New alpha footage and screenshots have been released for the multiplayer action-figure shooter Hypercharge. Developed by Digital Cybercherries for the XBOX ONE and Steam, Hypercharge has players take control of action figures as they battle in maps like a suburban kitchen and a backyard. Players will be able to take cover behind LEGO fortresses and jump aboard beanbags to reach higher cabinets.
From the screenshots shown, it looks like players will be able to switch between first and third-person views. Hypercharge includes the option to create your own hero, allowing players to switch different figure parts to create your own unique character. It seems that Hypercharge is taking a lot of inspiration from the brightly colored action figures of the 80s and 90s. As long as I can put dinosaur heads on all my characters I can finally create my own army of Sewer Shark rip-offs.
Some other features we can possibly gather from the screenshots are special abilities, as seen by the figure shooting lasers out of his eyes. The floating red, green, and yellow icons seem to indicate that the game will also have power-ups for the players to pick up. Another screen shot shows two combatants fighting plastic velociraptors, hopefully hinting at many different game modes for the action figure shooter. With the amount of customization in this game, we can hopefully get some game modes that offer some real variety unlike other new shooters (*cough Battlefront *cough). The screenshots also show all the different household items that are scattered throughout the maps. I sure hope these could be some potential stage hazards, because melting a player in a microwave is truly something that I haven’t seen in any game before.
From the footage shown there seems to be a variety of melee weapons including katanas and lazer swords that totally aren’t lightsabers. One screenshot shows a figure piloting an RC drone, while some RC cars are shown in other screenshots. Digital Cybercherries said with Eurogamer that there will be land, air, and naval vehicles in the game, so look out for tiny RC speedboats as well. With these different weapons and vehicles Hypercharge looks like a fun arena-style shooter with plenty of mobility and exploration. When kids get bored of Star Wars Battlefront and parents think Battlefield is too violent for them, Hypercharge might be the next arena shooter to look out for.
Digital Cybercherries is using the Unreal Engine 4 for Hypercharge. With the Unreal Engine Digital Cybercherries wants to put realistic textures like dirt and scratches on the toys to make them look played with. While the game shares some similarities to the Army Men series, it seems that Hypercharge is taking the concept of action figures shooting at each other and, well, Hypercharging it.