Toy Story 3 is a good fun romp through the Toy Story universe, too bad it's riding on bad controls and lack of depth.
Well it's kinda surprising but Toy Story 3 the game isn't a bad game or even a mediorcre game, it's good for the time you spend in it and after it's all finished you will have a feeling of satisfaction. Toy Story 3 has a simple story following the movie and a few mini-games tossed in there for flavor and add in the Toy Box mode you have a solid, satisfyingly, good package.
Toy Story 3's story isn't really much of a story but just a little sneak peek at the movie, mind you that the game came out before the movie so understandable why they kept the things that would spoil the movie a secret. However, because of the case there really isn't much of a story going on, it's almost like Toy Story: The Travel Edition as you go through all these various locations but don't understand why you're there. That's not much of a downside because due to the core game-play with an arcade like twist to it, you won't be noticing the lack of story or answer as to why.
The game-play as I said is in an arcade style and most of the times it feels more like a 3D platformer than action driven but it still is OK due to the many ways you go about the platforming bits. You go side scrolling, top down perspective and sometimes just free from being locked in and can move the camera while platform jumping. The animations are nice and fluid and the character designs are pretty much top-notch, plus the pure charm of the Toy Story universe will just make you smile with nostalgia or just smile cause it's fun.
Toy Story 3 is a good game but it has major flaws that keep it from being great, the camera can get a bit stingy in tight corners and when you move around it feels kind of clunky and sometimes frustrating. That is due to the controls; the controls are what really kill the story-mode, while you will be engulfed in the sheer blast of fun you will experience a few avoidable deaths along the way. Controls aren't much of a problem due to the very thankful and helpful start up point and checkpoint layout of the game. If you die from the controls you can go back to the start of the mini-level; this is a good system but if you are right near the end and you fall then it's back to the beginning of that mini-level once again. Even worse there are driving stages in the game and with the clunky controls makes riding around in your car less than worthwhile. Still if you can look past the bad controls you can still find a good time with the Story Mode. Not to mention with the extra goodies hidden around will give you more a reason to come back which is a good and not so good thing. Challenge in the game is easy for kids and it can sometimes turn challenging for more experienced players, thus the challenge of the game is perfect for young and older audiences.
The Toy Box Mode is where Toy Story 3 shines as no other Toy Story game has given us and it's great as a standalone. In Toy Box mode you can do missions, fight robots, zombies, ghosts, race, shoot fire, and even throw citizens into the water. Toy Box Mode is accessible and while the controls are still clunky you have a great way of distracting yourself from the Story Mode and from the Toy Story world as well. Missions are fun and reward you with money, ammo, and new costumes for your town of Woody's Roundup. Unfortunately, there is a major lack of missions and depth in the Toy Box mode.
You get all these missions for designs and such but that's about it. While the designs of the rewards are funny and completely Pixarish, the lack of more missions such as Saving the Mayor is a missed opportunity. Don't let this get you down, kids will enjoy the kid free wondrous and entertaining world of the Toy Box Mode but more mature players won't be happy with the lack of real depth the missions have. The Toy Box Mode also has a store that allows you to purchase new toys and new worlds to play around in; while this can be fun and the worlds are each a blast with their own downside the limit the store has is pretty cheap and lazy. However, even if the Toy Box mode's creativity isn't Sims creativity and is limited in many places, the sheer joy of the world and the games you can play help rise it up from being a cheap and unappreciated mode in Toy Story 3's universe.
Pros:
-Good for kids
-Balanced challenge
-Fun universe to play in
-Arcade like game-play
-Fun and funny cut-scenes
-Extra goodies
-Toy Box Mode
-Great to hear the voice actors for the characters
-Charming Toy Box Mode characters and just plain charming to play
-Decent variety
-Cartoonish look to it
Cons:
-Clunky controls
-Lack of real depth to content
-Not so good camera controls
-Repetitive missions
-Driving with the clunky controls is less than OK
-Weird facial features in game of the characters
-Robotic feel to the cut-scenes
-Story isn't really a story
Toy Story 3 falls on several places but there you'll still have so much fun in the Toy Box Mode and the finding the goodies scattered throughout the Story Mode portion of the game.