As a new parent, one of the things I look forward to the most is being able to play games with my son. That’s just one of the reasons why Disney Illusion Island quickly became a fun game to play with my family. A four-player co-op 2D platformer from Dlala Studios, developers of the recent Battletoads revival, Illusion Island seeks to combine the joy of traversing a seamless, massive world with Disney’s signature magic. After about 20 minutes of use, I found myself charming enough and left with the feeling that Dlala seemed to be on the right track.
The setting for this adventure is that Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Goofy travel to the famous Illusion Island, under the impression that each other has been invited to a picnic. The invitation was actually from the Toku, a group of creatures in desperate need of a hero to save them. Agree to help Toku.
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And to clarify, the island teeth Large scale. His CEO of Dlala, AJ Grand-Scrutton, doesn’t like using the term “Metroidvania” as a genre descriptor for Illusion Island, but ignores the impact these games had on the design of its world. I can not do it.
In his own words, “Look, it would be silly to pretend that the Metroidvania that inspires the structure of the game doesn’t exist. It’s a big seamless world. You can’t go through it until you get the ability.” You get to the gate, and in many ways it’s Metroidvania 101,” said Grand-Scrutton. He continues: This is not a fighting game. This is a game about all challenges solved through movement and abilities, not fighting. So I think structurally it’s very much inspired by Metroidvania, but I think our biggest influence is the platformers, the modern platformers, the platformers that we grew up on. think. ”
Luckily, its platforming feels really good. It was very smooth, had just the right amount of float for the jumps, and had a really nice flow from the level design, allowing me to move from place to place without a second thought. Despite the vast open-ended map, I felt like the design naturally pulled me where I wanted to go.
Of course, one of the most notable things about Illusion Island, and what drew me to it, as I said at the beginning, is the fact that the entire campaign is playable in four-player co-op. According to Grand-Scrutton, the decision to make each character’s controls the same is because making one character faster or making one character jump farther naturally leaves someone behind. Because it feels like
I basically play all the characters in the same way, but I made them feel different because of their animation styles. “If you think of Minnie as a paper plane, Goofy as Slinky, Donald as a slingshot, and Mickey as a bouncing ball, use the toy analogy. Then you animate around that,” he says Grand-Scrutton. . “It’s so weird because in reality they’re all the same, but when you play each one they all feel really different. So it’s a really fun challenge to overcome.”
I could only play Minnie, so I didn’t get to experience the feeling of the other characters myself, but it was a lot of fun when I was able to wall jump. There were fun cutscenes where every character was given a unique item representing their abilities. Mickey with a pencil, Minnie with climbing gear, Goofy with a fork, and Donald with a… plunger. It’s been a joy to see Donald’s reaction to his gift, and I think it’s going to be a recurring gag throughout the game. This is further enhanced by an art style that evokes a classic morning cartoon vibe, but with a modern sheen.
My time on Illusion Island was short, so I can’t comment on many of the deeper mechanics besides jumps, double jumps, and wall jumps. I got the impression that the game felt fairly easy, and that’s literally based on the first 20 minutes of playing the game. They told me that this is a family game, but that doesn’t mean it’s a children’s game.We platform fans who grew up and are still platform fans can play this. It’s fun, and Grant and I can play together and feel rewarded. However, if you want to play with your niece or nephew, we offer the ability to set both nephews’ health to infinity, and the ability to challenge yourself by playing with her two hearts. But they keep dying all the time, so I don’t have to worry about them suddenly fighting and defeating me.
As with any large, exploration-focused 2D platformer, discovery plays a big role in Illusion Island, and you can expect to find plenty of collectibles in the form of Glimt. It’s basically like a coin that can be used to unlock different things. Tokens, and many more.
Let’s not forget the soundtrack that also nails the ambient soundtrack you hear while walking around Disneyland. And fun is the best word to sum up my experience at Disney’s Illusion Island so far. If Dlala manages to evolve the mechanics in a satisfying way over the course of his adventure, Illusion Island has all the ingredients to make Mickey Mouse and his friends a fantastic return to his 2D platforming world. increase.
Mitchell Saltzman is IGN’s Editorial Producer.you can find him on twitter @jurassic rabbit
