When your checkpoint before a boss also precedes a cutscene, that video can't be skipped. The game does have one frustrating flaw regarding these battles, however. If you played the original Castle of Illusion, seeing how the designers adapted boss fights to newer technology will be a nice surprise.

One enemy spins wildly around a circular arena when struck. For example, when you're fighting a dragon, platforms are pulled out from underneath you as you run 'away' from the screen, forcing you to quickly jump to another one. These battles provide a moderate and welcome challenge, as well as offer you atypical gameplay. Most of the levels are set along a flat plane, but boss fights often break into the third dimension. Coupled with the narration, the art and effects really bring the storybook feel to the center of the stage. One level has you jumping across falling leaves and dangling spiders. Marching toy soldiers are twice as tall as Mickey, and jack-in-the-box heads are suitable springboards. The art style also uses scale to convey a sense of place. The levels from the original game, including the forest, the library, and the toy land, are gorgeously visualized.

Speaking of exploration, the art looks so great you'll want to stray off the main path just to see it all. It serves this purpose well, but the minimal difficulty and dearth of levels ensure you'll finish the game in only a few hours. Castle of Illusion instead offers a slower, trial-and-error type of gameplay in service of collection and exploration. Some platformers are about instantaneous repetition and twitch corrections. If you fail, the enemy respawns quickly, meaning you won't have to keep restarting the level to make progress or discover all the collectible games, cards, or peppers.

Some areas can be accessed only by bouncing off an enemy's head. Because of this, Castle of Illusion is rarely a difficult game. Mickey's animations, as well as the movements of his enemies, are slow and deliberate. Jumping and bouncing are your primary methods of interacting with this world. The narrator comments on Mickey's various troubles, and his theatrical voice is enjoyable and may remind you of kindergarten story time-but it's difficult to substantially enrich a story as thin as tissue paper.

While it makes sense to use the original plot as the blueprint of a remake, it's too bad it doesn't reach the heights of the newly added narration. You must-you guessed it-find your courage and save the helpless damsel before it's too late. Mickey and Minnie are enjoying a beautiful day together when Minnie is kidnapped by the terrible witch, Mizrabel. The platforming is a bit too forgiving, yet the game succeeds because it falls back on Disney's greatest magic trick: the ability to yank you from your living room and show you something truly imaginative, even if only for a little while.Ĭastle of Illusion is a remake of the 1990 Sega Genesis game of the same name, and it will instantly be familiar to those who have played the original. Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse constantly places you in these kinds of fantastical situations, which are equal parts beautiful and dangerous. Later, as you step across the ledge of a bookshelf, tomes spring to life and blast you off your feet. After bouncing on ghosts in a dark forest, you suddenly find yourself soaring above the clouds.

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