I'm currently playing through a 2D platformer starring a mascot who's been famous for decades and who represents one of the world's best-known family-friendly brands. And no, it's not 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Super Mario Bros. Wonder.
I finished Mario's latest romp last week and immediately moved onto 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Disney Illusion Island. The Mickeyvania released over the summer and stars the iconic mouse, plus Minnie, Donald, and Goofy as they visit an island called Monoth for a picnic then get roped into an elaborate quest. With the same animation style as The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse TV series, the platformer is a really light, fun time that I've found myself surprisingly enjoying more than Mario Wonder.
Don't get me wrong, Mario Wonder has a lot to love. It feels great to play, and I really enjoyed the major new additions: Badges and Wonder Effects. But, I tend to align with what TheGamer's lead features editor Jade King said about the game: it feels l🎀ike it needs a sequel to really flesh out the ideas it presents. I enjoyed most levels individually, but 🦂I rarely felt like there was anything pulling me along to the next one. Each was a great, bite-sized chunk of well-designed Nintꦓendo fun. But, I was happy playing that one, and then setting the game down to do something else.
That isn't the case with Disney Illusion Island. All told, I'll likely finish this game (which ) in three sittings. Something about how the game is structured makes it incredibly easy to roll from one activity into the next without pausing to put the game down and come back later.
Most likely, that's the Metroidvania design at work. Whereas Mario Wonder’s levels are self-contained, completing one goal in Disney Illusion Island always leads into another. In Wonder, each level has its own gimmick, which means that you’re encountering a fresh learning curve every time you start a new stage. That isn’t bad, but there’s a higher barrier to entry each time. It’s a slight barrier, but it is there.
Disney Illusion Island doesn’t have that and I’ve been gobbling it down greedily as a result. It helps that, as you’re moving from one part of its sprawling map to another, you’re doing so with the help of one of the best traversal systems I’ve seen in a game this year. You can jump, then rocket forward, wall jump, and grind on rails. Eventually, you even get a tool — for Mickey it’s a helicopter bicycle contraption — that allows you to glide through the air and ride vertical currents up into the sky. Like in Spider-Man 2, you can stay above the ground for a really long time if you know how to use the system. It’s impressively well-tuned for a licensed platformer from a team (Dlala Studios) that I'd never heard of.
Though the name didn't ring a bell, Dlala Studios previously developed the 2020 Battletoads reboot.
Nothing about Illusion Island i💝s especially groundbreaking, but it always feels good in the moment. If you loved Super Mario Bros. Wonder and are looking for another platformer to play on Switch, this is a really goodꦬ option. And, like Mario Wonder, it has four-player co-op so you can assemble your Goof Troop. What’s better than exploring a hand drawn world with a full House of Mouse?
