Wii version of Toy Story Mania delivers theme-park-level fun

Wii's version of Toy Story Mania, the ride-through, oversized video-game attraction at Disney's Hollywood Studios, came out this week, and my friend Bj invited me over to experience it last night. (Immediate disclaimer: I am no gamer and seriously lack in that whole eye-hand coordination that I've heard so much about).

Bottom line: the Wii version is fun -- an awesome representation of the theme park ride and then some.

The look is straight from the attraction, which opened last year at DHS and Disney's California Adventure. In fact, it's a little more crisp because it's not totally 3-D. Many of the basic scenes are the same. Players still pop balloons, smash plates, shoot at various targets. The ring-toss game continues to vex me, just like "real life" at the park. There's lots of character interaction, usually with their voices urging you on or warning that time is almost up for that screen.

Alt_wii_skee_tsm_gpwii_gold-rush In the basic set-up, there's a couple of games not in the park attraction, and they're midway-related. One is like the Strongman/Test of Strength hammer (with the Toy Story aliens rising to hit the bell), while another is Skeeballish. (See photograph.)

Each competition comes with a stated set of objectives: hit all four bunnies, smash every target on this rail, etc. At the end of each game, your score is revealed and how many objectives you accomplished. (Maddenly, it doesn't repeat what the missed objective specifically was). I'm sure there are more Easter eggs, but I'm too novice to even know if I've activated them.

Once you've unlocked the basic game, more become available. They continue to be in the Toy Story family, though some are more intense -- the plates fly faster, there are more ships in your crosshairs. There's a fun one where you launch cherries into drinks passing by on conveyor belts. Another one is an odd pinball thing that I couldn't get the hang of.

The Wii set comes with two sets of 3-D paper glasses (like you might use for Creature from the Black Lagoon, not the sturdy plastic polarized ones from the park). There are some 3-D features, but truly we ditched the glasses early. Not that exciting, and my Wii moves are BIG and not glasses-friendly.

And the game uses the regular Wii remotes -- not a pull-string cannon as seen at DHS. My arms are sore from all the maneuvering anyway. That's just one more way that it's just like being there.