The lack of monotonous play is something that I believe this game successfully taps into, and admittedly something that the early Fantasia (1940) era cartoons tapped into as well. The reason I feel compelled to talk about this is that I feel like by admitting that this game is fun and has a lot of variety I'm betraying something by admitting for instance that I'd much rather replay this over something like Cuphead. This is most felt at the beginning of the game when you walk into the castle and during a boss fight against a candy dragon where you have to jump between platforms. If you remember those pipe sections from Super Mario Odyssey (2017) imagine if those were longer and not actually segmented via pipes, imagine instead that you just got to a point in the stage and the camera switch to you allowing to walk away. In my minds eye I was thinking of games like Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards (2000) and Klonoa (1997) where the world is 3D and you have to often deal with attacks coming in from the background, there is some of that here with the Library section where you have to avoid the books protruding in from the background and the general variety for how the boss engagements are all attacking from different angles.1 However this is one order of magnitude even more impressive as it seamlessly moves the entire gameplay to 3D as well. The game overall is short enough you could beat over an hours cup of tea but has a teaming amount of variety for how you interact with each level that it never feels monotnous. Making it feel like the famous Thru the Mirror (1936) episode come to life. You have the enchanted forest of confusion, the library with books and letters coming alive, and an absolutely gorgeous candy world. Each of the 5 levels are creative and constantly have you moving between 3D micromanagement platforming, and satisfyingly 2D jump sections. There is unquestionably a lot here to like. Yet, as I've grown older I've learned that this automatic repulsion of licensed games and simple narratives is not doing anybody any favors. On top of all of that, its also a remake, and as a bit of an art purist I tend to find these fanfiction reanimations of the original work to be disappointing. An admittedly sexist dowry mission motivation where you have to save the damsel in distress Minnie from an evil witch trying to steal her beauty. You have the dissonance between the bosses being a touch too difficult and the platforming being a touch too easy, making it feel less satisfying for its supposed target audience, kids. You have this constant narration saying ultimately redundant things. You play as an over confidant and commercially monolithic protagonist who has too much corporate mascot baggage to be relatable. In principle, this sort of title should be absolutely unlikable for me. Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse (2013) is an ambitious platform mascot remake of a 1990 Sega Genesis release by the same name.
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