The narrator's rumbling commentary adds a storybook feel to the action, but is never intrusive. Restrained attention to detail is also evident in the game's presentation. It feels natural when the perspective changes so Mickey can race away from a rolling boulder or navigate his way around moving cogs. This is a tricky balance to get right, but here it has been handled with care and subtlety. The big difference is that the Mega Drive version's side-scrolling graphics have been replaced by a mix of 2D and 3D visuals. The enemies are all based on the original designs, so once again you'll be amazed at how infuriated it's possible to be by an animated letter 'A'. The worlds are the same thematically, and sometimes structurally - at the end of the toy box level, for example, Mickey has to run back down the mountain of blocks and boats he's scaled, just like old times. The most fearsome boss weapon to be faced is a really big hammer.įans of the original will recognise plenty of stuff in here. Instead of browns and greys, the levels are rendered in bright greens, blues and golds. There are no frag grenades to lob at enemies, just shiny red apples. This is a faithful remake of a game from a time when games were, for the most part, jolly, silly affairs. Not to be confused with Castle of Illusion Starring Leslie Grantham. He must explore seven worlds and defeat seven bosses to collect seven rainbow gems, then smash Mizrabel's face off with a Boomshot grenade launcher while shouting "Lock and load!" and calling her a bitch. The game follows the adventures of the only popular entertainer of pensionable age not to have been arrested on child sex offences as he embarks on a quest to rescue his girlfriend, Minnie, from evil witch Mizrabel. The good news, however, is that new PSN, XBLA and PC effort Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse is the actual successor. This is like tying a ribbon round a dog turd and claiming it's a tribute to a Fabergé egg. Sorry, everyone.)Įpic Mickey: POI was billed as the "spiritual successor" to classic Mega Drive platformer Castle of Illusion. My once vivid recollections of the precise mechanics of mediocre early 90s platform games have been blurred by the passing of time and the horror of childbirth. (But then, my memory isn't very good, hence the error in that article about the double-jumping. Sharp, funny, and finger-on-the-pulse, it’s the information you need to know even when you don’t know you need it.It's been nearly a year since the release of 3DS title Epic Mickey: The Power of Illusion, a game so forgettable I almost forgot I reviewed it. GR Editorials is a semi-regular feature where we share our informed insights on the news at hand. You know that kid at parties who talks too much? Drink in hand, way too enthusiastic, ponderously well-educated in topics no one in their right mind should know about? Loud? Well, that kid’s occasionally us. There can be no higher praise of a remake than that. If one thing alone should be taken away from this 2013 game, it's that remakes should abandon all thoughts of porting the original code and instead make the original game again from scratch, using today's hardware and the original concept documents.īy never losing sight of what made the original what it was, the Castle of Illusion of 2013 is the one that gamers imagined they were seeing in 1990. And all without ever making the first play-through feel overly complex.įuture remakes of classic games need to learn from the successes of Sega Studios Australia's Castle of Illusion. The game rewards a keen eye and a brain for trying new things. So even though the game only takes between 2-3 hours to finish, it takes far longer to actually complete, as you test the platforming mechanics and push them to their logical limits. In the new version, secrets are hidden outside the camera's normal framing, or in an incidental cubbyhole in the scenery. The original's blocky levels are too chunky to allow for many truly-concealed areas, instead resorting to the old 'some blocks have no collision boxes' technique to surprise you. In fact, the platforming is better-designed than the original game. "Secrets are hidden outside the camera's normal framing, or in an incidental cubbyhole in the scenery" But what you don't get is dumbed-down platforming action. Modern audiences aren't used to that degree of harshness, so it was necessary to change it. The liberal sprinkling of restart points mean you never have to start the entire level again if you're near the end, and most certainly never ask you to begin the entire game from the beginning. The difficulty level is highly reminiscent of the original Castle of Illusion, but with some key concessions to modernity. But-thankfully-not all 1990s conventions have been preserved.
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