Toy Story 3 The Video Game – Nintendo DS Reviews

First of all I’m a Toy Story junkie. I was kinda worried about a game this big in the palm of my hand. In a nutshell, while Toy Story 3 has it’s problems, I still think it’s worth a buy especially if you have 6-12yo in the house. I personally was bored with many of the mini games. Some are just annoying and I Just wanted to move on. On the other hand, many were a blast. But most of the little ones in your world won’t mind.

The game is a mix of a ton of mini games, a big story mode and some platforming elements. I had soem problems with the moments where jumping and lining up jumps is important in the adventure levels and having to use the stick, but most will catch on pretty fast. The graphics are well done, albeit a little grainy in parts and I thought the audio was a little tinny. But considering the amount of things to do and play in Toy Story 3, most won’t mind. One major issue with families with multiple kids. The game only allows you to save one game on the cartridge which is a big no no for DS games. So if a child wants to start over, it will erase the current file. So keep that in mind. But overall, if you just want a lot of things to do and you like Toy Story, it’s worth a serious look.

My sons (ages 7 & 6) finished this game in a single afternoon. Worse yet, they showed no interest in replaying it, making Toy Story 3 my most expensive DS purchase. A good game can last weeks, even months with repeated play. Geez, we still have two copies of Mario Kart and we purchased them nearly two years ago!

The story mode mixes adventure play and mini-games. Beware though, story mode is very short. The game offers two other modes – Imaginary World and Playtime. The game also includes DGamer features for online play, including special achievements that can be unlocked and shared with friends.

Of course, none of these extras appealed to my kids. I attribute part of the problem to the fact that my sons were born *after* Toy Story and Toy Story 2. They have no nostalgia for Woody and Buzz. So, the game had to win them over on its own merits.

Even the large cache of unlockables available wasn’t enough to entice them to play the game again once they finished the story mode.

What caught my attention immediately was the voice work and background music. Woody, in particular, went from cute to excruciating annoying inside of 15 minutes. He repeated the same lines repeatedly in a higher pitch than I remembered from the movies. His voice in the game version reminded me of something you might hear from a fortune teller coin-op.

I want to note that the game looks good (the game trailer was part of the reason I bought the game in the first place). The 3D environment is trippy and surprisingly easy to navigate.

In summary, the story mode is very short. Make sure your kids are huge fans of the Toy Story trilogy before making this purchase. The game’s value will depend on their play of the other two modes – Imaginary World and Playtime – and an interest in searching out all of the unlockables. For our sons, this game couldn’t hold their interest for a second day. Rating: two stars.

I got this game for my 8 year-old son, who enjoyed it for two days but hasn’t played it since. The main “Story” part of the game follows the plot of the Toy Story 3 movie, and in each stage you have to help Woody jump, climb, walk around, etc. to complete a particular task. In one of the early levels, for example, you have to help Woody figure out how to get out of the garage by climbing and jumping on various objects until you reach the garage opener. Once you beat the “Story” part of the game, you can play freestyle in the “Playtime” part of the game, which lets you drop your characters into various environments, build a base, and fight off “evil toys” to unlock special gadgets and upgrades for your base.

This game was cute enough, but honestly, just way too easy for an experienced 8 year-old gamer. The “Story” mode took him one afternoon to beat, and it wasn’t enough fun for him to care about beating it a second time. “Playtime” kept him busy for a second day, but since then he hasn’t gone back to this game once. Compare that to the Star Wars Lego games, which have kept him occupied for weeks at a time, or Pokemon Platinum (800 hours and counting, seriously), and I just don’t think this game has much replay value for the older child. Might be worth it for the younger DS player who needs less of a challenge… but for older Toy Story fans, I’d suggest renting it, not buying it.