As a game reviewer, a casual game that is also a movie tie-in isn’t something that would have me marking my calendar in anticipation. So when Toy Story 3 arrived in the mail, I wasn’t exactly thrilled. But since this is a bit of a lean period in terms of game releases, I thought I’d take a crack at it. First off, despite its target audience, this is not a casual game. Secondly, and more importantly, it’s not bad at all. In fact, it’s pretty damn good.
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The closest comparison I can make to Toy Story 3’s gameplay is the Ratchet & Clank series, which is a pretty big compliment. It’s an action platformer with a fair amount of mission and gameplay variety to keep things interesting all the way through. Now before you start getting your hopes too high up, bear in mind that while this is not a “casual” game, it’s still designed with family audiences in mind, so while Ratchet & Clank transcends all age groups with its puzzles, writing and humour, Toy Story 3 is very categorically a game for kids.
The game comprises of two modes – the Story mode and Toy Box. The Story is broken up into eight missions and they’re all drastically different from each other. While in some missions you only control Woody, in others you will have Buzz Lightyear and Jessie along with you, and you can switch between the three at any time. Each character has his/her own special ability and you’ll often need to switch to a specific character to pass a particular section. For example, two platforms may be too far apart to jump across. At such times, you can use Buzz to either throw Woody or Jessie across to the other platform.
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The junkyard, a timed mission, stands out as one of the highlights of the game as it will have you constantly switching between the three characters to move through the level before time runs out. Developers Avalanche Software certainly haven’t cut any corners with the mission structure, and another great example of this is the Buzz video game mission, that will have you flying and shooting and evading asteroids as you go, traversing across crumbling asteroid belts suspended in space, platforming segments that will constantly switch perspective between third-person, side-scrolling and top-down views, and frantic shooting arenas against Zurg’s robot minions.
The one downside to the gameplay variety is that there’s a fair amount of trial and error involved. The way to proceed through a mission isn’t always apparent, which means you will die a fair amount. Thankfully, the game has an extremely generous checkpoint system, and when you do die, it doesn’t make a big fuss about it; you instantly restart at the last checkpoint. While the platforming works pretty well, certain missions involving Woody’s horse Bullseye and other vehicles are less than ideal thanks to the iffy driving/riding controls. Still, it’s nothing that’ll make you want to tear your hair out, and these missions only come around once in a while.
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The eight-mission story mode is short, but it’s a whole lot of fun and it will leave you wanting more. Since this is a movie tie-in, you’d usually expect the game to end right there. But the ace up Toy Story 3’s sleeve is Toy Box or Woody’s Roundup, a Wild West-themed open-world sandbox, where you can take up random mini missions such as collecting items, rounding up cattle, time trials, etc. It’s a whole lot of fun, and even after spending more than a couple of hours in it and completing quite a few missions, there seemed to be many more activities still unplayed, so there’s lots to occupy yourself with once you’re done with the story mode.
Production values are also right up there. Not all locations are lifted straight from the movie; most are specifically created for the game, but still feel part of the Toy Story universe. Voice acting is top notch as well. Tom Hanks and Tim Allen haven’t voiced their characters in the game, but you wouldn’t know this unless you read through the credits, because their sound-alikes do a bang up job, as do the rest of the voice cast.
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Conclusion
Toy Story 3 is a movie tie-in done right. It brilliantly reimagines the Toy Story universe and makes playing through it an absolute blast. The story mode doesn’t overstay its welcome, and the sandbox mode provides hours of additional fun. The fact that the hardcore gamer isn’t its target audience isn’t the game’s fault, but that also doesn’t mean that it can’t be enjoyed by grown-ups and gamers. But this is a kids’ game and it doesn’t try to be anything else.