Toys R Us
Kids games! They’re all too short, too simple and have too many mini games. What chance, then, does Toy Story 3 have? Plenty, it seems, if Pixar have anything to do with it.
You won’t be surprised to hear that the game follows the plot of the film closely, from the initial scenes of Evil Doctor Porkchop through to the story of Woody and Buzz’s attempts to fit in when Andy grows up. Every level is varied and has you doing something different. I particularly enjoyed the chase in the first episode, having to avoid falling rocks and jump over obstacles and the surprise of playing Buzz Lightyear The Game.
There are a few issues with things like climbing and the control method can be a tad unforgiving at times, some younger players may need help with the more difficult parts. As with any game that uses different styles in each level some work better than others but, that said, none are particularly bad and it’s nice to have a bit of variety.
Getting a Buzz
Nothing feels rushed or incomplete and every level is fun to play through, but it’s the graphics on the Wii that impressed me most. Having played the demo on the PS3 the Wii graphics do a good job of trying to keep up. It may be missing some detail but pretty much everything is there and runs smoothly too.
Sound is provided by people trying to re-inact the original voice cast, which doesn’t quite work well enough to keep the feeling of authenticity in the game but it’s also not so bad that younger players won’t notice. In fact I’d say because there really isn’t that much dialogue it gives the music much more of a chance to make an impression.
Toying Around
But it’s not the main game that excites me most, it’s the Toy Box mode which will keep me (and the kids) playing this for some time to come.
Toy Box is basically an area where you can build a town, design the houses and dress the people up then do tasks for them to earn yet more items to play around with. Think Animal Crossing but set in Woody’s Wild West world and you’ve got some idea of what it’s like.
The Toy Box is an ingenious idea and would probably sell a game in its own right. The limitations of the Wii mean that you can only have one player though, where the PS3 and 360 seem to be able to use 2 players at once and even the main game on the Wii has a 2 player option. It’s a bit of a shame as I could see it being even more fun for two to interact with the town.
Woody’s Roundup
It’s difficult to score this game. If I was comparing it to other kid’s movie games then I’d say it’s one of the best I’ve played, if I’m comparing it to action games then it still stands up well but doesn’t look quite as favourable. If you’re looking at a target audience of 5-10 year olds its perfect though and even adults will have some fun with Toy Box mode.
