.com/2009/12/first-hands-on-toy-soldiers-xbla/

IGN XBLA
http://xboxlive.ign.com/articles/105/1059101p1.html

1UP.com Video Walkthrough
http://gamevideos.1up.com/video/id/27597

Achievements

http://www.xbox360achievements.org/game/toy-soldiers/achievements/

There are 12 achievements with a total of 200 points.

Jumped the Bags 10
Complete level 1

Old Contemptible 20
Defeat Tsar Tank

Flying Pig 20
Defeat Zeppelin

Old Sweat 20
Defeat Uber Tank

Coffin Nails 30
Complete the Campaign

Foot Slogger 10
Earn General Rank on any level

Pickled Monkey 15
Win a Multiplayer Match on every level

Throw a Seven 15
Complete any level in Elite mode

Pip, Squeak & Wilfred 5
Survive until Round 5

Fire in the Hole 10
Guide a shell to its destination

Sweet Fancy Adams 20
Earn General Rank on all Campaign levels

Brass Hat 25
Complete Campaign+ and earn all Ration Tickets

Reviews:

GameZone
http://xbox360.gamezone.com/gzreviews/r39854.htm

8.0, Great

 

[Az987]

I was looking forward to this but 1200 msp.. I dunno anymore

 

[Dr. Zoidberg]

I've been enjoying the Facebook game but I'm not too interested in the XBLA release. I'm just not into games with strategy elements. I'll give it a shot, though.

On the whole I've got a bad feeling that this game isn't going to get the attention it probably deserves.

 

[Ultimo hombre]

Gonna have to Day1 this one.

 

[BattleMonkey]

This looks cool, but pricey.

 

[KittyKittyBangBang]

This looks cool, but pricey.

I hate that 1200 spacebux is the new standard for the "higher caliber" XBLA games. I know I have bought a lot less games because of it.

Which is why I will praise Twisted Pixel until the cows come home, great XBLA games at 800 spacebux

 

[CrunchinJelly]

Where the hell did February go?

 

[Gowans]

The facebook game is great!

I thought this was a Battlefield game at first but its Tower Defense with a bit of Battlefield style gameplay yeah?

 

[pr0cs]

I hate tower defense type games (curse you GAF for hyping me on PixelJunk monsters and regretting every second of it) but I'm hoping there is enough other stuff in Toy Soldiers so that you actually get to play more than your typical tower defense game.

 

[U2NUMB]

I really can not wait for this game. My friends and I have been dying to give it a spin since the original trailer. Glad it is only a couple weeks away.

 

[Shard]

I hate that 1200 spacebux is the new standard for the "higher caliber" XBLA games. I know I have bought a lot less games because of it.

Which is why I will praise Twisted Pixel until the cows come home, great XBLA games at 800 spacebux

Ironically the likes of Mega Man 10 and Perfect Dark are still clocking in at 800 Points.

 

[Hugbot]

I hate that 1200 spacebux is the new standard for the "higher caliber" XBLA games.

Ain't this the truth. I was really stoked seeing screenshots and such from the game, but the price tag pushes it out of impulse buy territory into "go buy a points card for basically just this," and my enthusiasm for it will probably cool before I bite the bullet.

 

[kai3345]

Oh......tower defense?

Thought this was a TBS

god damnit

 

[SapientWolf]

Ain't this the truth. I was really stoked seeing screenshots and such from the game, but the price tag pushes it out of impulse buy territory into "go buy a points card for basically just this," and my enthusiasm for it will probably cool before I bite the bullet.

I think you can still get $5 Zune cards.

 

[see5harp]

Usually they reserve the $15 price point for games with either significant production values/cost or online multiplayer. To me, $15 still isn't that bad. Sure, I'd buy more at $10, but you've always got a demo to judge whether it's worth the price.

 

[Diablohead]

It looks fun and in a light way reminds me of toy commander, but the biggest off putting thing with games like this and at 1200 allards is will there be an online community after a few weeks? vary's from game to game but it still worries me.

 

[2 Minutes Turkish]

I still find it funny that people see 1200 points as expensive for these games.

I mean, so many of these games give you more game time than FULL RETAIL games and yet people pay close to full price for those.

They also give us most more play time than PAST generation titles which we ALSO paid top dollar for.

I really don't see how 1200 points is expensive for these games.

 

[mujun]

I don't understand how people can bitch about something like this at a price of 1200 points. Death Tank at 1200 points is straight up robbery but this...

 

[Dabanton]

Day one. The trailer looked very impressive and i'm a sucker for toys in battle situations.

 

[Hugbot]

I don't understand how people can bitch about something like this at a price of 1200 points. Death Tank at 1200 points is straight up robbery but this...

