Developer Saber Interactive has done four-player co-op before. In 2019, it released World War Z, but it was done with a third-person perspective and given an instantly recognizable license. It was a fine game, but it grew some legs due to a dual staggered launch on the big PC storefronts (Epic Games Store and Steam) and consoles while also coming up with a good stream of bug fixes and DLC. At first glance, John Carpenter's Toxic Commando looks to follow that same formula of a four-player, co-op-focused experience with a slightly different license, as you have the legendary director getting involved with an original story. However, the changes and additions create something that feels like an evolution of the well-known formula rather than just a copy with a different coat of paint.

In the near future, the CEO of a tech research corporation has led efforts to drill into the Earth to find a new type of clean energy. The drilling has led to the freeing of the Sludge God, who has transformed the populace into zombies while also polluting the land in his bid to infect the world. A wall was built to act as a containment center, but since it was never expected to last, CEO Leon Dorsey hired a group of mercenaries to deliver a payload to the heart of the Sludge God's domain. The plan failed when the bomb went off early and the mercenaries became infected. The power suits they've been forced to wear help them stave off full transformation. With a week to go before the infection takes over, Leon hatches another plan, and it's up to you and your group to successfully carry out (and survive) the mission.

The story isn't just a backdrop for the game, as you have full cut scenes bookending the beginning and end of each stage. Missions clearly connect to one another as opposed to being loosely related, and the game has a definitive ending. It isn't a particularly deep story, but it gets the job done for an action game. The game also does a good job of providing each character with some personality, although not too much depth. The overall cast is small, but when compared to the studio's previous title in this genre, there's a better chance you'll remember the people in Toxic Commando. It also helps that the main group often exchanges banter with one another, and the jokes work, even if they only elicit a chuckle.

As alluded to before, Toxic Commando follows the tried-and-true, four-player co-op formula popularized by Left 4 Dead. You run around a level with four players, where AI bots fill in for any missing human players. You carry up to two guns at a time alongside throwables and a health pack or similar item. You have some distinct objectives to complete on the way to the final goal. All the while, you'll be dealing with the undead of different varieties, including mobs of regular zombies, hulking ones that charge at you, and ones that explode when shot. Some of the special zombies are heavily inspired by the ones seen in Valve's shooter, but most players won't mind the obvious similarities.

The core is inspired by Left 4 Dead, but Toxic Commando also takes a heavy part of its design from the developer's previous game in this style, World War Z. You always have a machete, so you're never without a weapon, but you can still hold a gun and melee enemies that way. Every stage contains at least one big section where you need to hold out against hordes of incoming zombies, and this takes on some properties of a tower defense title, where you can lay down traps or repair turrets to make the event more manageable. The developer's Horde technology that was seen in both World War Z and Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II means that you'll see an absolute flood of enemies coming by during these sequences. You'll even catch a moment or two where they'll build zombie ladders if they are trying to reach higher elevations.

The game also borrows the class and weapon leveling systems from the Paramount-licensed shooter, but there have been a number of tweaks to ensure the system is handled better. The game offers up four classes that aren't tied to a specific character, and each class has significant perks, such as the chance to conjure up a healing circle, erect a protective dome from projectile fire, throw fireballs at enemies, or use a drone for extra firepower. Each class also comes with a skill tree to enhance each ability or give you new ones, and these are never locked in, so you can re-spec your current class or a new one without any penalties. Guns act in a similar fashion, where you can level up their base abilities while also unlocking and buying attachments to augment those stats. The stat differences feel more tangible this time around, but the big improvement is that the process of leveling up doesn't feel as grindy. You'll typically level up once per game level, and you can get all of the base abilities for your class opened up by the time you've made it through two-thirds of the game. You'll fully level-up one firearm quicker than that if you don't switch guns, and the currency comes in at a good clip. You'll need to play through the missions multiple times if you want to fully power up one class, but it feels worthwhile to do so.

Compared to its previous four-player co-op game, Saber has made some other gameplay improvements. The AI bots are more capable and can use their class abilities when needed. They also pick up a fallen player more effectively, so they all don't rush in to pick up one person while ignoring enemy hordes. You'll still catch moments when they are doing odd things, such as facing away from a stray zombie, but that happens less frequently. Enemy randomization is now a thing, even though it wasn't present at launch. That's good because the bestiary of special zombies is reduced, which staves off the notion that this is another Left 4 Dead clone. Some of the missing enemies have been replaced with sludge tentacle monsters, so the game feels a little different in this way. Finally, Toxic Commando allows for private matches, so you can fake a single-player experience by ensuring that no stranger jumps in when you don't want them to.

