Review:
Straight from the Toy Story universe we get treated to a prequel of sorts with Buzz Lightyear of Star Command. What we have here is a little dip into the life and times of old Buzz before he hooked up with Woody and all of the Toy Story characters.
To present this little "side" story we are treated to a nice overhead 3rd person shooter. The objective is to defeat Zurg's minions and sub bosses and then ultimately confront and defeat the evil Zurg himself in an effort to save the entire galaxy. Pretty heady stuff, but then you ARE Buzz Lightyear.so it's "To infinity and beyond" with you!
Besides the somewhat different gameplay elements, the game LOOKS like an extension to the Toy Story 2 game for the PSX. Overall, nothing groundbreaking here, just another game based on a really nice working game engine.
I liked the character models, which although completely made from polygons, look remarkably lifelike and are smoothly animated. There are also a few nice special effects thrown into the mix.
The menu interface is pretty slick and we are also treated to some nice cartoon interludes between missions to help progress the storyline.
Of course to go along with the nice graphics we need some spiffy sound effects and luckily Buzz has them. Weapon sounds are nicely done and basically everything else you do (bump into things, picking up items, etc.) has a nice corresponding sound effect to it. The music is right in line as well with some larger than life scores. Even the voice acting is right on the money.unfortunately Tim Allen doesn't do the voice-over for Buzz, but Patrick Warburton fills in admirably.
Each level will see Buzz tracking down one of the sub-bosses to their hideout and then having a final confrontation with them.
To keep things interesting the developers have added a lot of neat little ideas. For instance, there are weapons enclosed in little bubbles that you will pass as you journey forward. You can only break those bubbles though when you have accumulated enough points. To collect points you have to run over little triangles. Some are directly in your path while others are a little out of your way. While this may seem simple, you are racing against time, trying to reach the bosses hideout before they arrive - this forces you to gather points quickly.
There are also little shortcuts along the way that you may be lucky enough to find, that will cut your time down nicely. Also scattered about the levels are neat little transportation items like wings, hoverboards, jet bikes, boostpads and teleporters.
Features:
· Full Space Ranger Power - As the galaxy's best Space Ranger, players have the latest gadgetry at their disposal, from lasers to lightning guns to homing plasma bolts. Fans experience the fun of catching air as they ride a jetpack, hoverboard or jetbike. Then they speed through hostile worlds using shields, jumps and all of their Space Ranger reflexes.
· Retro-Futuristic Sci-Fi Worlds - Players explore seven immersive worlds and 14 huge levels - each with its own distinct scenery and challenges - as they interact with real-time 3D characters. Visit Jo-Ad, Trade World, Karn, Gargantua, Canis Lunis and of course battle the evil Emperor Zurg himself on Planet Z
· A Galaxy of Personalities - Players join Buzz's A-Team - Mira, Booster and X-R - and enlist the aid of various helpers like Zeb Nebula and LGMs (Little Green Men). They must defeat the most infamous and powerful bosses from the series, including Torque, XL, Warp Darkmatter and the Evil Emperor Zurg and his pawns.
Options:
• Number of Disks: 1
• Number of blocks used on Memory card per save: 1
• Maximum number of Players (without a multi-tap): 1
• Multi-tap compatible (max players): No
• Link-cable compatible (max players): No
• Split screen multi-player option (max players): No
• Other accessories: None
• Dual Shock Pad Digital Button compatible: Yes
• Dual Shock Pad Analog Stick compatible: Yes
• Dual Shock Pad Vibration compatible: Yes
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