Among the many best-remembered Disney video games are Fortress of Phantasm and World of Phantasm on the Genesis/Mega Drive. In an period when you could possibly count on most Disney video games to be of fairly good high quality (with some outliers–I am you, Mickey Mousecapade and Fantasia), these two titles stood out for being strong platformers with enjoyable mechanics that additionally built-in that trademark Disney whimsy and surprise into the combination. The builders of the cartoon-themed motion platforming title Disney Phantasm Island have mentioned that it selected the phrase “Phantasm” for its title as a result of it conveys a way of high-quality journey based mostly on these video games’ legacy. That is a reasonably excessive bar to shoot for and there are just a few main flaws that maintain it simply in need of legendary greatness. However, in some ways, Phantasm Island manages to hit the mark.
The premise of Phantasm Island sees Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Goofy getting invited to an off-the-grid location for a captivating summer season picnic. This seems to be a ruse to deliver them to the island of Monoth, which is reeling from having three magical tomes stolen. The cartoon crew must get well these books to each stop impending catastrophe and get that tasty out of doors outing they had been promised. It is a simplistic story nevertheless it’s introduced properly sufficient: Essential occasions are depicted in prolonged animated cutscenes, whereas extra gameplay-focused happenings are normally delivered via textual content packing containers. If there’s any actual fault within the narrative, it is that it usually tries to be a bit too witty.
In the end, although, the plot is only a means to set our heroes off on an journey via Monoth, a vivid and colourful world that includes a large number of various biomes starting from forests and farmland to cloudy, star-studded gardens to mechanical mailrooms to ocean depths. Every thing’s related via a large however tightly-designed map in a manner that retains load occasions to a minimal and permits one space to visually movement seamlessly into the following.
It is spectacular simply how good Phantasm Island appears. The backgrounds are colourful, vibrant, and filled with little animations and particulars that give them a way of life. The animations on the characters and enemies are buttery-smooth, with a bouncy, squishy toon edge that makes their motions pop. The eye to element extends so far as giving every of the 4 playable characters distinctive animations for a similar expertise: Whereas Minnie’s floating talent sees her utilizing a parasol, Goofy maintains airtime with blasts from a comically outsized mustard bottle, and poor Donald will get caught frantically waving two feathers in his palms. The excellent visuals make watching the sport really feel inviting and interesting.
These visuals are what carry the start of the sport, nonetheless, as a result of the preliminary portion of Phantasm Island is downright uninteresting. Phantasm Island is uncommon in that it utterly de-emphasizes fight in favor of pure platforming and exploration–there’s not even a lot as a cartoon mallet to conk enemies with. However if you’re beginning out, these motion expertise are restricted, and enemy and impediment selection is virtually nonexistent, making for very fundamental platforming and dodging till you get just a few extra expertise for the characters’ repertoire. The primary 90 minutes or so of Phantasm Island are satisfactory at greatest and a chore at worst. It is solely when your motion choices broaden and extra distinct and difficult threats are launched that issues actually begin to really feel enjoyable.
A number of the expertise you may purchase embrace a double bounce, a wall bounce, a grappling hook, a floor pound, and a hover. What begins out as quite simple platforming challenges rapidly and surprisingly turns into harder. At first, I felt like the sport’s platforming was deliberately designed in a easy method for youthful gamers, however in the direction of the endgame I used to be encountering devious platforming challenges that requested for cautious timing, totally testing my information of the sport’s mechanics. Abilities movement into one another easily with easy-to-grasp controls, serving to make the challenges of the later parts far more manageable–and, as a part of the sport’s family-oriented attraction, there are quite a few difficulty-adjustment choices for well being, controls, and general timing ought to gamers need to use them.
Including to the enjoyable of motion and the problem of exploration are a wealth of hidden rooms containing goodies and collectibles: Glimts that reveal items of a puzzle, Tokuns with footage and bios of all of Monoth’s residents, and memorabilia from basic cartoons that includes Mickey and the gang. Solely one among these has a considerable gameplay effect–getting sufficient Glimts grants a everlasting well being upgrade–but the others are equally enjoyable to search out and take a look at in your assortment display.
My private favourite collectible, nonetheless, is the Hidden Mickeys. Nicely-known to Disney aficionados, Hidden Mickeys are items of background structure formed just like the well-known mouse ears and are sometimes part of surroundings design in Disney parks. There are many Hidden Mickeys within the surroundings of Monoth, and after you get the digital camera merchandise, you can snap photographs in entrance of them, and every one has a uniquely foolish selfie accompanying it. As enjoyable as exploration is, nonetheless, it is hindered by the shortage of quick journey: You are not in a position to journey freely to checkpoints till virtually the very finish of the sport, that means that backtracking to make use of your new expertise in previously-visited locations is a really unappealing prospect.
Now and again throughout the six-to-nine hours a run-through of Phantasm Island includes, you may have a boss encounter. Because the gang lacks offensive talents, bosses are normally designed round defeating them in different ways–generally by breaking a set of targets surrounding them utilizing a motion talent whereas dodging more and more harmful hazards. It is an attention-grabbing method to boss design, nevertheless it loses attraction pretty rapidly since smashing a bunch of unrelated objects to deal injury would not really feel satisfying. The boss battles usually have a tendency to tug, as properly, going via a number of phases with little variation except for the quantity and severity of hazards you want to dodge. In the end, what must be a excessive level of the sport winds up being one among its worst parts.
I’ve largely talked in regards to the single-player expertise, however one of many key factors of Phantasm Island is that it permits for as much as 4 gamers to discover directly in native co-op–a rarity for the style. This does change up the general movement of the sport pretty considerably, because it makes exploring and accumulating a lot quicker and reduces the danger a single participant has to imagine. For instance, in a giant room with a number of collectibles and swap puzzle mechanics, a bunch can designate a participant to be the switch-hitter whereas others go after the goodies, fairly than having one participant do all the things and backtrack. Multiplayer additionally makes the boss battles really feel loads much less plodding since a number of targets might be taken out on the identical time. There are additionally a number of expertise that may solely be used throughout multiplayer. It is a very cool feature–especially for household play since every participant can set their very own well being once they begin, together with invincibility–and the truth that the map design works for each single- and multiplayer is kind of commendable.
Phantasm Island has loads going for it: It appears nice, controls splendidly, is filled with allure and character, presents fulfilling exploration, and incorporates a memorable multiplayer expertise. Should you’re a giant fan of the style, you may get a kick seeing little references to different all-time classics, too. Nonetheless, the sluggish begin and the blase boss battles put a little bit of a damper on the entire thing, particularly when you plan on occurring this journey solo. It is properly price taking part in offered you may get over the preliminary hump, and even higher when you’ve bought a youthful member of the family to share the journey with. It might fall in need of being an all-time gem, however Phantasm Island’s nonetheless earned its place within the Disney Vault of Gaming Goodness.