As a gaming mascot, Mickey Mouse would not wield the identical energy as he does in animation. Nonetheless, Disney’s beloved rodent has starred in lots of glorious releases over time, together with the basic Fort of Phantasm collection. By evoking that title, Disney Phantasm Island declares its intent to be a top quality expertise, not an inexpensive cash-in. And it largely succeeds. Though its mechanics might be deeper, this $39.99 Nintendo Swap-exclusive recreation combines a refined presentation, tight controls, and considerate and expansive stage design to create an journey that every one ages will love.
Mouseketeers
After a collection of comedian miscommunications, lovable foursome Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Goofy, and an especially surly Donald Duck wind up stranded on a mysterious island. To flee, these heroes should uncover the secrets and techniques behind misplaced tomes, historic wars, and various betrayals. Thankfully, the sport by no means takes itself too severely. Textual content-based dialogue sequences are evenly break up between jokes and essential explanations. The sport’s starting and finish are loaded with animated cutscenes that double as entertaining, fashionable Mickey Mouse cartoons, full with voice performing.
Basically, Disney Phantasm Island presents itself like one large Mickey Mouse cartoon. The characters function throwback, Steamboat Willie-style designs much like the current The Fantastic World of Mickey Mouse collection on Disney+. The island includes three main biomes themed after botany, engineering, and astronomy. The lovingly painted illustrated backdrops convey these themes with whimsy and appeal, from pastoral farmland to whirring robotic mail rooms. As well as, the orchestrated music is rousing and triumphant.
The artwork by no means interferes with the gameplay. Regardless of the various cute animations, character motion feels satisfyingly tight and responsive, precisely the dealing with you need from a platformer. Rayman Legends pulled this off, too. These aren’t Cuphead-tier retro visuals, however the recreation seems to be very good. The 2D, flat fashion additionally means the title by no means taxes the Nintendo Swap {hardware}, even with 4 lively gamers.
Mickey-Vania
Though the earlier Phantasm titles have been commonplace 2D side-scrollers, Disney Phantasm Island is a Metroidvania. The island and its biomes are one giant, spectacular, and interconnected map, with sections you’ll be able to solely attain after acquiring a brand new potential. The Metroidvania system is likely one of the most entertaining (but in addition most complicated) genres, so it’s significantly admirable that Disney Phantasm Island does its finest to make this fashion approachable for kids. Quests offer you hints on the place to go subsequent, teleporters cut back backtracking, and exploration principally entails discovering non-obligatory goodies in your gallery relatively than obligatory upgrades.
Nonetheless, Disney Phantasm Island entails plenty of crisscrossing throughout the large map, Metroid Dread-style, to seek out the trail ahead. Regularly, you’ll want to seek out three keys inside a small cluster of environments to unlock an essential door. You acquire a reasonably commonplace set of latest powers, together with a ground-pounding assault and a grappling hook. I get pleasure from how every character has its personal distinctive instrument to symbolize the identical potential. Mickey double jumps utilizing a jetpack, whereas Minnie makes use of a paper airplane to realize the identical impact.
Most fascinating, Disney Phantasm Island options nearly no fight. You may’t defeat enemies, not even by leaping on them. You may solely keep away from them as dynamic obstacles. I actually admire this try to make a youngsters’ recreation a non-violent affair, which is becoming for the Mickey Mouse model. It additionally locations a larger emphasis on the sport’s pure platforming and glorious exploration. This doesn’t harm the problem. Among the trickier leaping puzzles will make you cheerful that the sport options problem choices.
That mentioned, the dearth of fight makes the sport really feel considerably shallow. It leaves a gap that is not stuffed with a equally partaking mechanic. Disney Phantasm Island lasts a number of hours, however the many rooms begin to blur collectively as interactions really feel more and more comparable, regardless of an increasing toolkit. Even gimmicks, reminiscent of shifting room layouts and ethereal platforms, didn’t present the variability I craved. Kids could not thoughts, as they could be enthralled by the Metroidvania format. Disney Phantasm Island is extra of an introduction to the shape relatively than a stellar instance of it.
Issues positively get extra chaotic in multiplayer mode. Disney Phantasm Island options native co-op for as much as 4 gamers. In multiplayer, characters acquire further talents to heal one another or rescue one another from harmful conditions. As a solo participant, I discovered the sport’s boss fights fairly tedious as a result of they final too lengthy with out altering up their ways. However in multiplayer, the identical battles have been a lot better and breezier.
Illusions Revealed
Disney Phantasm Island is a recreation made with love and care, and it is a worthy entry within the Mickey Mouse canon. The truth that it’s nearly as good as it’s only makes its shortcomings, like mechanics that put on too skinny too rapidly, extra disappointing. However as a enjoyable and delightful platformer that additionally doubles as a gateway to Metroidvania design, Disney Phantasm Island is price your consideration.
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