YOU’RE A TOY! T-O-Y, TOY!
Last week at the D23 Expo, we got an extended look at one of the new worlds coming to Kingdom Hearts III. Much to a lot of people’s surprise, the game will feature a level based around Toy Story, famous for being the first full length CGI film. For years, the goal of recreating that film with real-time graphics has been a dream for hardware manufacturers. Sony famously claimed that the PS2 was capable of providing the same visual fidelity, though that was obviously hogwash.
Now, though, it seems totally possible. With a cursory examination of the KH3 trailer, Toy Story looks exactly the same as it did in the film. Woody’s movements and scale are recreated flawlessly and Andy’s room is basically a 1:1 replica. Have we finally achieved graphical nirvana?
Leave it to Digital Foundry to take a much closer look at things most users would gloss over. While the conclusion is a bit mixed (certain aspects look better while others are just too far out of current GPU reach), it is fascinating to see which elements are stronger than the 1995 classic and which could be improved in a few short years.
Personally, I’m more excited about Kingdom Hearts III now that Toy Story is involved. I understand why Square Enix has focused on more recent Disney films with the spin-off games, but the entire reason my generation got interested in this series was because of its inclusion of classic Disney properties. There really isn’t anything more classic to people in my age group than Toy Story, so its recreation feels like a return to form.
Face-Off: Kingdom Hearts 3 vs Toy Story [Eurogamer]
