Publisher: Disney Interactive
Developer: Disney Interactive, Traveller's Tales, Psygnosis
Size: 32 megs
No. of players: 1
Got it for: $4.90, complete

Following the story of the original movie(and pretty accurately, I might add) you play as Woody the toy cowboy....and....um....just go watch the movie to get the rest of the story, leave me alone!

What's it all about?
It's a sidescrolling, driving, flying and even first person shoot...er, walking, action game. Playing as Woody, you'll make your way through various scenes from the movie in a variety of playing styles. There's the traditional 2D sidescrolling sections that will have you moving through, trying to accomplish certain objectives before you can exit, and even racing portions where you'll ride Rex, Roller Bob and even just haul ass on your own two feet to make it to the finish. There are also overheard and third person racing missions where you'll control RC as you tear your way around the house and city. To add even more to the above mentioned modes, there is also a flying portion where you and Buzz will attempt to catch up to the moving truck while dodging trees, street lights and traffic. Finally, and most shockingly, there's even a first person mode where you are searching, and trying to free squeeze toy aliens inside the claw machine!
Graphics - Fucking amazing. If you didn't know any better, you'd swear it was a 32X game...it's that impressive. Each and every level is filled with jaw-dropping special effects and silky-smooth animation. The characters are huge, and gorgeously rendered with an amazing amount of color in them. Each new mode you encounter will continually blow you away, even more so than the last, with the level of detail and innovation in the graphics; this, folks, is the most graphically advanced Genesis game I have ever seen.

Sound - Not bad, but in comparison to the amazing graphics the sound really just seems to lack that extra touch. Now, that's not to say any of it sucks by any means, just that its nothing too far past standard Genesis fare. The digitized voice bits are a little scratchy, but the rest of the sound effects are alright. Music is about as varied as the gameplay...and is of decent quality(I especially dug the light techno mix that accompanies you when driving with RC).
Control - Control is damn smooth with the exception of the overhead RC driving sections...and it's not even that the control sucks on that part so much as the physics are just fucked. You hit a wall and the car just freaks out spinning in all sorts of directions...it's tough to get it back under control, especially when you've got the non-stop energy meter of the batteries going down every second of play.

AI - Brutal. It's bad enough that most of the hits are cheap, but the fact that they're just hailing down on you *all the time* really drives it over the edge. Playing this game without the Unlimited Lives code from the Game Genie, I've *never* made it past level seven. To add to this, Continues are virtually impossible to earn(going through the entire game, collecting stars the entire way, I earned *one, 1, O-N-E* continue, and it was after my stars were tallied up ON THE LAST LEVEL)...
Replay value - Moderate. The game is still a lot of fun, even with its insane difficulty level. Using the Game Genie helps take a lot of the frustration out of it, so you can enjoy the feast of graphics and special effects that this amazing title delivers, over and over.

Tips for better gaming experiences:
On the two overhead RC racing sections, just *tap* the Gas button to make your way around the track, trust me, you'll wipe out a lot less. Also, be sure and try to follow the path the stars make around the tracks as this is generally either the best path to take, or leads you to another battery.

The Claw level, where you have to protect Buzz, is quite possibly the hardest level on the game. There are a few things to remember here to successfully make it though: A) You ONLY need to attack the claw when it actually grabs Buzz(it generally takes one to two hits to knock him loose) and B) Try to stand to the right of the Claw at all times...this makes it WAY easier to actually hit it with the alien toys.
Past that, it is my recommendation that, to have any fun with the game, you use the Unlimited Lives code via the Game Genie. Trust me, you *will* need it...

Game Genie:
Unlimited Lives: BJDA-AA7A 

My rating: 95(out of 100) - One of the most graphically impressive Genesis games of all time. This is what you get when you mix Pixar/Disney animators(Disney Interactive) with a truly phenomenal development house(Traveller's Tales) and spike it with innovative play mechanics(Psygnosis). Sadly, the difficulty really hurts the title's playability, but hey, that's what the Game Genie is for right?

JD's toyish thoughts: Holy cats, this game is incredible...and incredibly fucking hard!
Get those army men moving!
Be SURE to pick up those batteries or your little drive will be just *this* short!
Hauling ass with RC!
Inside the Claw machine...
Toying around with the game:
The RC level that has Woody riding from a third person perspective(bottom, left hand pic) is actually a Genesis-only level. Apparently there are all sorts of weird, smaller changes between the Genesis and SNES version of the game. Check out the Toy Story Walkthrough by William Walker for more info on that.