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At Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World, the manic, wildly entertaining Toy Story Mania ride opened in 2008 to rave reviews, long lines and a lot of ecstatic, happy customers. When Disney announced production of a home version for the Nintendo Wii, fans rejoiced, but with a touch of skepticism: Could a home version possibly do justice to the amazing ride? Turns out, the answer is....yessss.....mostly....
Toy Story Mania (the Wii game) is a polished, beautifully crafted game that captures the ride's most important element--the pace and feel of the target games--perfectly. The plate-smashing, balloon-popping, hoop-tossing fun arrives intact. What's missing, of course are the giddy spinning of the ride vehicles, state-of-the-art 3D, water spray and air blasts...And the half hour waiting lines.
Writing as an adult fan of the ride, let me answer the question other theme park fans want to know: Is the home version worth a purchase?
Yes. Just keep your expectations realistic. This is, at its heart, a mini-game collection based around the themes and characters of Toy Story. All the games from the ride are represented (including the pie toss practice round), but not as they appear at the parks: That would be impossible to replicate. Instead, each of the ride's five main games are each represented by three separate, smaller shooting galleries, each filled with goals and secrets. The home version is padded out with additional carnival-style games that range from fun (skeeball and basketball hoops) to average (simon-says waggle fests). In addition to a front-and-center story mode that roughly follows the ride's progression, there are 5 additional story modes--one for each theme (Space, Western, Army, Barnyard and Bo Beep). By playing through each themed story mode, you encounter each theme's 3 shooting galleries and 2 to 3 additional games. Once you unlock each game (through goal achievements or prize tickets), you can head to the game creator area and make your own version of the game to play through. I imagine most players will immediately line up all the shooting galleries and never look at the other mini games again.
Here's the heart of the matter: The shooting galleries are pure gold. No question, they are the reason to consider buying this game. Aiming and firing with the Wii remote feels great--I recommend turning off the cursor for a truer-to-the-ride experience.
The presentation starts off beautifully, with a fully animated intro in which the toys set up the game you're about to play. This is the backstory of the ride, and it's great fun to see it finally brought to life with dazzling Pixar animation. It's right about here, however that you'll also notice one big disappointing aspect of this game: The compete lack of actual music from the films. The game's music score is pleasant (and actually very effective in the army and space sequences), but it's a bit disheartening to find that, with all the care and attention to detail that went into this game, the Powers That Be couldn't fork over a bit of extra cash to license "You've Got a Friend In Me." Cue the old hag from Princess Bride: "BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!" One other beef: Most shooting galleries end by asking you to shake the remote for extra points. Note to all game producers: Shaking the Wii's remote over and over is not fun. It's never been fun. It never will be fun. No more shaking!
Back to the positives: The character animation throughout is superb. The visual style of the shooting galleries is perfect. The voice work (by almost the entire original cast) is great, though there should be more (you'll hear the same gags repeated before the round in progress ends. R. Lee Ermy is his usual awesome self in the army sequences.
The game includes six 3D renditions of select shooting galleries which must be unlocked and played using the included 3D glasses. Do not expect the same 3D you get on the ride. This is the red/blue style that drains away the color. It does provide an effective, fun sensation that you're actually firing into your television screen. After a few 3D rounds, however, I came away with a headache. Still, it's a nice bonus feature. Ride-themed Wiimote faceplates are also included.
All in all, it's a fun, good-humored, visually dazzling home version of the ride. With the do-it-yourself game sequencer, you can eliminate the extra mini games and simply play the awesome shooting galleries.
Not bad at all. I recommend it for fans of the ride and anyone looking for a fun party game.
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Toy Story Mania! is a collection of carnival-type games featuring Toy Story characters and themes. It is supposed to be inspired by a Disney theme park ride, but I've never ridden it so I can't comment on how it resembles that experience. This game features a few "3D" games, which are made to be played with the included two pairs of 3D glasses. From my experience you'll want to be in a dark room with a LCD or Plasma TV to get the full effect. It didn't really make a difference with our old TV.The game is built around 30 or so mini-games in which you earn points and tickets that are used to unlock bonus stuff. I haven't played them all, but I think I have a good feel for them. These basically fall under a few categories: "point-and-click" shooting galleries, repeating motions, and carnival type games. The shooting games are pretty simple, just point your cursor at the target and press "A". If you are playing with multiple players everyone plays at the same time. Sometimes you trigger events that require waving the remote, usually once or twice a game. At the end of most shooting games is a small "bonus stage" where you are awarded bonus points by vigorously shaking the remote.
A few games are just mirroring the motions on screen. For instance, one game has Hamm dancing and you twirl the remote around just as he is spinning. You get points for correctly following the motions. Not the greatest games, but are a nice change of pace. If you are playing with multiple players each player takes a turn.
The last type of game is where you are playing a Toy Story themed version of a classic carnival game. One has you tossing rings on the Little Green Men (the Pizza Planet aliens) and rockets, which is essentially the same as a shooting gallery just aiming at the top of the targets. Another is a Gold Rush version of "Skee Ball" (my favorite Chuck E. Cheese game!) which is good but not great.
