Disney Illusion Island is a platforming adventure game that plops Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy into the mysterious realm of Monoth.
The game kicks things off with Mickey and the gang all getting invitations to a picnic on Illusion Island. As it turns out, the pals were invited by a stranger—a furry little rabbit-like fella named Toku who reports that this isle is under a great danger. And it requires a set of great heroes to set things right.
Donald reminds his buds that they’re not really heroes, since any adventure Toku saw them in was actually a made-up movie. (And he also notes that he was planning on a picnic, so all he really wants to do is eat.) But Mickey and Minnie note that if someone is in need, they should help. And Goofy agrees with a hardy “Yup!”So they all step up to help retrieve some important magical tomes.
But … what if there is an illusionary trick in the mix? What if the heroes are being misled and fooled? What if after doing what they think is right, good and heroic, they find out they’ve actually been duped into being villains!? Well, that’s exactly what happens. Sorta. Gawrsh!
As the true baddies escape into a mysterious magical realm, the embarrassed goodies are faced with a new challenge. They need to be heroes by freeing the heroes they trapped when they weren’t heroes and then somehow figure out how to be the heroes they should have been! Minnie notes that their rallying call needs a bit of work, but off to the magical realm they go.
Illusion Island is pretty much all about platforming fun linked by funny cartoon cutscenes. Single-player gamers choose one of the four heroes (or they can team up locally with up to three other friends) and take on platform-jumping challenges full of windy, spikey, deep-watery, and bizarre-creaturey dangers.
Players find collectables and memorabilia along the way and unlock special pieces of Disney character art. And they upgrade as they go with add-on abilities such as double-jump and ground-pound.
The zany humor of Illusion Island feels very much like the Disney hand-drawn cartoons of yore—updated with silly quips about social media, the internet and such. Even the musical underscore has an old-school cartoon feel about it.
Each of Mickey’s pals sounds and acts like you remember, from sweet and insightful Minnie to the quick-to-anger, red-faced Donald. And even those that aren’t as keen on heroics (Donald, again) are fine with stepping up and stepping in for a group hug.
The story is fun. The platforming, though increasingly more difficult as the game progresses, is never frustrating. And the game as a whole feels consistently entertaining. There’s no combat to worry over, either. Even the big-boss face-offs are self-contained platforming challenges.
There’s not much of anything to worry over here in this E-rated game. There is fantasy magic surrounding “magical tomes of knowledge” that the heroes seek and the whimsical fantasy dimension they play through. But the “magic” books represent the disciplines of botany, astronomy, engineering and history.
The worst of the language involves exclamations of “gosh,” “gawrsh,” “gee” and “Lugpluggers!”
If your character does take damage enough to be knocked out, he or she reappears at an earlier checkpoint. (If playing in co-op with local friends, characters with low HP can be hugged back to health and helped up to higher levels via a rope.)
With the summer temps rising and expectations for Disney products generally sinking, it’s swell to find a great game for, well, boys and girls of all ages. Mickey and his pals are pleasingly fun.
After spending more than two decades touring, directing, writing and producing for Christian theater and radio (most recently for Adventures in Odyssey, which he still contributes to), Bob joined the Plugged In staff to help us focus more heavily on video games. He is also one of our primary movie reviewers.
