Author: Heather Gillis

With the release of two new downloadable packs for Toy Soldiers: Cold War anyone that's played this game should be excited. Both of these mini expansions  for this tower defencs game bring back all the great game play you loved in the first place and gives you new maps, new weapons and new vehicles to play in. Depending on what kind of experience you're looking for each of the packs have their own benefits and are sold separately for 400 Microsoft Points ($5) on XBLA.

Evil Empire turns the tables as you take over the Soviets and lead your comrades against the American army. A few fun changes have been made to the commando barrage (who is now Ivan and yells things in what we can assume is Russian) and while the turrets are a slightly different design all the same familiar options and upgrades are there for you to use. The new barrage this pack adds is Orbital Laser. Thanks to the Soviet space station you are now equipped with, what is essentially, an instant kill ray that takes out everything it touches and sends your enemies flying through the air on fire. Another awesome addition to this game is a new survival mode level. Trauma takes defending the toy box beyond just your enemies; your weapons now work against you. Things get way more complicated with the friendly fire aspect thrown in. The mini-game, Pop-A-Pig, is whack-a-mole with a turret gun. It sounds cool and is for a few minutes but like most shooting games it's really just the same old speed and accuracy test. Sadly, the "new" Super Tank boss isn't really new at all. While the waves may be a little bit different it's really the same boss you faced in the main version of the game. It can take a while to kill but there wasn't anything too extraordinary about it.

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Take control of Zero, an alien captured by a government organization and taken deep below the sea to a government lab where testing is being done on a number of alien subjects. They've been stripped of their power source and condemned to a life of testing and behavioral analysis while the humans study their every move. With the need to escape, and maybe for a bit of revenge along the way, you have to make your way through the labyrinthine facilities collecting grub, destroying film canisters and finding other aliens while avoiding the armed soldiers and Commander who isn't going to let you escape without a fight.

Making your way out of this facility won't be easy. The halls are filled with security patrols that upgrade your equipment as they learn more about you and the rooms have scientists ready to press the panic button that will leave you trapped in the room while activating laser turrets and bring the armed soldiers right into the room with you. As you make your way through the areas you'll have to solve puzzles to get yourself through the areas safely and collect or destroy everything as you come across it. There will be back tracking, some areas can't be accessed until you earn morn powers through out the game. Collecting grubs and destroying canisters is technically more of a side quest (both of which can earn you achievements) but it's highly suggested that you collect as many grubs as you can get your hands on because they're used to upgrade your powers and will benefit you in the long run. Upgrades are done at checkpoints, but not every checkpoint is an upgrade station. Once you've found one though it will be added to your map so you can easily find it later on.

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The carrots are just relaxing and enjoying another day on the farm with their friends until the inflatable bunnies from space start kidnapping them to feed their robo-bunny overlord. Tap your way through twenty levels, fighting off four kinds of evil bunnies while collecting gems for points and items to help you along the way. The game opens to a strangely long, by iOS game standards, opening sequence. Thankfully it doesn't happen every time you load up the game but if you do want to watch it, or someone new is starting the game up clicking on the movie clapper in the upper left hand corner of the menu screen will let you see it all over again. It starts off very basic; one kind of bunny coming at you at a slow pace and a few at a time. Getting used to the basic tap-to-pop controls is extremely and will allow everyone from children to adults the ability to pick up and start playing the game right away.

Each level works exactly the same way, the screen follows along a path across the farm and bunnies will come down the road at you and try and take the carrots. If they manage to get to the bottom of the screen you'll lose a carrot. When you run out of carrots you essentially die and have to restart the level. There are four kinds of bunnies that will be coming at you. Initially it will just be pink ones that come straight at you and yellow ones that will zig-zag there way down the path towards you. A few levels in you'll have what can only be described as a franken-bunny join the the ranks. He's quite a bit larger then the others so you'll have to tap him twice to kill him, but watch out because he will eat everything in his path; animals, gems and items won't slow him down at all. Finally we have the grand overload himself, robo-bunny. He comes flying in with his space ship and is quite a bit faster then the rest of the gang but just as easy to beat, one quick tap will destroy him, but like franken-bunny he will destory anything that passes beneath him. One major thing to remember is that if the robo-bunny gets through it's game over, no matter how many carrots you have stocked up he will take them all.

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It's just another day for Rayman and the gang. The Bubble Dreamer, creator of this world, is lazily blowing away on his pipe, Rayman is sleep eating, while Globox and the Teensies snore away. While everyone seems to be having a good time hanging out in the Snoring Tree there is an old granny down below in the Land of the Livid Dead that isn't enjoying the symphony of sounds. Completely fed up she throws her husbands head up through the vacuum and along with it goes an army of evil creatures and Darktoons that take over their world. Working with up to four local players travel through five worlds saving the Electoons, the Nymphs and getting the Glade of Dreams back to it's original, peaceful, status.

There's a surprisingly large amount to do in this ambitious 2D, side scrolling platformer. The main storyline is, using the character of your choice, saving the Electoons and bringing sanity back to the Bubble Dreamers world. Each of the levels has up to three Electoon cages to find, some hidden more obviously then others, but if you listen carefully you'll hear their cries for help. In order to free that cages you have to destroy all the evil creatures attached to it. Once they are all gone just smash up the cage and keep moving through the level. For every cage you release you'll get an Electoon that will help you unlock other levels and other character and outfits. Collecting high levels of Lums, starting at 150, will also grant you up to three additional Electoons. The easiest way to achieve this is to watch for the King Lums because once you catch him it will temporarily double the value of all the other Lums in the area. Each of the worlds also has a Nymph that watches over it and once you save them they will award you with a new power to help you on your way.

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