With tight release schedules to adhere to, movie tie-in games are often criticized for being rushed and under-developed. Moreover, video games aimed at children are often looked down upon for being too simplistic, which would seemingly be enough to make Pixar second guess releasing games based on their films.
Despite this, there have been over twenty games released featuring the iconic characters of Pixar. Helped in no small part by many of Pixar’s titles, such as The Incredibles, Cars, and Toy Story being ideally suited for the video game treatment. Although many of these games have fit into the negative stereotypes that follow movie tie-in games, there have been a few diamonds in the rough.
10 Wall-E (67)
The Wall-E video game is a prime example of the phrase Jack-of-all-trades, master of none. Although it is categorized as a platformer, the game also features racing, flying, and combat sections that have players controlling either Wall-E or EVE.
This variety in gameplay may sound appealing on paper. However, none of the gameplay styles are particularly engaging and players will likely become disillusioned with the game after just a few hours.
Despite this, Wall-E is still a decent game that will just about satisfy fans of the film.
9 The Incredibles: Rise of the Underminer (67)
Developers Heavy Iron Studios clearly had fan-service in mind when making Rise of the Underminer. Not only did the game’s story focus on the cliffhanger at the end of the first The Incredibles film. But they also let player’s control fan-favorite character, Samuel L Jackson’s Frozone.
Whereas the first The Incredibles game had several gameplay styles befitting the superhero family’s various abilities. Rise of the Underminer was almost entirely an action game. With playable characters Mr. Incredible and Frozone each having separate skills, players could either switch between them or have a friend join the action in co-op.
8 Kinect Rush: A Disney/Pixar Adventure (68)
Kinect Rush: A Disney/Pixar Adventure takes players into the world of five of Pixar’s most iconic movies. Cars, The Incredibles, Toy Story, Ratatouille, and UP. Despite this impressive lineup, Kinect Rush was available at launch for as little as $19.99.
As the price-tag suggests, players won’t be delving too deep into these games. Furthermore, the gameplay is very simplistic, even for the Kinect. Solidifying the game’s target audience as being the youngest of gamers.
The game is fun to play though and has since been re-released onto the Xbox One. The re-release has full controller support available, as well as a new world, Finding Nemo.
7 Cars (71)
When the first Cars film produced levels of income that not even the most optimistic of Pixar employees could have predicted, it was inevitable that a tie-in game would soon follow.
Commendably, developers Rainbow Studios decided against taking the easy route of simply having a level selection screen, containing a collection of races from the film. Instead, they implemented a hub-world for players to explore. Unfortunately, Cars suffers from the fundamental issue of having sub-par racing controls and physics.
6 Cars 2 (72)
Despite being just a point ahead of Cars, Cars 2 significantly improved the controls and physics from the first game. With a boost system that rewards players for doing risky maneuvers and stunts, as well as the inclusion of Mario Kart inspired power-ups. Furthermore, Cars 2 improved on Cars’ bland desert-aesthetic with far more immersive and visually appealing tracks.
Cars 2 also gave players an impressive lineup of 25 different cars to choose from. Each with its own weight class, as well as speed and power attributes.
5 Cars 3: Driven to Win (72)
Cars certainly can’t be criticized for being inconsistent. With Cars 3, the highest-rated game in the trilogy, being just one point ahead of the lowest. Indicative of its identical score, Cars 3 didn’t improve the series in the same way that Cars 2 did. It’s still narrowly the best game in the trilogy though.
As players would expect from it taking the generational jump to the PS4 and Xbox One. Cars 3: Driven to Win looks and runs significantly better than its predecessors. A few nice customization options aside though, Cars 3 fails to make the next generation leap to separate itself from the first two installments that fans would have hoped for.
4 LEGO The Incredibles (74)
Movie tie-in games are less common today than they used to be for two reasons. For starters, consumers grew tired of being frequently disappointed with short and generic game versions of their favorite movies. Secondly, when LEGO Star Wars was released in 2005 to excellent sales and reviews, the Danish toy giants took over the movie tie-in genre with their beloved collectathon formula.
LEGO The Incredibles has everything that players would expect in a LEGO game. There are a few differentiators from the other entries though. Including side missions that provide a nice distraction and special combo moves that are charged by consecutively hitting enemies. A Metacritic score of 74 is somewhat sub-par for LEGO games. Likely due to LEGO The Incredibles not bringing much else new to the table.
3 Toy Story 2: The Video Game (75)
Toy Story 2: The Video Game does everything that a movie tie-in game should. Along with the excellent soundtrack and visuals fitting of the corresponding film. Developers Traveller’s Tales clearly tried hard to make not just a great tie-in game, but a great game in its own right. Toy Story 2 had excellent platforming and collectathon gameplay. Taking inspiration from classics of the genre like Super Mario 64 and Banjo-Kazooie.
Players took control of Buzz Lightyear and could utilize his iconic abilities, from the laser beam to his deployable wings.
2 Toy Story Racer (76)
With Mario Kart 64, Crash Team Racing, and Diddy Kong Racing filling shelves in the late ’90s, Activision attempted to bring the trend into the 2000s with Toy Story Racer.
Toy Story Racer contains much of what players would expect from a kart racer. From powerups that can take down other racers, to tracks in iconic locations from the source material. However, the game differentiates itself from the aforementioned titles with its gameplay. Toy Story Racer has looser, nippier controls more akin to the gameplay in Micromachines than Mario Kart 64.
1 Toy Story 3: The Video Game (78)
With Toy Story 3 taking the top spot, Pixar’s Toy Story impressively occupies the leading three spots on this list. It earns it too with excellent linear stages inspired directly by its corresponding film, as well as a fantastic open-world toy box mode. The mode is surprisingly fleshed out, with a huge amount of customization available for both buildings and characters.
Furthermore, both the main levels and the side missions are well designed and great fun to play.
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