Disney/Pixar Toy Story 3 Complete Edition review

I’d always meant to play the video game adaptation of Toy Story 3, originally released in 2010, but somehow never got around to it. I adore 3D platformers, and tons of people were hyping up the Toybox mode. Well, it only took 16 years and a full remaster, but I finally played it and had a blast. It’s not a perfect game, nor a perfect remaster, but it’s a game bursting with creativity and the joy of play in a manner I haven’t seen since Little Big Planet 2.

Just like the retro titles, Toy Story 3 is a loose adaptation of the film it’s based on, taking you through 8 stages from Andy’s Room to the dump and beyond. It’s not a terribly well-polished experience, and you can definitely tell the budget was pretty limited, but it’s a lot of fun to run through even when you encounter some bugs or jank. So much so you can also tell how much fun the developers were having coming up with a wide variety of gameplay scenarios like Woody’s train rescue, a sequence where you live through Bonnie’s imagination, or needing to swap between Jesse, Woody, and Buzz to save the other toys from being crushed.

Just like I’d heard, Toy Box is where the game really shines, though. This is your own personal playground to customize with different buildings like a jailhouse or farm. As you build out your town, you’ll unlock new missions like racing Bullseye around the desert or defending your crops from critters that will then help you unlock even more customizations. It’s a very rewarding loop, feeling like a faster-paced, simpler Animal Crossing crossed with Mario Party in some ways. Diving into this, it makes a lot more sense why the campaign was so short now. 

The remaster itself unfortunately feels pretty budget too, not receiving as much love as the Retro Roundup! collection. On PC, there really aren’t many graphics options, offering only resolution and a toggle between 30 fps and 60 fps. On my 170 Hz monitor, I was really hoping I could go all the way up to that, but alas. Other options also feel like the bare minimum, allowing you to invert camera controls in various contexts, toggle vibration, change mouse sensitivity, enable subtitles, and adjust the volume of music and sound effects. 

You might want to fiddle with those last two options and definitely enable subtitles, as the sound mixing is awful. One moment I might be able to barely hear a character talking over the music, and the next sound effects are blasting out my speakers at the highest volume known to man. In Toy Box mode, the music will also change seemingly at random, with some songs playing for a minute or two and others for just a few seconds. 

The game leans closer to a rerelease than a remaster in that respect, when I feel it really could have used more treatment like the latter. As it stands, Complete Edition feels a little slapped together to include with Retro Roundup!. I would have loved to see some visual enhancements like better shadows, a farther draw distance, unlocking the framerate, and so on.