The base mechanics make for an enjoyable game, especially since we haven't seen a new title of this type for quite some time. The various improvements and changes taken from other titles further solidifies the game's fun, but the developers have also decided to add a few more things to sell how intriguing the title is compared to its contemporaries. The first is the introduction of vehicles, all of which are designed with four players in mind. You start the game with a Humvee that has a revolving turret at the top and an EMP. It also has a winch that can be used to pull yourself up steep terrain or break open doors. You'll also run across other vehicles, including an ambulance that provides a health refill for a limited amount of time, a police car that can be used to lure enemies toward it, and a basic pick-up truck. Vehicle use is optional in some levels but mandatory in others, like one where you need to drive a truck that emits a protective shield to fight off infectious air in an area. All vehicles aren't invincible, and you can use spare parts to repair them, but your most precious resource is fuel. The game has you trying to find fuel tanks to fill up each car if you plan on using it for most of the stage.

The presence of vehicles is cool, but what makes it hilarious is that the physics system from Saber's other games like Mudrunner is being used. It makes sense since, you are roaming an apocalyptic environment that lacks an abundance of paved roads. You will go up and down terrain and get stuck in the mud, often requiring you to find something to latch onto with your winch or keep gunning the gas and hoping that you don't get blown up in the process. The physics system doesn't go for ultra realism, so you won't be able to flip over any of the vehicles, but the system's presence is a nice touch.

The other major addition is the level design. Games like this are usually linear, have levels that can feel lengthy, and contain big set pieces. Toxic Commando retains the idea of big set pieces and gameplay of a sizeable length, but the levels are more open. This works out great since you have loads of room to explore where you can go hunting for various things like more currency, different guns, and spare parts. The game further encourages you to explore by enticing you with finding one special orb per level to progress faster on your chosen skill tree. The more open approach for optional goods is a big improvement over the given formula, since we haven't seen another title of this type do that before.

Toxic Commando runs for about nine levels with four difficulty settings each. Considering the length of each stage, the count keeps the game at the right length without feeling like the missions are dragging along. Aside from the differences in damage taken, the main difference per difficulty level is in the currency you earn. You get more currency at higher difficulty levels and there are certain types that can only be earned if you're playing at those higher difficulty levels. The high-level currencies are only used for cosmetics, so you aren't missing out on anything significant by sticking to the Story difficulty level. Also, various difficulty levels aren't the only way the game encourages you to replay a level; every run through a stage causes you to start off at a different part of the map. Even though the maps and objectives never change, this small thing does a good job of making the runs feel new, at least initially.

The flaws are few, and some can be considered nitpicks at best. Since the game is an online focused title, don't expect the ability to pause. Even if you set up a private match where you're the only participant, you need to commit to finishing a stage before you can take any breaks. The game doesn't seem to scale much based on your actual player number, so playing one stage at the same difficulty level feels the same whether you're going solo with three AI companions or going with a full four-person squad. For the PC specifically, the graphical options contain no meter for how much VRAM is being used. Playing on a 16GB card like the Radeon RX 9070 XT, the game would state that we don't have enough VRAM when choosing either High or Ultra textures, but we can't tell if other options are affecting the total VRAM usage.

As far as modes go, there isn't anything beyond the co-op campaign. There's no traditional versus modes, and the only thing you can do aside from shoot people is roam around the base to participate in a shooting contest and an impromptu version of basketball, where you throw batteries into moving generators. The lack of other game modes isn't a knock, as they often get ignored by most players. Times have changed, so only a small handful of games now bother to have a variety of single- and multiplayer modes in one package.

The audio in Toxic Commando is quite good. The music doesn't play all that often, but when it does, the tracks carry the same tone and feel of the tracks used in many of Carpenter's hits. The sound effects are punchy and loud but not overwhelming. The voice acting is also good, with excellent performances backed up by a script that balances seriousness and camp. Graphically, the game is also very nice. The character models look great, especially the zombies who show off lots of variety in detail. The environments also look well detailed, even if the setting almost requires that every fight take place in a setting full of mud and broken trees and debris. The particle effects look excellent, and the game does this with a very high frame rate on a decent rig. The only knock is that you can see some texture detail pop-up at times, but it isn't often enough to be a big distraction.

Steam Deck players will find that they need to do some tweaking to get the game running properly on the handheld device. The game runs at the screen's native 1280x800 resolution, but it also contains all of its graphical settings in the save file, so if you run the game at the Ultra preset on one computer, those settings will also port to the Deck. That isn't ideal, as you'll run into a low frame rate. Dropping everything to the Low preset and using FSR in Balanced mode, you'll see a frame rate that can range in the 40s most of the time, but you can always lock things to 30fps in the in-game settings if you want more stability. Battery life on a full charge will be around 90 minutes on the LCD version of the Deck, so don't expect to play more than one stage before needing a charge. The only other issue for Deck users is that the game seems to require an online connection at all times, so it really isn't a title meant for portable play if you know you'll get a spotty connection. Meanwhile, for those who migrated to Linux, you won't need to do any tweaks to get the game running; it works fine out of the box with the latest version of Proton.

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.

Score: 8.5/10