ParentDish Reviews Toy Story 3 - The Video Game

ParentDish Reviews Toy Story 3 - The Video Game

It's been the number one family film all summer, and now the game is also topping the charts. If you haven't been bitten by the Toy Story 3 bug yet then either your soul has expired or you're living on the moon.

Toy Story 3 The Video Game from Disney Interactive Studios is available for all major games formats. We gave the Wii version a test drive.

So is it just a rip off from a popular film, or is this a game worth playing in its own right?

The major selling point of this game is that it's actually two games in one, as players can choose to be in Story Mode or ToyBox Mode. You can also choose to play as Woody, Buzz Lightyear or cowgirl Jessie.

Story Mode takes you through some of the scenes you'll recognise from the film, starting with the Wild West chase, and continuing through Andy's bedroom. It's a platform game involving lots of jumping and negotiating obstacles.

Some adult reviewers have commented that they find this mode fairly easy, but the children we got to play it found this game rather challenging. However, the makers have built in lots of help points and hints to stop players getting stuck.

Two players can negotiate these challenges at once, and generally the game encourages them to help each other out rather than compete against each other. So it tends to encourage the kind of co-operative play we saw in the Harry Potter game. A warning: if you play it with your child you may be embarrassed at how much better their hand/eye co-ordination is than yours.

ToyBox Mode is very different in that it's basically a fun, creative game with no winning or losing to be done. Players experiment with creating a cowboy-style town, and all the familiar faces and voices from the movie make an appearance

This is a fun game which takes you inside the world of Toy Story 3 - the visuals are terrific, especially the recreations of scenes from the film.

Suitable for players from around 7 and over, though younger children will be able to play the ToyBox section. The packaging warns of 'violence', although the worst we found involved throwing the three eyed aliens to kingdom come. No guns, knives or beaty-ups to be found - this game is as family friendly as the film.

Toy Story 3 The Video Game is out now on all major games fomats, priced around £39.99 but currently reduced at Amazon.

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