While Left 4 Dead clones are a dime a dozen in the gaming world, there are very few that actually get the formula right. Upfront, John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando is not one of those success stories but it’s not offensively bad either. It sort of falls in the middle; somewhere between being a fun, disposable co-op shooter and a tired rehash of ideas and concepts that we’ve seen hundreds of times before. Saber Interactive does its best to apply the right lessons learned from Space Marine 2 and World War Z – sometimes to impressive effect – but it ultimately falls short of being remarkable.

John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando is set in a world where “Sludge” is a necrotic substance that’s plaguing the land, turning mankind into hordes of the undead controlled by a strange entity called the Sludge God. You play as one of four mercenaries tasked with eliminating the zombies, defeating the Sludge God, and saving the world. As far as storytelling goes, you’re not here to enjoy a deep or introspective narrative. Toxic Commando is campy and it lets you know that from the get-go.



The story knows exactly what it is and doesn’t try to deviate from its camp tone, so I can’t really judge it for that. In a game where cheesy one-liners fly out at the same consistency as bullets, you eventually get on-board with everything, switch your brain off and go along for the ride. Since the game revolves around co-op teamwork, you can choose from one of four mercenaries, each a colourful caricature of 80s action movie stars with their own unique abilities, strengths and weaknesses. They quip, they banter, and they mow down zombies in bursts of gleeful violence peppered with vulgar language. It’s actually kind of endearing.

In a game where cheesy one-liners fly out at the same consistency as bullets, you eventually get on-board with everything, switch your brain off and go along for the ride.

Toxic Commando features semi-open world levels designed around traversal and getting from point A to point B while you fulfil objectives, gather vital scraps and resources, and unleash hell on hordes of the undead. Saber’s swarm technology used in Space Marine 2 looks awesome in Toxic Commando, as literal waves of zombies scream and rush at you as a hive mind. Mowing down hordes doesn’t get old, and there’s some tension in how each objective escalates. Sometimes, it’s as simple as defending a point on the map, while others will have you flipping switches or coordinating defence strategies to escort moving vehicles.



On that note, the game throws in vehicles for you to traverse its decently large levels. However, these vehicles will often become stuck in the mud (or sludge), requiring you to find and use winches. These make for some of Toxic Commando’s most intense moments as teammates will have to keep waves of zombies at bay while you search for a winch to get you out of a pinch. It’s pretty suspenseful gameplay at first, but it overstays its welcome when you have to repeat this same task for the 100th time in the late-game.

Shooting is pretty good in Toxic Commando. As mentioned before, the game leans into its campy nature and the violence is exaggerated in fun ways. Enemies often explode into buckets of blood, and it’s generally a blast bouncing between objectives while you unleash a storm of bullets on hundreds of zombies on-screen. The charm does wear off after a while but if you have a few friends to play with, you can extend that enjoyment a lot more. The problem is how same-y everything begins to feel after doing these routines a dozen times, unfortunately running into tedium faster than I expected.



The game’s semi-open world levels are good on paper but it creates a problem where environments blend into each other. Even its diverse biomes – woodland areas, factories and wastelands – aren’t exciting enough to hold your attention or make exploration feel rewarding. Left 4 Dead’s more linear, carefully curated sections means it can throw surprises at you when you least expect it. In Toxic Commando’s case, you’re always expecting the same thing to happen and like clockwork, it does. It has very few moments where I was genuinely surprised at something happening. The game relies a bit too heavily on its co-op action to alleviate that sameness, but even with my group, we could only find fun in short bursts rather than playing it for lengthy periods of time.

The problem is how same-y everything begins to feel after doing these routines a dozen times, unfortunately running into tedium faster than I expected.

That said, Toxic Commando does build up to an incredibly thrilling finale that put a huge smile on my face, and really flexed Saber’s swarm tech to its maximum potential. If you can get through most of the game’s same-y formula, I think you’ll find a lot to love about how it crescendos into insanity. At the same time, I wish that chaotic energy was applied to the rest of the game.



As for the performance, I played John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando on PS5 Pro and rarely experienced notable problems outside of one crash which only set me back a few minutes. It runs at a mostly steady framerate, even when the swarms flood the screen. The visuals are decent, but nothing extraordinary that you wouldn’t get playing any other AA horror shooter. Saber’s Swarm Engine is pretty impressive when it comes to the physics and fluid movement of the zombie hordes, but outside of the finale, Toxic Commando isn’t the type of game to really make a sound argument for the engine's capabilities. I think a larger IP will benefit more from it, and I’m excited to see how Saber improves on the tech in the future.



John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando delivers chaotic co-op action that might entice players seeking that same Left 4 Dead high to give it a try, though it does fall short in some aspects too. With more time, I think Saber Interactive could’ve ironed out the issues with its semi-open world design and structure, and maybe introduced a little more variety to keep you on your toes. At R699, it's perfectly priced for the amount of content and enjoyment it offers, but it's not the must-play co-op experience I'd wholeheartedly recommend right now.

PS5 Review code provided by Focus Entertainment | John Carpenter's Toxic Commando is available to purchase at Nexus Hub for R699