Toy Story 2 follows the film of the same name. After Woody is kidnapped by a greedy toy collector, Buzz Lightyear and his friends set out to rescue him in a side-scrolling platformer that takes them from Andy's bedroom to Al's apartment to an airport and back to home sweet home. Because Woody is incapacitated during most of the movie (and in the game), Buzz Lightyear has to do all the work. You can only control Buzz - but that's not necessarily a bad thing, given that he can shoot lasers out of his wrists and "fall with style." The gameplay is pretty simplistic, with Buzz running and jumping from left to right and climbing beds, bookshelves, airport chairs, and the like while collecting keys, batteries, and power-ups as he races across town to rescue Woody.
Like in the Pixar film, Buzz is extremely well drawn: His jumping and climbing animations are very fluid and smooth. Many of the other toys in the game weren't given the same care, as they simply walk back and forth relentlessly, waiting for a zap from your laser to put them out of their misery. The background graphics (consisting mostly of posters and other toy memorabilia) occasionally blend too well with the foreground graphics, leading you to wonder if they can be interacted with. The sound and music are standard Game Boy fare: nothing fancy, but nothing wrong either.
Where the game suffers is in its control scheme. If the designers had done their homework and played the original Super Mario Bros. game they would have realized that it's never a good idea to make the jump button the same as the run button. When B is tapped Buzz jumps; when it is held down, he runs; when it's held down without the directional cross he jumps repeatedly. This leads to stuttering animations when you're trying to negotiate tight platforms, and it forbids any Mario-esque long-distance hurdles that require timing and technique. Fortunately, the game's obstacles never require much skill to negotiate, and most players will blast though this title on their first try.
