Parents' Guide to

Toy Soldiers

By Christopher Healy, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 13+

Teen war strategy game with deceptively realistic violence.

Game Xbox 360 2010
Toy Soldiers Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this game.

  • Toy Soldiers Game: Screenshot #1
  • Toy Soldiers Game: Screenshot #2

Community Reviews

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age 12+

Based on 2 parent reviews

Oxbow
Oxbow Adult
February 14, 2012
age 11+

War in Toyland

Brilliant and addictive and quite violent. No blood or cussing, but plenty of war raging before your eyes, some of which you control and some of which is being carried out by your toy soldier armies. We upgraded to the Americans vs the Soviets and it's even more intense and fun.
VaultBoy
VaultBoy Adult
September 1, 2011
age 12+

A good introduction to the ways of war.

Toy Soldiers is an addictive strategy game, that might just teach your kids a bit about WWI. -Violence: This game is set during world war I. There is enough violence to do justice to the horrors of trench warfare without being overwhelming. -Alcohool and Tobacco references are negligible.

This title has:

Too much violence
See all 2 parent reviews

What’s It About?

TOY SOLDIERS is a real-time WWI combat game set on a tabletop. Two armies of realistic-looking military toys will advance upon one another, each attempting to take over the other's toy box. Players use large machine guns, mortars, howitzers, chemical weapon gases, flamethrowers, and bombs to destroy oncoming enemies that may be on foot, horseback, in jeeps or tanks. In the solo campaign mode, giant boss vehicles sometimes lumber toward your base, dropping tons of troops as they go.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (2 ):
Kids say (7 ):

Toy Soldiers may be chaotic and violent, but it is also really, really good. The visuals are nothing short of gorgeous, and the antique-y look that overlays the whole game makes this real-time strategy game feel very special and unique. In a way, it seems like the whole "toy" aspect was only layered onto the game to make it look amazingly cool (which it does). If the game were made as a "realistic" WWI strategy game, it would still be a great example of the genre. But the unique settings and look of the game do add a whole lot.

It can be very challenging, but in a way that makes you want to keep trying over and over, deploying new strategies each time your base gets overrun. For the $15 price tag, Toy Soldiers is a particularly great buy -- but only for players who would be old enough to handle a "real" war game.

Online interaction: Like most Xbox Live Arcade games, online multiplayer allows for un-moderated voice chat.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the true history of World War I. That particular war is not as commonly used as a setting for video games (or movies or TV, for that matter) as WWII or other wars that followed it. This game brings up a perfect chance to introduce the topic.

  • Families can also talk about violence in video games. Does violence bother you if there's no blood? Does lack of blood make a game less violent? Or is there no real difference? Are there any ways in which a game without blood can actually be more violent than one that does feature animated blood?

Game Details

  • Platform: Xbox 360
  • Available online?: Available online
  • Publisher: Microsoft
  • Release date: March 2, 2010
  • Genre: Real-Time Strategy (RTS)
  • ESRB rating: T for Alcohol and Tobacco References, Violence
  • Last updated: August 31, 2016

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