Toy Story 3: The Video Game

Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Wii and Mac OS X

Woody, Jessie, Bullseye, Buzz Lightyear, Slinky, Rex, Hamm, the three squeaky toy aliens, Buttercup, the Peas-in-a-Pod, Mr. Pricklepants, Chuckles, Dolly and Trixie are the toys of a girl named Bonnie. But among them, Woody, Jessie, Buzz, Slinky, Bullseye, Rex, Hamm and the alien toys used to belong to a boy named Andy Davis. Hamm, Rex and Slinky tell the original toys of Bonnie about an adventure they had before they went to Bonnie and how they ended up as Bonnie's.

It all starts when Andy is about to go off to college. The toys have not been played by Andy for years, so they make a plan to have Andy play with them one last time. But they fail, so the toys hide in a box headed for daycare, although Woody is reluctant. They are welcomed warmly into Sunnyside by a strawberry-scented teddy bear called Lotso, who holds a "New Toys Welcome" carnival. Although Woody has a good time, he still thinks he should be with Andy, and attempts to escape from Sunnyside, but ends up being taken home by Bonnie, who finds him on the ground. Meanwhile, the other toys back at the daycare discover that Sunnyside is "not sunny" for everyone. It turns out that Sunnyside had been turned into a toy prison by Lotso, who had become disgruntled after being lost and replaced by his original owner. The toys are locked in cages and guarded by security toy trucks and helicopters, while Buzz is reprogrammed by Lotso and now thinks his friends are "minions of Zurg" and guards their cages. Woody finds out about this and rushes to Sunnyside to save his friends. After freeing his friends, they manage to set Buzz back to normal and they escape by sliding down a rubbish chute and land on some dumpsters. Before they can escape, they fall into a garbage truck and end up in the dump. Even worse, they are pushed onto a conveyor belt headed for a set of giant shredders, and Woody, Buzz and Jessie are separated from the others. After saving themselves, they go to save the other toys, who are also heading for a shredder. Working together, they jam the shredder, and it explodes, saving the other toys. The toys make it back home and are entrusted to Bonnie by Andy.

PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable

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 a cell phone. 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 curb, mistaking it for trash. The toys escape the bag thanks to Rex's tail and go to the garage to hide. Buzz decides that they should go to Sunnyside Daycare 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's, 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 that he's a real Space Ranger and that the toys are evil accomplices of Zurg, and locks his friends up. Woody learns from a toy clown of Bonnie's called Chuckles, that Lotso had turned the daycare into a toy prison, which he had come across during his travels after being replaced by his original owner, 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. Back home, Woody decides that they should go to Bonnie's place and changes the words on the toys' box. Andy then entrusts the toys to Bonnie.

As Rex looks at his pictures, Jessie tells the toys that Bonnie is home. Rex happily leaves, preparing for playtime.

Gameplay

Toy Story 3: The Video Game 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. 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 only in U.S and it has not been released in Europe or Australia. 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 Electronic Entertainment Expo 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 response

Toy Story 3 has received generally positive reviews. IGN gave the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions 8 out of 10, while giving the PC and Wii versions a 7.5. GameSpot gave it 7 out of 10 for the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions. Official Nintendo Magazine gave the Wii version 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 out of 10, calling it "surprisingly fun", while Game Informer had given the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions an 8/10, and the Wii version a 6/10, being the game's lowest score. The magazine criticized the Wii version for its "visual downgrade" (which "isn't a big deal") and "neutered Toy Box" (vs. PS3 and Xbox 360 versions) where in this version "Only one person can play in this mode, and nearly all of the deeper town customization has been stripped away. What's left is a linear slog through a series of similar missions." The Daily Telegraph gave the Xbox 360 version a score of eight out of ten and called it "a world with a sense of humour and fun that will appeal to children and adults alike. A bit like a Pixar film, then. How about that?"

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.