Disney's Toy Story

Review

by Brett Alan Weiss

Starring the voices of Tim Allen and Tom Hanks, Toy Story, the first full-length feature film animated entirely on computers, was the number one box office smash of 1995. With a running time of only 81 minutes, it was short but impressive and memorable. The visuals were incredible, the screenplay was sharp, and the characters and toys were charming. Amazingly, the creators of Toy Story have managed to capture much of the appeal of the landmark film in a video game.

With help from Pixar Animated Studios, the company responsible for the computer animation in the film, Toy Story the game looks incredibly similar to Toy Story the movie. The lead character Woody is gangly and moves puppet-like, the toys are reproduced so faithfully you may think you're watching a video, and common objects such as lamps and beds are life-like in a computerized kind of way. Without a doubt, Toy Story features some of the best graphics ever seen on a 16-bit system.

The CD-quality music in Toy Story sounds like a miniature band come to life inside your Super Nintendo. The sound effects are fantastic as well. The trains, helicopters, airplanes, and other toys sound too good to be true. Simply put, Toy Story is a technological wonder that is incredibly faithful to its source material. Even the levels, the storyline, and the format follow along closely with the action from the movie.

As good as Toy Story looks and sounds, the gameplay lags behind, but not by a landslide. This game is tricky and interesting and each level features new strategies and challenges. Woody doesn't move with much grace but he's not supposed to. Somehow he manages to be mildly uncoordinated and a tad slow without dragging down the action.

Fans of the movie will love Toy Story. Everyone else will at least like it.