Pretty much a perfect description of the game. Capturing that specific blend of heart, humor, Nightmare Fuel and sadness, Warren Spector and his team have crafted a Mickey game that brings him back to his adventurous roots while not playing second fiddle to a spiky haired kid obsessed with friendship. The story and world design is a very top-notch way to play with Disney history and fulfills a small dream of mine for an actually good Disney Theme Parks inspired adventure game that is only really marred by the bad camera that everybody has already complained about.
An appreciation for Disney history really helps with the experience with all the references to various movies, merchandise and rides through over 80 years of Disney's history, though some of Spector's omission decisions such as the removal of an Alice In Wonderland level because of Burton's movie do end up feeling like a Missed Moment Of Awesome and Wasteland's population is less diverse because of those cuts, being limited to characters sourced from the Fab Five focused Classic Disney Shorts, Captain Hook's pirates and the Gremlins, who are apparently are missing the Fifinella (females) section of their population. There's definitely some Sequel Hook threads though that may give Spector an opportunity to solve these problems and expand Wasteland further. Maybe even go back a bit and give us Pre-Oswald stuff or extend the park references to go beyond Disneyland.
The music throughout the game does a great job in capturing a Disney feel and even twisting familiar tunes along the way. Jim Dooley was apparently trained by classic Disney musician Buddy Baker and it does show quite a bit, especially in Ventureland. As for the Zelda inspired voicework, I didn't mind it as much as others did, but I can't help but think if they had gone with full voice acting that this could have been for Bret Iwan what "A Goofy Movie" was for Bill Farmer as far as showing great emotional range with the character.
Missed opportunities aside, this first venture into the world of Wasteland is a fun ride like many of the attractions you find ersatz and melancholy versions of in the game. And now I'm looking forward to get back in line and go again, though hopefully the wait for a sequel won't be as long as the line to get into Soarin' at Epcot.
A Disney Movie in Videogame Form
Pretty much a perfect description of the game. Capturing that specific blend of heart, humor, Nightmare Fuel and sadness, Warren Spector and his team have crafted a Mickey game that brings him back to his adventurous roots while not playing second fiddle to a spiky haired kid obsessed with friendship. The story and world design is a very top-notch way to play with Disney history and fulfills a small dream of mine for an actually good Disney Theme Parks inspired adventure game that is only really marred by the bad camera that everybody has already complained about.
An appreciation for Disney history really helps with the experience with all the references to various movies, merchandise and rides through over 80 years of Disney's history, though some of Spector's omission decisions such as the removal of an Alice In Wonderland level because of Burton's movie do end up feeling like a Missed Moment Of Awesome and Wasteland's population is less diverse because of those cuts, being limited to characters sourced from the Fab Five focused Classic Disney Shorts, Captain Hook's pirates and the Gremlins, who are apparently are missing the Fifinella (females) section of their population. There's definitely some Sequel Hook threads though that may give Spector an opportunity to solve these problems and expand Wasteland further. Maybe even go back a bit and give us Pre-Oswald stuff or extend the park references to go beyond Disneyland.
The music throughout the game does a great job in capturing a Disney feel and even twisting familiar tunes along the way. Jim Dooley was apparently trained by classic Disney musician Buddy Baker and it does show quite a bit, especially in Ventureland. As for the Zelda inspired voicework, I didn't mind it as much as others did, but I can't help but think if they had gone with full voice acting that this could have been for Bret Iwan what "A Goofy Movie" was for Bill Farmer as far as showing great emotional range with the character.
Missed opportunities aside, this first venture into the world of Wasteland is a fun ride like many of the attractions you find ersatz and melancholy versions of in the game. And now I'm looking forward to get back in line and go again, though hopefully the wait for a sequel won't be as long as the line to get into Soarin' at Epcot.