GAME CLEAR No. 101 -- Toy Story 2: Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue!

Toy Story 2: Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue! (1999, Multiplatform)

Developer: Traveller’s Tales
Publisher: Disney Interactive/Activision
Clear Version: PlayStation
Clear Platform: PlayStation 5
Clear Date: 7/12/22

This here’s another one of the PS1 games you can play on PS5 now. It’s much higher resolution and has some anti-aliasing and such. I got this because it was just a few bucks, and it was a game I recall renting as a child but never finishing.

It’s pretty good! Traveller’s Tales is now known for their very pleasant LEGO series games, but this was one of their earlier works. It’s a very competent little 3D platformer. It more or less follows the environments of the movie with FMV clips to carry the action along, but the levels pretty much all follow the same formula: Buzz has to collect some Pizza Planet tokens from his buddies (and one boss) to move on to the next stage. Hamm wants coins, another toy wants Buzz to find 5 things, and other characters issue various platforming or racing challenges. It works! It’s certainly not mind-blowing or boundary-pushing stuff, but it’s fun.

Buzz feels nice to move around. He can double jump, spin attack, fire his laser (in first or third-person modes), and he unlocks some other powerups throughout the game. Some Pizza Planet tokens in early stages require access to those powerups, so there’s some doubling back necessary to 100% the game. I went ahead and did so because I just can’t get enough of 3D platformer collectathons.

Glad to have downloaded this hazy memory from the nineties and taken the few hours to knock it out. It’s cool that it’s available, and it looks nice and sharp on the PS5!