While theres no surprise that it follows the same tired formula as most movie spin-offs aimed at a preteen audience, Toy Story 3 is a game of two halves and makes bold steps to offer younger gamers an experience thats memorable, fun and genuinely rewarding.
The main meat of the game is the story mode. It's a messy potpourri of set-pieces and challenges that blend platforming, shooting and driving sequences, and see players swapping between heroes from the Toy Story movies who each use different moves. But while the candy-coloured levels flirt with a wide variety of genres and attempt to offer something for everyone, the different sections lack polish and are hampered by jerky controls, making it feel as if youre lurching wildly between unfinished levels from a compilation of unreleased games.
More satisfying, though, is the expansive Toy Box a sandbox world where you can hop between different characters and take on challenges in any order you like, in turn earning the resources you need to customise your environment and decorate your virtual world. The bite-sized activities vary in quality, but give players the opportunity to dip in and out of missions and choose their own path. This makes for a fun approach, giving the Toy Box mode that just one more go feeling thatll keep kids happy, hooked, and blissfully out of trouble for an hour or two.