$10 is impulse buy for a lot of people, where $15 is for fewer. A small concern you have regarding a games quality becomes larger as you increase the price. Plus, I don't think it's unreasonable to express an annoyance that XBLA games have increased in price over the years. It's not going to reverse or anything, but for me a lot more thought goes into a purchase as it passes $10.

 

[seady]

Looks pretty generic to me.
Granted I haven't play this, but this seems to be the kind of game that no one would care if it was not marketed this way (as a XBLA month of arcade title).

 

[Nelo Ice]

hoping this and scrap metal will be worth the 1200

also trials hd selling like hotcakes at 1200 pts is proof that if a game is good people will buy

 

[MightyHedgehog]

$10 is impulse buy for a lot of people, where $15 is for fewer. A small concern you have regarding a games quality becomes larger as you increase the price. Plus, I don't think it's unreasonable to express an annoyance that XBLA games have increased in price over the years. It's not going to reverse or anything, but for me a lot more thought goes into a purchase as it passes $10.

As much as I agree that it isn't desirable to see the average price go up, there needs to be some recognition of the fact that the effort and cost has increased to offer these better titles. I mean, I'm not saying that there should always be this 1:1 relationship of cost to price, but it has to happen somewhere, sometime especially when some of these titles offer almost as much as a $60 retail product.

 

[Hugbot]

As much as I agree that it isn't desirable to see the average price go up, there needs to be some recognition of the fact that the effort and cost has increased to offer these better titles. I mean, I'm not saying that there should always be this 1:1 relationship of cost to price, but it has to happen somewhere, sometime especially when some of these titles offer almost as much as a $60 retail product.

Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to sound strictly opposed to the 1200 price point. I've bought games at 1200 and 1600 before, and will do so again. It's more than justifiable and the increased price has brought with it some really quality titles. I was just trying to explain where a lot of people, myself included, are coming from when they say that 1200 is more than they'd pay. It's less "this game shouldn't be $15" and more "I would buy this game on an impulse at $10, but need significant convincing at $15." It's kind of an arbitrary line, but it's there.

Edit: My comment about "annoyance" at the increase in price comes from a strictly consumer sense. I am annoyed when the price of anything goes up, regardless of how justified.

 

[mujun]

$10 is impulse buy for a lot of people, where $15 is for fewer. A small concern you have regarding a games quality becomes larger as you increase the price. Plus, I don't think it's unreasonable to express an annoyance that XBLA games have increased in price over the years. It's not going to reverse or anything, but for me a lot more thought goes into a purchase as it passes $10.

I agree with all your points, and I would prefer to pay less rather than more of course.

Still this game looks like it warrants a 1200 pt price tag and I think that a lot of people are just too quick to cry, "Should be 800 pts!" without actually looking at how much there is to a game.

 

[snoopeasystreet]

The game looks great. This and perfect dark are instant buys for me.

For some reason I have no problem buying a game for 1200 allards but when it comes to buying a game that I'm somewhat interested in from a shop for 15 euro, my college student logic kicks in and says "15 euro! That could buy me chicken fillet rolls for the whole week". So I guess I have to say fair play to microsoft for their abstract pricing scheme. It works.

 

[xbhaskarx]

At $10 this is an instabuy, at $15 I'll check out the free trial before making up my mind.

 

[BattleMonkey]

From what I understand it's not really a tower defense game, though it shares similarities in placing troops and holding off attacker waves.

 

[MightyHedgehog]

Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to sound strictly opposed to the 1200 price point. I've bought games at 1200 and 1600 before, and will do so again. It's more than justifiable and the increased price has brought with it some really quality titles. I was just trying to explain where a lot of people, myself included, are coming from when they say that 1200 is more than they'd pay. It's less "this game shouldn't be $15" and more "I would buy this game on an impulse at $10, but need significant convincing at $15." It's kind of an arbitrary line, but it's there.

Edit: My comment about "annoyance" at the increase in price comes from a strictly consumer sense. I am annoyed when the price of anything goes up, regardless of how justified.

I agree completely. There is that psychological line to cross there and, for some titles, I really think it's necessary to come in lower to ensure an online community that will have the potential to create some regenerating interest level or they die on the vine, as in the sad case of Death Tank. I just think it's a little bit much to have such an automatic defensive response to the pricepoint when most if not all people who do haven't even played it yet. I mean, there's a demo for every Arcade title barring that strange one or two, and it should be then that it's clear whether the pricepoint is fair or not. I understand the feeling of resistance, though...it's just a little unfair to quality DD titles if that's the first response when it's so rare to see people throw the same way at retail releases that rarely move from $60 regardless of how much it offers...a sort of free pass given to retail games, at least, as far as the content of reaction posts is concerned.

From what I understand it's not really a tower defense game, though it shares similarities in placing troops and holding off attacker waves.

More than anything, this game strikes me as a take on interesting take on Herzog Zwei.

 

[xbhaskarx]

From what I understand it's not really a tower defense game, though it shares similarities in placing troops and holding off attacker waves.

