To conquer a level, Buzz chases the boss through the entire stage until they ultimately meet at the end and fight. However, simply killing enemies and dodging their shots will not allow Buzz to complete a level. Buzz must also reach the end no later than 15 seconds after the boss does, or he will fail. Additionally, just because Buzz defeats the boss does not necessarily allow him tackle the next level. Instead, Buzz must earn a given number of medals that he acquires by completing a specific task such as finishing the stage very quickly or picking up all of the Little Green Men within a level. As a result, players tackle the same stage multiple times, which eventually becomes tedious. In each world, Buzz collects credits that he can use like money. Most special items such as more powerful weapons, shields and alternative transportation methods require Buzz to possess a particular number of credits before he can pick them up. Since Buzz Lightyear’s system makes players carefully choose power-ups, it adds a touch of strategy not found in many other action games.

Buzz Lightyear’s control feels loose for the most part. Buzz frequently gets stuck against objects, which costs him important time. Buzz also makes fairly wide, slow turns. Players will try to pick up a nearby object that lies just diagonally to Buzz only to end up circling the item. While the game supports both analog and digital pads, neither control setup offers any more precision or ease of use than the other. Luckily, the computer-controlled camera usually cooperates.

The game uses the Dreamcast to paint smooth, colorful worlds with a modest amount of detail. The characters do look like cartoon figures and they animate reasonably well. Players can set the game’s draw distance to either far or near in the options. Set on far draw distance, the worlds don’t exhibit as much draw in but more fog does cover the backgrounds. Unlike the PlayStation version, the Dreamcast game does not suffer from warped textures or seaming problems. Lighthearted background music plays as Buzz travels through the worlds, although players will probably tune it out. Similarly, the sound effects mostly come across as standard.

Buzz Lightyear offers a different experience than most Dreamcast games. The concept of a game that mixes platform action and racing sounds unique, but Buzz Lightyear doesn’t provide quite enough entertainment to make it a worthwhile purchase at full price. The narrow, restrictive designs of most of the levels provide Buzz with little freedom to explore, which in turn shortens the game’s lifespan. Interested players should rent Buzz Lightyear first to decide if they enjoy the game’s repetitive style.