For the first time in the series, Kingdom Hearts III features a couple of Pixar worlds among its roster of Disney franchise features, and one of those is none other than Toy Story. In the Toy Box world, Sora’s crew team up with the Woody, Buzz and friends to scope out an enormous, multi-level toy store to try and solve some recent disappearances. Like any good toy store, Galaxy Toys has departments that cater to specific needs, like action figures or outdoor toys. On the middle level is a section dedicated to video games, and it’s here that more Verum Rex paraphernalia can be found, including a playable spinoff mecha game called Verum Rex: Beat of Lead.
Aside from Verum Rex though, the department is full of other imaginary video game titles to peruse. I took the time while writing my recent review of the game to check out what else was on offer and put together a list of which ones I’m most keen to play. Interestingly enough it seems that in the world of Toy Story one single gaming console holds a monopoly on the entire market – – the Play Plus – – so if you like the look of any of these you’ll have to own one.
VERUM REX
The game of the moment, Verum Rex (Latin for True King) is a Final Fantasy XV/Versus XIII parody complete with a team of hot, angsty boys fighting giant mechs with flashy attacks. Rex manages to mistake Sora, Donald and Goofy for the three heroes of Verum Rex (Rex, get it?) despite two of them not being an anthropomorphic dog and a useless duck. I haven’t had the chance to check out the core Verum Rex game yet but I’ve sunk some decent time into the mech-battling spinoff, Beat of Lead, and enjoyed it.
SPACE CATS
Okay so it’s hard to glean exactly what kind of game this is from the cover alone but that hardly matters when it’s called Space Cats. Any combination of those two things is guaranteed to be amazing. My hope is that it’s a space exploration game set in the near future where humanity has built a laser so powerful it can project onto distant planets and you play as a cat who wants to catch it.
WALL STREET NINJA 2
Everybody keeps referring to the upcoming Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice as Dark Souls with samurai, which is fair given it’s by the same developers. If fans want a real challenging action game though, they should look to Wall Street Ninja 2, a game where your chances to equip and upgrade your character hinge on your ability to play the volatile stock markets. This is the second game in the series too, featuring all new cryptocurrency powers.
VERUM REX: BEAT OF LEAD
Okay so this one is actually playable in Kingdom Hearts III. A mech-battling spinoff of Verum Rex seemingly designed just to sell toys and merchandise, Best of Lead is still a lot of fun to play. Only one level is playable on the demo Play Plus console at Galaxy Toys but chasing high scores in that one level is damned addictive. Hot tip: the purple mech’s cannons wreck shop.
I do apologise to fans of classics like Speed Danger, Blood Fight and The Cute Chef. The Play Plus has a great library of games, but I couldn’t possibly highlight everything in one article. Make sure to stop in at the games department on your next trip to Galaxy Toys to check them all out.