Mickey's jumping skills are serviceable, but feel weightless. Of course, with new dimensions comes a change in controls. These gems will open a path to the boss witch herself at the top of the Castle. Accompanied by the ever-present narrator, Mickey navigates these fantastical lands in pursuit of Mizrabel's henchmen and the seven rainbow gems they carry. The levels are whimsical affairs – Mickey travels through exotic locales like haunted forests, undersea ruins, and a world of sugar and candy found within a cup of tea. ![]() Some stages even shift to a top-down perspective, allowing Mickey free, unfettered access to all three dimensions of movement.Īlso new in this remake is a hub area where Mickey can roam around, viewing anything he's unlocked and can select levels to journey to, provided he has enough gems to unlock them. Paths weave into the background or curve along cylindrical towers in twisting, circuitous routes that double back on each other at unexpected moments. The linear stages mix up the traditional "go right" design by taking advantage of the new three-dimensional engine. It looks like Sega Studios Australia enjoyed twisting the concept of "side-scrolling", though. Armed only with his plucky attitude, dogged determination and a mean throwing arm, Mickey immediately sets out to rescue the love of his life from Mizrabel's lair, the titular Castle of Illusion.Ĭastle of Illusion takes the 1990 Sega Genesis title and spiffs it up with some voice-acting and sharp graphics, but at its core it remains a side-scrolling, two-dimensional platformer. That evil, no-good hag of a witch Mizrabel is at it again-no longer content with attempting to murder Snow White for being prettier, she's kidnapped Mickey Mouse's main squeeze Minnie in an attempt to steal her youth. ![]() WTF Of all the Disney women Mizrabel could go after, she chooses the anthromorphic mouse? I don't even want to know what's about. LOW …Except in the unwieldy underwater segments. Sharp, funny, and finger-on-the-pulse, it’s the information you need to know even when you don’t know you need it.HIGH Someone had fun making this game, and it really shows… GR Editorials is a semi-regular feature where we share our informed insights on the news at hand. You know that kid at parties who talks too much? Drink in hand, way too enthusiastic, ponderously well-educated in topics no one in their right mind should know about? Loud? Well, that kid’s occasionally us. There can be no higher praise of a remake than that. If one thing alone should be taken away from this 2013 game, it's that remakes should abandon all thoughts of porting the original code and instead make the original game again from scratch, using today's hardware and the original concept documents.īy never losing sight of what made the original what it was, the Castle of Illusion of 2013 is the one that gamers imagined they were seeing in 1990. And all without ever making the first play-through feel overly complex.įuture remakes of classic games need to learn from the successes of Sega Studios Australia's Castle of Illusion. The game rewards a keen eye and a brain for trying new things. ![]() So even though the game only takes between 2-3 hours to finish, it takes far longer to actually complete, as you test the platforming mechanics and push them to their logical limits. In the new version, secrets are hidden outside the camera's normal framing, or in an incidental cubbyhole in the scenery. The original's blocky levels are too chunky to allow for many truly-concealed areas, instead resorting to the old 'some blocks have no collision boxes' technique to surprise you. In fact, the platforming is better-designed than the original game. "Secrets are hidden outside the camera's normal framing, or in an incidental cubbyhole in the scenery" But what you don't get is dumbed-down platforming action. Modern audiences aren't used to that degree of harshness, so it was necessary to change it. The liberal sprinkling of restart points mean you never have to start the entire level again if you're near the end, and most certainly never ask you to begin the entire game from the beginning. The difficulty level is highly reminiscent of the original Castle of Illusion, but with some key concessions to modernity. ![]() But-thankfully-not all 1990s conventions have been preserved.
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