Mining the Toy Story franchise never sent anyone to the poorhouse, and Disney/Pixar picked Buzz Lightyear to carry the torch and play the lead role in this kiddie action-game, from Activision. Since the basis for Buzz’s new fame is a cartoon TV series, the animation and graphics in Buzz Lightyear of Star Command are very bright and mixed with animated cut-scenes. The in-game animation and lighting is great, but nobody expects less from a Disney production. What I find impressive is how much action and effects can be on-screen before there’s any slowdown noticeable, and how much interaction is possible with other characters and objects.

Buzz Lightyear reminds me a little of behind-the-shoulder platformers like Crash Bandicoot or Tarzan, although the change in perspective and mini-games aren’t anywhere to be seen in this game. Buzz’s mission is to track down bad guys. How he does this is by racing them down a track, overcoming obstacles, and gathering power-ups on his way to the final showdown. The clock is ticking, so even though side-paths and power-ups may be tempting, you can’t beat the boss if you don’t get to the end of the track in time. Buzz has plenty of weapons to use and can jump, fly, or grab a hoverboard to navigate past trouble if diplomacy fails. Both weapons and some of the special items in each level are earned by collecting coins. It’s possible to play through without using some of the props, but they do make life easier. Most of the environments have unique hazards, and each boss will put up guardian robots, mines, and bombs in an effort to keep you from reaching the end of the track under time and in good health.

Once you reach the end of the line, you’ll have one chance to battle the boss, and this almost always involves some strategy. The basic idea is that you’ll need to wear down the boss’ armor and then finish them off. The armor is tough, and though some bosses run away, most are on the offensive. As you’d expect from a Buzz Lightyear game, Buzz can equip his suit with different combinations of weapons, and some work better than others for special enemies. Secret passages, hidden treasure, power-ups, and coins needed to buy your way into later levels can be found while you run through on your way to the boss battle, but you need mad skills to pick up everything. Opening all 14 levels takes plenty of time, and some kids will definitely be frustrated trying to get ahead without knowing why they’re stuck.

Having timed levels makes Buzz Lightyear of Star Command a frustrating experience at best. While there are tons of little goodies hidden within each level, exploration is usually rewarded by running out of time and restarting the level. It would have made sense to include some kind of ‘clock’ power-up that would grant extra time, but I’m from the school that games like this (made for kids) should be balanced enough for less experienced gamers to finish, while leaving in plenty of extras for those up to the challenge. As it is, Buzz Lightyear is tough to get a grip on, and you may lose interest in seeing the next level after trying to figure out what missing secret you need to advance while replaying levels again and again.

Buzz Lightyear has good controls, and nothing feels sloppy or half-done. Analog and vibration work nicely, and controlling the vehicles Buzz gets his hands on is really easy. Shoulder buttons work as a left-right strafe feature, so Buzz can get by sharpshooter robots and evade gunfire from quick bosses. Learning to identify power-ups is critical since you won’t have time to get them all, and changing weapons is easy to manage. There are lots of ammo pickups, and other dropped items include health and special weapons. The coins add up to let you access higher levels, much like Rayman 2, and there are a certain number of those cute little green alien guys in each level, waiting to be rescued. Things like coins and alien rescues are important to moving ahead, but they take a back-seat to catching up with the bad guy before time runs out. Especially with such nice looking stuff going on, I really wished there were some mode that didn’t require Buzz to run around like a chicken with its head cut off all the time. Beating the boss character results in a cut-scene movie, and there are usually movies before the levels start. Bonus levels can be opened up, but don’t play any different than the normal game. The only real difference is that Buzz has to gather different items, and gets to run through a new area.

I was expecting more, especially from the company that gave its name to fun kiddie games like Tarzan, Toy Story, and Toy Story Racer. The basic premise of Buzz Lightyear is like a racing game combined with a platformer. Games like Tarzan managed to mix up the action between exploration and precision platforming work, but Buzz Lightyear of Star Command seems stuck in the same rut, level after level, and the difficulty in figuring out objectives and scoring will leave all but the most diehard Toy Story fans in the dust.