When this landed through my letterbox as review fodder I had a genuine excuse to take the family to go and see the new movie in the money spinning, merchandise spewing franchise called “Toy Story.”
I have always been a fan of the series and the way it’s pitched at various age levels in the audience. The kids can directly associate with the joy of the toys and the parents can associate with the pleasure and pain of being a parent. My pain came in the wallet this time at almost £50 for six of us to see the movie, ouch!
On to the Game
The game starts in an almost identical fashion to the movie with Woody trying to rescue “the orphans” from the evil Dr Porkchop and his spaceship. You must “stop the express” from crashing into the ravine. It really is a 3D remake of the seminal spectrum classic “stop the express.” Albeit with state-of-the-art graphics, sound & gameplay.
You initially play as Woody trying to progress along the speeding train, in standard platforming practice much of the gameplay consists of double jumping, grabbing ledges, throwing objects or using a charge attack to destroy enemies or obstacles. Your range of moves and abilities is gradually unlocked and explained to you as part of the natural storyline of the game. Later on you will be able to also use your lasso in Bionic Commando-style grabs and swings.
Once you have saved the orphans from their demise the game opens up to reveal you are just acting out games on a large game board that Rex clumsily trashes.
This is a cue for you to visit all the different areas and fix things. And there is your plot, no spoilers.
Links to the Movie
The game does tie itself to the movie, as many of the levels involve re-enacting key scenes from the movie. These are done well and the PS3 graphics are getting close enough to the Pixar rendered visuals to be believable and do the franchise justice.
One of the characters in the movie is a small girl with a very active imagination when playing with her toys. In her themed level the designers have really gone to town in an almost LSD-inspired set of challenges and visuals. The graphics would not look out of place in Winnie the Pooh’s “Ephalumps and Woozies” scene or any of the Dr Seuss books.
Playability
So enough about the plot, how does it play? Well playability wise it is pretty slick, in just about every aspect. It’s pretty easy to play as it’s targeted as (predominantly) a child audience. There are the odd challenges in there that will take you a few goes to nail though, so you won’t just breeze through from start to finish, as well as collectables that you’re unlikely to find all of on your first playthrough of a level. If you’re really stuck there are two levels of help “give me a hint” and “tell me what to do.” The game mechanics are extremely polished and well balanced and you never feel cheated that you should of made a jump or “that didn’t hit me!” Given the awful camera views that some recent games have expected us gamers to tolerate the developers Avalanche should also probably be congratulated on the way the game always seems to give you a decent view of the action.
The levels are packed with puzzles to solve which involve collaboration from Woody, Jessie and Buzz. Playing in single player you can cycle through the three players with the use of the L1 button. When playing the 2 player co-operative mode you play in vertical split-screen and can both switch to the remaining player. Gameplay consists of a good mix of searching/collecting, racing and platform adventuring, and avoids ever getting too samey.
The game fosters a lovely sense of multiplayer teamwork that is less likely to spark an argument between your kids/mates/partner *delete as applicable. Similar to how the Lego Star Wars/Indiana Jones/Batman games worked.
Each player has a unique ability that means that only they can complete some of the tasks. Woody as I have already mentioned has his lasso. This is often used for switching on switches at high levels as he swings across the ravine below.
Buzz is unsurprisingly super strong and can pick up and throw things (as can the other two) but much further/higher.
Jessie has very dainty footwork that allows her to hop, skip and jump across obstacles of very small surface area, such as darts and arrows.
It is of course possible to play the game in single player mode where you get the benefit of the lovely full screen visuals. But the real fun comes from working with a partner. We are a social species and nothing beats the thrill of working as a team.
Got Woody?
Aside from the story levels there's a sandbox-type play area called "Woody's Roundup." It starts off in as dusty Western town with just the odd tatty building, and there are dozens of simple quests to complete which earn you gold with which you can buy new buildings, townsfolk (they're a bit like Lego figures), toys and new areas—even decorate buildings whatever colour you wish and adorn them with various Disney/Pixar-themed goodies. The new areas open up more sub-quests and there's plenty to do which means that Woody's Roundup probably has more longevity than the story mode. It's all easygoing fun and there's nothing too taxing, with a mixture of fetch quests, shooting, stunt driving, racing....the usual sandbox game-type-stuff with more than a little Toy Story uniqueness built in—you'll come across all the characters from the movies including Buzz's alien nemesis Zurg and the green plastic Army Men.
To Infinity and Beyond?
I’d rate this as one of the best “family friendly” platformers I’ve played on the PS3. Other platformers should take a look at how a fun, polished game can be put together, and is without a doubt one of the best movie tie-in games in recent years. Visually the game is closer to the movie graphics than any previous efforts, and with much of the original vocal talent and some very good sound-alikes covering the others the game makes it feel you are part of the engaging Toy Story world.
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