Sometimes it's better to let your imagination run wild and play with no rules at all.Every once in a while a game comes along that completely redefines its particular genre. At the very least, it's an example of a developer unafraid of taking an established property to different places. The emergent gameplay at the heart of the Toy Box Mode is the game's secret weapon, one that will find new and strange ways to evolve in the months to come.
Soon you'll have a town full of giant and midget ghosts to get rid of.
These sets, which contain levels of their own, can even affect the outside world with changes in climate or escaping ghosts that possess townsfolk. It sounds aimless, but it's the sort of aimlessness that sucks away an hour before you know it.Įventually you'll want to complete tasks and earn money to buy new toys like goo that shrinks or enlarges objects, or sets like the aforementioned Haunted Mansion. Indeed, while various activities exist, none of these missions are restrictive, meaning you can access new tasks without having completed others first. With that scattershot setup, there's a sense that the world is one big play set, and that there's no right or wrong way to go about things. The world may start off as a Western town featuring Woody as the sheriff, but fun details abound: Ham stands in as the mayor, the three-eyed aliens are wandering about and the timid Rex cowers in front of Sid's Haunted Mansion (replete with the theme song from the Disneyland ride). Thankfully, the toy box mode more fully embraces the creative side of playtime.
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Woody's cafe playtime with Bonnie begins as it does in the movie but takes a wild turn as Dolly, playing the witch, quickly floods the entire room with coffee, forcing him to hop across floating objects until he can climb the walls to safety.
Levels that don't take place in the movie take full advantage of the imaginative free play of children, shifting from one surreal scenario to another.
The story mode works best, ironically, when it departs from the story. It falls just short of being a great title on its own, mostly because of some unnecessary "play the movie" moments in its story mode, though most of the shortcomings can be bypassed in an expansive open world toy box mode. This is a game worth picking up for the kids and then checking out for yourself. But one of the strengths of Pixar's work is its allure for adults and children alike, and a winning quality of Toy Story 3: The Video Game is that same multilayered appeal.