Toy Story 3: The Video Game

Toy Story 3: The Video Game is a platform video game loosely based on the film Toy Story 3. It was published by Disney Interactive Studios and developed by Avalanche Software (PS3, Wii, Xbox 360, PC, Mac OS X), Asobo Studio (PS2, PSP) and n-Space (DS). The game was released in North America on June 15, 2010 for the Nintendo DS, Wii, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 3, Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X and the Xbox 360. A special PlayStation 2 bundle with Toy Story 3: The Video Game was released on October 31, 2010, followed by the game's individual release on November 2, 2010.
Toy Story 3 is the first game based on a film by Pixar to be published entirely by Disney Interactive Studios. Past Disney/Pixar movie games have been made in conjunction with Activision first, then THQ. It is the sequel to the second game that was based on the second film in the franchise.
Most of the voice cast from the film returned to reprise their characters in the game with the exception of Tom Hanks (Woody) and Tim Allen (Buzz Lightyear), respectively (Jim Hanks returned to voice Woody from the previous game and Stephen Stanton voiced Buzz). The game also contains content exclusive to the PlayStation 3 version. The game was well received by critics and was a top-seller in the UK.
==Plot==
Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Wii and Mac OSX Version
The game focuses on the adventures of the toys of a boy named Andy: a sheriff cowboy doll named Woody, a cowgirl doll called Jessie, a stuffed horse called Bullseye, a toy space ranger called Buzz Lightyear (Buzz for short), Hamm the Piggy Bank, Rex the toy T-Rex (Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head are excluded from the game) and Slinky the dog. The game starts as Woody stares out at a passing train. He realizes it is full of tied-up orphans and goes to rescue them. As he jumps on Bullseye, he encounters the Evil Dr, Pork Chop (who is actually Hamm). After a chase after the train, Woody has to save the orphans, in the same time trying to defeat Dr. Pork Chop. As Woody makes his way to the head of the train, he rescues the orphans, giving them to Buzz. He then defeats Dr. Porkchop by damaging his flying saucer. It is revealed it is just a story Hamm is telling the toys of the toys' new owner, a girl called Bonnie. Hamm then continues the story, with the assistance of Slinky and Rex.
Years later, Andy is off to college, and they decide to have one last shot to have him play with them, and plan to attract him using the house's phones. They send Rex to the basement to the home phone to make a call to Andy's cellphone, while they go get the cell phone itself. However, after they finish getting Andy's cell phone, Rex does not call the cell phone, so they go to the basement themselves. Using Sarge's toy soldiers, they get the phone down, and tell Sarge and his men to bring the phone back to Andy's room while they go find Rex, who was busy playing a Buzz Lightyear video game(which appears in the opening scene of Toy Story 2). The plan fails, so they go to Sunnyside Daycare, where they are greeted by a teddy bear called Lot'so Huggin Bear (or Lotso), who has prepared a "Welcome New Toys" carnival in honor of their arrival, giving them fun games to play. Woody still thinks he should be with Andy, and escapes from Sunnyside, but ends up at Bonnie's house, where Bonnie plays with him along with her other toys, making up a story of how a witch destroys the house. Woody dodges the witches attacks. The witch destroys the house, but Woody finds a spaceship which they can escape in, and after powering it up with batteries, he escapes with the toys.
Meanwhile, back at Sunnyside, Lotso's bad side is revealed, and he locks the toys up in high security cells, with patrolling trucks and spotlights guarding them. Woody returns to the rescue, and with the help of the advice given by a toy phone, he manages to free the toys and escape.
The toys end up in a garbage truck and are sent to the dump. Buzz, Jessie, Woody end up on a conveyor belt heading toward a shredder. Jessie and Woody escape the conveyor belt and manage to stop it while Buzz (who was programmed back to normal) saves the three squeeze toy aliens. They find that the other toys are stuck on a piece of trash on a conveyor belt headed for the incinerator. They team up to stop the conveyor belt. Buzz stops the machine by throwing a cube of trash into the machine, causing an explosion, stopping the conveyor belt, and instead of going to Andy's they go to stay at Bonnie's place.
PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable Version
Rex looks back at the toy's past encounters with the help of his drawings, and tells the story of the film.
Andy is going to college, and hasn't played with the toys in years, so the toys decide to get his attention using the Andy's mobile phones. However, the plan fails, and Andy merely takes the phone from Rex's hand and closes the toy box. Andy's mother tells Andy to start packing for college. Andy decides to bring Woody to college and puts the other toys in a trash bag, and plans to put them in the attic. But before Andy can, his mother puts the bag on the curve, mistaking it for trash. The toys escape the bag thanks to Rex's tail and go to the garage to hide. Buzz decides to go to Sunnyside Daycare with the toys so they can be played with once again. Woody rushes down to tell the toys about the mistake, but Andy's mom comes and drives them to the daycare center.
Woody decides to go back to Andy, but gets stuck in a tree in the process and is brought home by a girl named Bonnie. Meanwhile, the other toys meet a friendly strawberry scented bear named Lotso, who places them in the caterpillar room. The toys realize that the kids in the caterpillar room are too young to play toys and the kids damage the toys. Buzz decides to go ask Lotso for a transfer to the Butterfly room, but Lotso refuses and switches Buzz to demo mode, making Buzz think he's a real Space Ranger again and locks his friends up for being minions of Zurg. Woody learns of this from Chuckles, one of Bonnie's toys and returns to Sunnyside and helps the toys escape, but they end up in a garbage truck going to the dump.
In the dump, they nearly fall into the incinerator, but are saved by the squeeze toy aliens, who use a crane to save them. The toys decide to return to Andy's home using a garbage truck, but Buzz falls out and ends up on top of a car several trucks, car and motor-bikes away from the garbage truck, but manages to join the gang after jumping through vehicles to the truck.
Back home, Woody decides that they should go to Bonnie's place and changes the words on the toys' box. Andy reluctantly gives the toys to Bonnie.
As Rex looks as his pictures, Jessie's tells them that Bonnie is home. Rex happily leaves, preparing for playtime.
==Gameplay==
Toy Story 3: The Video is a platformer where players are able to play as either Woody, Buzz Lightyear, or Jessie(In the levels: Loco Motives a.k.a. Train Chase and Witch Way Out? a.k.a. Bonnie's House, Buzz and Jessie are not playable, while in the level Hide and Sneak a.k.a. Prison Break, Buzz is unplayable, and in the levels To Infinity and Beyond a.k.a. Buzz Video Game and Muffin to Fear a.k.a. the Haunted Bakery, Jessie and Woody are absent). Each character has a special move:Woody can use his pull string to swing across certain areas, Buzz, the strongest of them, can fling other characters over long distances, and Jessie is the most agile and can balance on small platforms. Each of them can perform a shoulder charge and can throw luxo balls at targets or enemies. In the Buzz Video Game level, Buzz can use his laser to shoot enemies and crystals, and in other levels, this move is absent. Certain levels require players to switch between them to clear the levels.[5] There are two main modes, Story and Toybox. Story mode consists of nine levels and follows the events of the movie (as well as the opening videogame sequence from Toy Story 2). In Toybox mode, titled Woody's Roundup, players can create and customize levels and fill it with inhabitants and missions. By completing various objectives within this world, players can earn money to unlock new objects and expand their city. Some of these objects are reported to include characters from other Disney/Pixar franchises.
An exclusive version of the game for Xbox 360, Wii, and PS3 was sold at Walmart that includes four additional Theme Packs for Toy Box Mode. The Theme Packs include Sports, Knights, Cutesy, and Military. Players can use the Theme Packs to decorate buildings and dress townspeople and aliens in different ways after spending 500 coins on each pack in the Al's Toy Barn area of the game. The Walmart exclusive version also features a reflective foil background on the front of the case, rather than the standard black.
The PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable versions were developed by Asobo Studio. The player can play as either Woody, Buzz, Jessie (level 10 only), Squeeze Toy Aliens (level 12 and Alien Escapes) and the Green Army Men (level 2 only). The PS2 version graphics and sounds looks better than PSP version. The PS2 version was delayed on November 2, 2010 for unknown reason. There is no multiplayer and Toy Box Mode. There are 13 levels in the Story Mode, that follows the events of the movie and there are no enemies or boss fights. After the player has completed a level in Story Mode, they can go back and replay it to try the 2 Challenge modes, which are Cube Destruction and Time Attack, that allow the player to win coins and unlock trophies. The 3 mini-games are Woody's Roundup (5 levels), Buzz Adventures (5 levels) and Aliens Escapes (2 levels) which follow the events of the Toy Story 2 movie. In the PSP version the final 2 levels of both Woody's Roundup and Buzz Adventures. Along with the 2 levels of Aliens Escapes have to be purchased via the PlayStation Store as downloadable content.
The PlayStation 3 version of the game features exclusive content such as the ability to play as Emperor Zurg in addition to Buzz, Woody and Jessie, complete with his own full set of unique missions. Players can drive around in Zurg's custom vehicle as well as blast at enemies using his trigun, his main objective is to eliminate Buzz Lightyear though players are free to do whatever else they'd like. In addition, the game also features compatibility with the PlayStation Move motion controller, and there are also downloadable mini-games designed specifically for the Move that can be downloaded for free from the PlayStation Store in Fall 2010. Also, Toy Box has more missions and there are additional cameo appearances and more characters.
==Development==
Toy Story 3 was first announced at E3 in 2010, along with the app for the iPhone and iPod touch that lets fans play, personalize and stay connected to Toy Story. Disney Interactive later announced the Exclusive Content for the PS3 version on the game's release, including the ability to play as Emperor Zurg or unlock additional mini-games designed specifically for PlayStation Move motion controller.
According to an interview with the developers of the game, the developers wanted to give Pixar choices rather than dictate play, so they offered two pitches when they went to the studio with ideas in 2008. The first was a more traditional treatment of a movie licence game, where the player retells the film and hit the big beats of the story. The second pitch was this free-form mode which they called the Toy Box mode. Pixar loved the ideas and suggested that they develop both.
==Critical Reception==
===Reception===
Toy Story 3 has received generally positive reviews. IGN scored the PS3 and Xbox 360 version an 8.0, while scoring the Wii version a 7.5. GameSpot gave 7.0 for the PS3 and Xbox 360 version. The Official Nintendo Magazine scored the Wii and DS versions 80% saying that it was one of its kind but had horrendous voice acting which contrasts with IGN's review, who said the voice acting was "superb". Nintendo Power gave the Wii version a 7.5, calling it "surprisingly fun", while Game Informer had given the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions an 8, and the Wii version a 6/10, being the game's lowest score. Game Informer criticized the Wii version for its graphical downstep and "neutered Toy Box mode" (vs. PS3 and Xbox 360 version) where in this version "the missions are too repetitive, customization is barren, and its only 1-player, leaving in its place an eternal slog of fetching items."
===Sales===
Toy Story 3 was a top-seller in the UK. Toy Story 3 claimed its third week at number one of the UK full-price software charts over the weekend, whilst its big-screen counterpart also held onto the Box Office top spot.
==Links==
*"Toy Story 3: The Videogame Review". IGN.
*"This fun take on the Pixar movie has lots of entertaining content for younger players, but control issues and a lack of depth limit its appeal. (PS3 Review)". Gamespot.
*Three weeks at the top for the Pixar tie-in.. IGN UK.
*Official US Website
*Toy Story 3: The Video Game at the Internet Movie Database
Category:2010 video games
Category:Pc Games
Category:Most Wanted Games