Toy Story 3 The Video Game

So my take on any licensed game is that it is a piece of you-know-what. Let’s be honest – if not attached to “the name” most of these games couldn’t be given away let alone sold. The last Toy Story game Toy Story Mania! did not really live up to our expectations and was just a bunch of mini games. My kids liked WarioWare: Smooth Moves and Mario Party 8 much better.

I have been following this game for months – uncharacteristic of me for a licensed game. Bluntly I was not going to plunk down my cold hard cash for this if it was not worthwhile – Toy Story name or not. I’ve read reviews with the developers and studio and it sounded like they got their stuff straight. So I decided to forge ahead with a Day 1 purchase. Yep folks..day 1. I’m in a bit of a daze myself honestly.

My kids have played it for many hours today (was my son’s birthday last weekend and this was a delayed gift so today was a special day..I don’t normally let them play this much!)and so far I am impressed. I-M-P-R-E-S-S-E-D. The Wii graphics, to me, are nothing special but they get the job done. Music is exactly as expected (various themes and all that). The gameplay is tight – controls are spot on for us and we’ve had no difficulties. I can tell if my son has difficulties and he has not once gotten frustrated that the remote isn’t doing what it is supposed to – controls were easy to learn.

There have been a few confusing parts but my older daughter figured them out (parents just be aware that your little guy/girl might need some help to figure out what to do in a few places). The kids have played in the regular mode (story) and the new box mode that is like a sandbox of fun things to do. That Box mode is SUPER FUN y’all! In terms of the regular story mode it’s pure action adventure like other games of its type such as Scooby Doo! First Frights and Spongebob Squarepants The Movie both of which my kids enjoyed a lot and were worth a purchase.

So far there is little to no frustration (except those few parts that are a bit confusing on what to do for a littler guy/gal). Characters are good and the story is actually o.k. I haven’t seen the movie so can’t say if it follows it or not at this point. At nearly 4 hours in he hasn’t completed it. This is in contrast to Coraline which clocked in a little under 2 hours to completion. I would compare the Toy Story 3 favorably with two other of my son’s favorite games that are licensed Spiderman: Friend or Foe and Ben 10 which come highly recommended from my family to you!

My kids wanted to keep playing – already at almost 4 hours I can tell that it’s a keeper. Normally they don’t even get 30 minutes if it’s going to be a dud. I will update this review next weekend to reflect an update as well as I suspect we’ll have another 8 hours or so into the game by that point.I’ll let you know if anything changes my rating but as of now this one’s a winner!

EDITED 6/23/2010: We do not seem to be encountering the issues with targeting that others are reporting in Buzz’s world. I actually watched my daughter start another file (we have 3 save files with our game) to give me her input on this and last night watched her play all the way through Buzz’s level. She didn’t have any problems with targeting (now she did find some of the platforming elements challenging but then they usually are). Platformers are her favorite type of game and she’s played through many of the toughest (Super Mario Advance on GBA and others) and is quite experienced with them. We could see where some elements could be very challenging (like how a Mario game can be). My son’s been playing the more sandbox type environment – and he is still having a lot of fun. For him it is sufficient – I’m sure he would rather have had the way more freedom 360 or PS3 version but we don’t have one of those consoles. If you are looking for the ultra freedom toy box you should look at the 360 or PS3 version over the Wii if you have them. If he got stuck in the story mode his sister would help him. They do not play 2 player together (they rarely ever do). They play beside each other taking turns and she will help him out occasionally when needed.

We are now over 12 hours in and they still enjoy it. Maybe they just don’t notice the flaws or compensate for them..but as of right now for my family 12 hours for $50 is not a bad deal. The movie for 2 hours set me back the same amount (tickets, popcorn and soda only). If you’d like to get a sense for the game you can always check it out first (via rental and such).
Rating: 5 / 5

Contrary to the ads logo of “this is my toy story”, the Wii version is not. Unlike the 360 and PS3 versions, this ones Toybox mode is a VERY stripped down shell. There is little you can do to customize the buildings and citizens, and absolutely no games, buildings, or anything else to build. The Wii version of Toy Story 3 is a typical movie game, no more.

Rating: 1 / 5

There was a lot of work put into this game with many solid gameplay aspects. Unfortunately, a lot of bad decisions were made too. For example this game has numerous issues in regards to the design of the save system. For one, the game is a single save game — that’s right only one Story mode player at a time — brilliant! So, multiple people in my household have to share the same game. You can’t exit a level without saving, which is fine since when you exit a level before you completely finished it, it doesn’t return back to the last spawn point you’ve reached, it forces you to start at the beginning of the level. I know that’s not completely uncommon in game design — that doesn’t make it good game design just because ‘everyone else is doing it.’ Saving is only for remembering which special cards (which do nothing if you get a set of them, except functioning as pixel crack) you have found so when you have to start at the beginning of the level you don’t have to find those cards twice — very small consideration.

There are issues with the targeting reticle, when you using the target aiming system (i.e. pressing Z when you have something you can throw or shoot), at least on the Wii version. Basically it’s non-functional, or at least as far as any normal gamer could use, whether for shooting lasers or throwing balls. Don’t need it on the first level as the targeting reticle does not track right and it’s far easier just maneuver your character so what you are shooting is dead ahead (or more likely run past it and hope for the best). On the Buzz Lightyear videogame level, you have a different targeting system which the in-game instructions say press Z to go to targeting mode, move Wiimote to aim, and press B to fire laser. Guess what, the reticle does NOT track correctly and the laser ONLY lets you fire it when you are exactly in position which requires moving your character back and forth hoping the robot will move right on top of where the magic target point is then the laser might allow itself to fire. How crude and poorly thought out. Not fun by any means.

The Toybox mode, is a like a small mmorpg zone, with a linear rail system of missions, which aren’t so difficult, but the claims of freeplay (’play how you want’ as advertised) are misleading as all you can do is do the missions and explore the limited zone. You can earn enough money to open up some other characters and additional mission areas, but the ability to purchase them is locked until you complete relevant mission in order (which usually has nothing to do with the unlocked item).

The instruction manual has about the same information level as what comes with a fast food kids toy.

Sound levels are erratic as some voiceovers are much clearer than others.

There are some good aspects to the game, but the level of rush to the market thinking I see here warrants a warning to all those that want to rush out and buy this after seeing the very great movie this shares the name with (I didn’t play this until after I saw the movie).

This review will expanded upon as I force myself to play it further so I can see what other design shortchanges were included.

Rating: 2 / 5