I thought it was a tower defense game where you could take control of your units?

 

[soldat7]

On the whole I've got a bad feeling that this game isn't going to get the attention it probably deserves.

Especially at 1200 MS Bucks.

 

[DragoNZ DZ]

Something about tower defense seems like the wrong description.

Yet that's what it matches up with: You're always on the defensive in SP (MP is attack/defense since it's 1v1), a healthy assortment of your force consist of gun emplacements/towers that can only be set up in certain areas, and killing enemies is tied to your ability to purchase more (i.e., no resource gathering, just points from stopping the enemy).


Regardless, it looks excellent and an instabuy for me, even at $15. The visuals/style are really incredible. That's certainly part of the allure for me. Also, being able to take control of individual units will be quite enjoyable. Grenade bombing, here we come!

 

[Aurora]

I hate that all the new games are being pushed for 1200 these days. It's just too high.

 

[Shard]

Ye gods people, if you don't want to buy it then save your space money for Mega Man 10, Perfect Dark or hell go and buy P.J. Winterbottom.

 

[clashfan]

Is this Unreal engine?

 

[mujun]

I hate that all the new games are being pushed for 1200 these days. It's just too high.

How can you even say that?

1200 points for Bliss Island, yeah that is "just too high."

But 1200 points for Castle Crashers is imo a steal.

 

[Haunted]

Thought the setting and premise were really interesting, but looking at some of the trailers the gameplay just isn't my cup of tea.

Oh well.

 

[Nelo Ice]

just got my code to play the game early!

 

[SapientWolf]

Does anyone have a gameplay description they can share?

 

[Nelo Ice]

Does anyone have a gameplay description they can share?

just got the game and pretty much u place towers and stop waves of enemies by directly using the towers you've placed

btw u unlock an avatar reward just by going to the campaign!

 

[NemesisPrime]

Any idea how multiplayer works?

Co-op? Versus?

 

[SapientWolf]

just got the game and pretty much u place towers and stop waves of enemies by directly using the towers you've placed

btw u unlock an avatar reward just by going to the campaign!

The preview vids had a Toy Commander feel though. I guess I'll find out soon enough.

 

[mujun]

From Wiki:

Players control one of two armies of miniature toy soldiers on a World War I model diorama with wooden and plastic landscapes. The diorama is set in a child's bedroom, and objects such as dressers and reading lamps are at times visible in the background. The game features 50 different controllable units including antique toy soldiers, zeppelins, planes, guns, mortars and tanks. The player can control numerous soldiers from a strategic command perspective or one unit on the field from a third-person action perspective.Among the types of soldiers the player can control are infantry soldiers, mortars or snipers, in which the perspective switches to a first-person target. When the player takes control of a single unit, the other resources are automatically controlled by artificial intelligence.When shot, the toy soldiers explode into plastic chunks but do not display blood, in order to keep the game family-friendly.

A tower defense-style single-player campaign is available, which involves defending a base from British or German soldiers. The player receives money for destroying enemies, which can be used to equip greater defenses. The single-player game features British and German campaigns among 24 unique levels. Once a campaign is finished, the player unlocks a survival mode that involves fighting continuous streams of enemies and last as long as possible. There are four difficulty modes. Multiplayer versions are also available, which can be played with other players on XBox Live or locally with two players on a split-screen. In multiplayer games, the player must focus on waging offensives as well as defending the base. Scores are tracked and compared in XBox Live leaderboards.

Edit : Hoping that you get resources and choose what units and when to send them out in the MP mode. A balance of spending resources on building defences and send out waves of offensive units would be very fun.

 

[Nelo Ice]

Any idea how multiplayer works?

Co-op? Versus?

multiplayer is nearly the same as single player except u have to worry about offense as well

i havent played it yet but based on previews/vids etc u send out ur own waves to attack ur opponent

 

[Shard]

Any idea how multiplayer works?

Co-op? Versus?

2 Player Versus.

 

[Caspel]

2 Player Versus.

My full review went up today. It was fantastic and I loved the game. I sent Shard the link, so if he wants to put it up in the OP, then he can. If not, then just know it's a worthy of your money =)

 

[LQX]

I was kind of excited until I actually saw images. I was expecting it to look more toy-ish.

 

[Phloxy]

My full review went up today. It was fantastic and I loved the game. I sent Shard the link, so if he wants to put it up in the OP, then he can. If not, then just know it's a worthy of your money =)

What site? I'd love to read the review.

 

[Shard]

http://xbox360.gamezone.com/gzreviews/r39854.htm

Caspel's Toy Soldiers Review.

 

[Caspel]

What site? I'd love to read the review.

right now it's your best bet to copy and paste the text out of the webpage since our server is having formatting issues. it should be in Arial but for some reason it formatted it into Callabri and made it look scrunched.