Most other open-worlds would give you the tools in a fully built world, but here you got to see the world-building first hand. The real beauty of Toy Box mode was that you felt like you were building your own sandbox to explore. For me and many others, this was the main mode of Toy Story 3 the story mode felt rushed and like a last-minute addition in comparison. Other Pixar franchises were present including Finding Nemo, WALL-E, The Incredibles and Monsters, Inc. Toy Box mode was chock-a-block with things to do and hidden items, and not just from Toy Story. Once you started to unlock extra areas you could really start to explore the surroundings. By completing missions and errands you earned gold to buy new buildings and areas from the world-famous Al’s Toy Barn. It quickly built up with several additions, including a race track, a spaceport for Emperor Zurg, and tons more. This level started with Woody being told his friends are locked up in various places inside Sunnyside Daycare, and that they would need to avoid the spotlights and evil Buzz Lightyear who was patrolling the ground.Īt the start of Toy Box mode there was only a small Western town where Sheriff Woody was in charge. For a platformer to contain a stealth section is always going to trigger a red flag in my mind, but this was something else. For this, you had to complete the Prison Break level without tripping any alarms.
One in particular that will forever stand out in my head is the achievement called Sneaky Sneaky.
Having the level select was useful, as specific levels had bonus objectives to complete which granted players achievements. Once a level was completed it could be replayed at any time by choosing it from the select menu, which was represented as a board game not unlike The Game of Life, with each level represented by a building along the path. The story mode was very run of the mill: levels were based around certain sections of the film, including the runaway train from the opening scenes, the prison break and the incinerator (though the game version of this scene was far less heartbreaking).