I think the best way to describe the game structure is to compare it to Mario Party. You can play "story mode" which strings together a bunch or random games. To continue through the games, you must meet certain point goals or tasks. There is a "free play" mode where you can play games you have unlocked either by playing the in story mode and completing all the goals or by unlocking them using the tickets you earned. One gripe about the free play mode is that the interface is very confusing at first, which is very odd compared to how simple the rest of the game is. The 3D games have to be unlocked using tickets and played from the free play mode.
I was very pleased with the quality of the look and feel of the game. The animation of the characters is very good. I watched the credits and many of the voices are the same actors as the movies, including Tim Allen ("Buzz"). Woody is the most obvious voice change, but it is Tom Hanks' brother and sounds pretty close (the same as the intro to the Buzz Lightyear movie from a few years ago if you saw that). The only voice I heard that I thought was completely off was Weezy the penguin.
The game experience is basically like you are playing a carnival staffed and decorated by the Toy Story characters. Games are grouped by themes, such as western for Woody, space for Buzz, tea party for Bo Peep, and army for the Army men.
This is really a fun game. The quality use of the Toy Story characters and themes adds much to it, but in the end it is just another collection of mini-games. This creates a huge problem since many of the games are very repetitive. Shooting a cactus in a western shooting gallery and shooting a submarine in a army shooting gallery fell the same after a while.
The best value for this game is as a party game. A single player will become bored after experiencing all the games. The simple controls and interface are great to just pick up and play. My three-year-old was playing with me on most of the games with little frustration. I can see how the many of the games would be a blast with four players.
On the subject of multiple players, one thing they overlooked in the game is that you set up your players at the very beginning of the game. You can't add or change players on the fly. Additional players can "drop out" of games, but can't rejoin until after completing a mini-game.
THE BOTTOM LINE This is a very well presented and great looking mini-game collection. I think it would be great for small kids and as a family party game. The problem is that there are many, many, many similar games on the Wii from Mario Party to Super Monkey Ball to Wii Sports. This is among the best in looks and character appeal, but in the middle of the pack when it comes to games. They are fun, simple, and look great. It is a blast to play at first, but I have my doubts about long term playability because you can only play mini-games so much. I only gave it a three star review because of the similarities of many of the mini-games and my doubts about long term playability.
Best Deals for Toy Story Mania! - Nintendo Wii
If you are looking for a family friendly game that is fun for the adults and safe for the little ones, then this game fits the bill. Also, if you are totally addicted to the game at Walt Disney World or Disneyland then you will also like this game.There are two main modes to this game, story and free play. Free play CANNOT be utilized until someone has gone through the entire story. With that said, as you complete and area of the story then the corresponding area opens up in free play. The main areas match the boards from the game at the parks with secondary games that seem to be designed to prevent repetitive motion injuries.
Pros:
Just like the game at the parks!
Fun for everyone with clear and easy instructions.
In free play you can pick and choose which games you wish to play.
Prizes that you earn are actually extra mini-games!
3D function is only in the minigames section, everything can be played in 2D.
Cons:
You HAVE to go through the story board to open up the free play.
Some of the secondary games are kind of childish. But they do give a wrist break.
The 3D glasses are the cheap red and blue glasses that have been around for 20 years. They suck. With that said you can pretty much figure out what the 3D looks like. But 3D is not mandatory to play the game.
Majorly addicting!
After playing for several hours tonight, my arm hurts but I can't wait to play some more! Way cool game!
Honest reviews on Toy Story Mania! - Nintendo Wii
Early this year Disney World debuted a new ride at Hollywood Studios named Toy Story Mania.....well this is like being on the ride from the comfort of your living room! I ordered this on pre-order and it arrived today, the day of release. It was fun for the whole family. The kids were so excited during each section of the game....they would say "Hey, I remember this part from the ride!".Game play is simple....aim and shoot pies, balls, etc at the targets.
The 3D levels were ok.....the glasses gave me a bit of a headache, but my kids loved it.
I gave it 4 stars because it doesn't use the Mii profiles. The profiles are there so you don't have to always type in your name and to be able to keep a tally on your performance.....yet they don't do that.
As far as game play, I can see that this might get a little boring after a while and it won't be a top played game in our house after the newness wears off, but when we miss Disney and want a piece of the magic and feel like we are playing on the ride, we can pull it out and have some fun!
Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Toy Story Mania! - Nintendo Wii
I got this game for my kids last weekend. We finished in a couple of hours. The shooting gallery is pretty well done, it reminds me of the ride at Disneyland. Other then that, well... there is no other then that. The "Story" mode has no story, none at all, you just go gallery to gallery. The 3-D is non-existent, the games look much better with the glasses off. They didn't take advantage of the motion controller. You have to point it at the TV of course, but there are only 3 games that use the motion sensors (a hammer, a tilter, and skee ball). Lastly, the game isn't replayable unless you have a Wii party. Otherwise, who wants to do the same gallery over and over? The bottom line: I have a 5 and 10 year old and guess how many times they've asked to play since we finished the first day? You got it... zero.
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