Toy Story Mania! for Nintendo Wii sneak peek preview

June 25, 10:11 AMChicago Children's Toys ExaminerRenée Carver

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  Toy Story Mania! for Nintendo Wii (© Disney)

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A carnival-themed video game with 3-D elements, Toy Story Mania! for the Nintendo Wii will appeal both to the target audience of kids ages 6 to 11 and to Toy Story fans of all ages. Following is a sneak peek preview of this video game, which is expected to release in September 2009, just in advance of the October 2, 2009 double-feature re-release of Disney Digital 3D™ theatrical versions of the original Disney/Pixar Toy Story and Toy Story 2 movies.

Nintendo Wii video game based on Toy Story Midway Mania!

The gameplay elements of this Wii game will be familiar to visitors of the Toy Story Midway Mania! theme park attraction located at the Disneyland Resort Disney's California Adventure theme park and the Walt Disney World Resort Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park.

In the 4-D theme park attraction, players wear 3-D glasses while shooting at targets and interacting with real outside elements such as air and water. The home video game version is not going to pop actual water balloons in players' faces, but people can unlock bonus levels that allow them to experience 3-D effects.

Toy Story Mania! gameplay

Woody, Buzz Lightyear, and other favorite Toy Story characters will welcome players to a "zany" multi-level carnival full of shooting galleries and minigames that award players prizes. Some of the 10 fun themed shooting galleries are adapted from the Toy Story Midway Mania! theme park attraction, while others are brand-new for this home video game.

Up to four players can compete or cooperate during play and will enjoy the quick-firing ability of their controls, which allows them to shoot rapidly over and over without running out of ammo.

(© Disney)

Hands-on sneak peek preview of Toy Story Mania!

Disney Interactive Studios offered several levels for preview.

• A Pie Toss level that lets players chuck cream pies at round targets held by Buzz and Woody, who are standing on an old-fashioned red-curtained stage. This level allows players to get a feel for the controls.
• Woody's Rootin' Tootin' Shootin' level, in which players shoot rubber suction cup-tipped darts at targets in a Western-themed environment.
• A Gold Rush level in which players play skeeball and roll wooden balls into Old West wooden houses.
• A Tossed in Space level (featuring the squeeze toy aliens from the Toy Story movies), in which players toss rings around items such as the aliens and bumps on planet rings.
• A level in which the little green army men from Toy Story build complicated stacks of wooden blocks for players to knock over with rubber balls.

Disney Interactive Studios has taken care to make the game enjoyable for young children and adults to play together. Scores are not tallied with numbers on-screen (just subtly noted in ways such as piling up stacks of gold), so kids will not have it constantly rubbed in their faces if their scores are not as high as those of other players. Also, the cooperative element allows parents and kids to work together toward shared goals instead of competing against each other.

The theming for the game is fantastic, immersive and appealing with nice toy-themed touches like the little green army men lowering themselves down with the help of jump ropes.

Even after just a small taste of the game's offerings, a four-year-old tester was brought close to tears at the prospect of turning it off to try out another game. Families will definitely enjoy playing this game together, and with Disney offering it for sale as theme park visitors exit the actual attraction (as well as in retail outlets across the country), it is sure to be a huge hit.