Toy Story 3: The Video-Game Review (4/5)

"Toy Story 3" is a rare beast: though the established norm for movie tie-ins is that they are generally dull, repetitive, lacking in the graphics department and for the most part short, this brand new title boasts some brilliantly inventive design, a cast of actors who do a remarkable job of mimicking the film characters (though neither Hanks nor Allen contribute, they're barely missed), and on the whole a real sense of staying true to this age-old franchise. Two main modes are available here, one loosely following the new film's plot (but don't expect many spoilers here- it's incohesive and gives near nothing away) and the other-dubbed "Toy Box Mode"-acting as a free-roaming world not too disimilar to "Red Dead: Redemption"'s brilliant Wild West (no, really!). The former takes you on a rag-tag mission to reach Andy before he gets to college, but features none of the emotional segments or character-driven moments I'm told the film has (check for a review of that very soon!). Don't let that deter you however, since there are plenty of exciting set-pieces in place here- from playing that great-looking Buzz video game in "Toy Story 2"'s opening to skating along a sandwich as Woody and trying to find the AA battery to put an end to an evil baker's plans, there's certainly something for everyone to love here. The story mode will only provide about 5-9 (10 at most) hours of play, and the camera may sometimes irritate, meaning that if it had been that alone, this release would have got 2.5 or 3 out of 5. What brings it back from bad movie tie-in depths is its Toy Box mode, and on the Wii (the version I bought) there are tons of customisation options and interesting locations to visit in the open world of Woody's Roundup (sadly all fictional, the story is where you venture to the real world), which like I said feels a bit like "Red Dead" (5/5), and features a few heartwarming references to other Pixar films like "Finding Nemo" and "A Bug's Life". Graphically, this release for Wii is decent but sometimes blurred, but the cutscenes look just like watching one of the movies, and the motion-based controls are 9 times out of 10 excellent. In short, if you're a fan of Pixar or Toy Story, this is well worth a purchase, with well over 20 hours of game-play time. If not, it's still the best movie tie-in ever (yes, really).