English
Gamereactor
reviews
Toy Story 3: The Video Game

Toy Story 3: The Video Game

A great video game based on an animated movie, surely it can't be? Vic has been scratching his head while playing Toy Story 3: The Video Game.

Subscribe to our newsletter here!

* Required field
HQ

Toy Story and its subsequent sequels have been a defining experience in the world of animated movies and celluloid family entertainment by wonderfully capturing the collective imaginations of a generation. While the Pixar produced movies have garnered universal acclaim, the games have at best received lukewarm scores and reviews. Helmed by Avalanche Studios, Toy Story 3 looks to buck the trend of movie tie-in games of questionable quality - It largely succeeds.

At its core, Toy Story 3 is a third person action adventure platformer (a right mouthful to say), but is a lot more than the sum of its parts. It has to be said that one of the games main draws is its varied gameplay that features anything from Woody outrunning falling shrapnel on horseback to Buzz Lightyear outmanoeuvring asteroids in the air.

The first major noticeable change from previous iterations of the franchise is the freedom and space available to players - more on this later. Apart from being a pre-dominantly open world game, the developers have ensured the game's maps can be tackled in any order according to the gamers discretion. Since its primary target group is the younger generation, there are a lot of save points to alleviate the distress of missing a jump or succumbing to any one of the games many perils.

I played the game with my little boy, who having recently made light work of the latest Lego tinged franchise was hoping for a game with an emotionally engaging story and fast paced action to tide him over - not unlike the movie. The first part of the game which attempted to adhere to the movie's narrative was incredibly slow and tedious. A point not helped by the wonky controls.

This is an ad:

On several occasions when called upon to toss your co-op partner from point A to B, the game's camera and less than intuitive controls conspired to make the game an exercise in restraint. Just about bearable for an adult, an insurmountable ask for a 9 year old with the attention span of a gnat.
The second part of the game is where it really comes into its own. The Toy box mode which amongst other areas features Woody's roundup is the very definition of an unsupervised play pen. In this rich world of colour and sound, one is able to complete a plethora of mini missions from NPCs to add to the bustling western setting, build new buildings, solve minor puzzles or simply wander around on foot, horseback or any vehicles of your choice with careless abandon - essentially everything we as young uns envisioned a world populated by toys would be.

The game can be played using either one of Jesse, Woody or Buzz - each with their respective traits and skills. Jesse has a spinning mid-air move, Buzz can hover for a short time whilst Woody can use his draw string to swing about. The visuals and sound is of the highest quality and credit has to be given to Avalanche Studios for breathing new life into the rotting carcass of the movie to game tie in.

Toy Story 3 may not be the best family themed title out at the moment, but its pretty darn close. It is a competent sandbox game with absorbing, if not innovative gameplay elements that should provide hours of fun for the child at heart and mind.

Toy Story 3: The Video GameToy Story 3: The Video GameToy Story 3: The Video GameToy Story 3: The Video Game
07 Gamereactor UK
7 / 10
+
Varied gameplay, Large sandbox feel to the game, Two player split screen co-op, Graphics and sound.
-
Relatively short campaign, Frustrating camera, Unskippable cut scenes.
overall score
is our network score. What's yours? The network score is the average of every country's score

Related texts

0
Toy Story 3: The Video GameScore

Toy Story 3: The Video Game

REVIEW. Written by Vic Bassey

A great video game based on an animated movie, surely it can't be? Vic has been scratching his head while playing Toy Story 3: The Video Game.



Loading next content