After the initial reveal trailer for John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando I was sold. A new game brought to us from the mind of John “The Master of Horror” Carpenter? That sounds like a win to me.

If you don’t know John Carpenter by name you have definitely seen or heard his work — The Fog (1980), The Thing (1982), Big Trouble in Little China (1986), and Halloween (1978), along with many others.

I originally thought Toxic Commando was based on some movie franchise I wasn’t familiar with, but it turns out I was thinking of Toxic Avenger — not related. This is a brand new story from the mind (or inspired by the works) of John Carpenter.

In fact, I’m not sure how involved John Carpenter was in the making of John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando. Has a Toxic Commando script been sitting around, collecting dust for years? Did the team ask him to create some characters and a story? Did they just borrow his name for their John Carpenter-like project? Is this like how Ubisoft has continued to release new Tom Clancy projects 10+ years after his demise? I have many questions.

“John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando is a game by the creators of World War Z (the video game), SnowRunner, and Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2, that combines elements of an immersive FPS (first-person shooter), engaging off-road mechanics, and the next-gen Swarm Engine creating huge waves of enemies for you to face.”

-from Saber Interactive

Great Game, Wrong Time — for me

So far, I’ve enjoyed my time with John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando, but I would enjoy it much more with a proper squad. This game relies heavily on online co-op gameplay with up to four players (including yourself). The gameplay is reminiscent of games I used to play with my friends, like Left 4 Dead, Dead Island, and other team co-op zombie shooters.

The problem is that I don’t have the support group to play a game like this at the moment. Also, I don’t usually team up with and chat with strangers in online games. John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando is best played with communication among teammates. I’ll jump into Overwatch and Marvel Rivals from time-to-time, but don’t expect me to turn on my mic (or listen to anyone’s rants).

My Co-op Game History (or The Circle of Co-op Gaming)

• Playing couch co-op with friends in one physical location.
• Conquering co-op games over the weekend with a friend — and plenty of bags of candy.
• Online play is introduced, but too slow and laggy.
• Online gets better, now we play together from our own homes.
• My online friends get obsessed with Dota 2 — Why build a sick PC with a huge library of Steam games, just to spend 1000+ hours playing a free-to-play game?
•  Many friends dropped gaming altogether, or only play in short bursts. We play differently today.
• Now back to couch co-op gaming — with my wife!

I now stick to mostly solo games, which is why a Toxic Commando solo campaign would have been better for my gaming style. If it would have come out years ago, maybe I could have gotten my squad into this one. Of course, it would have been a completely different game, with much smaller zombie hordes.

The Swarm engine is my favorite part of this game. I love watching way too many zombies falling from a cliff, only to get back up and attack us. It reminds me of playing the classic game Lemmings (1991) in computer class as a kid, and messing up and seeing all the little lemmings splat on the ground.

The Toxic Commando

Overall, John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando is very fun, gameplay wise. The gunplay is top notch. Driving vehicles is also executed nicely. It’s like a greatest hits of the team’s previous releases. The World War Z hordes of undead (Swarm engine), the shooting and armory of Space Marine 2, and the all-terrain driving of Snowrunner.

I would have liked to see more of a story with the option to play solo or co-op. I understand why it has to be an online game, with the shortlist of missions they had to make the game replayable in other ways. John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando is full of collectibles — from weapons to weapon accessories, outfits, and more. The game also features full character stats to level up with abilities to learn.

Each mission consists of the main story beats, but there are plenty of side quests to keep you and your team busy. Missions can take anywhere from twenty minutes to probably an hour — for the completionists.

There’s a lot of good stuff in John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando, but it’s just the wrong time for me and my current gaming habits. Still, I’m happy I got to give it a try, and I hope to beat each mission at least once.

If you are someone who plays games with a squad, and enjoys trying new games, I’d definitely add this one to the list. I’m also excited to go back and re-watch some old school John Carpenter films — whether or not he actually came up with these characters and this story. So, I guess whatever this team did worked!

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*myVGBC was given a review code for John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando by the publisher.