Castle of Illusion Reviews

Evil Avatar · 09-03-2013, 06:03 PM

The reviews are out for Sega's HD remake of Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse, and the word is mostly good, though it doesn't stand up to the remake of Ducktales.

IGN 6.7/10
Game Informer 7/10
Polygon 7/10
Joystiq 4/5
Eurogamer 7/10
Videogamer 4/10

LoTECH · 09-03-2013, 06:45 PM

Looks like shit, I guess.

Too bad. I was hoping for the best with this

ElektroDragon · 09-03-2013, 07:43 PM

This looked great at PAX and I pre-ordered on PS3 for the free dynamic theme and original Genesis game. Gonna check out my copy tonight.

Lately its been a weird fad in gaming media to shit on almost every game.

LoTECH · 09-03-2013, 08:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ElektroDragon

This looked great at PAX and I pre-ordered on PS3 for the free dynamic theme and original Genesis game. Gonna check out my copy tonight.

Lately its been a weird fad in gaming media to shit on almost every game.

More power to ya if you enjoy it, but I read the controls were pretty floaty and it was way too easy.

It happens to release the same week as Rayman Legends, as well. And that game is being hailed as one of the greatest 2D platformer a of all time.

VIVIsectVI · 09-03-2013, 08:40 PM

I downloaded the demo and the controls are terrible. I really wanted to like this because I used to play the original religiously.

ElektroDragon · 09-03-2013, 09:29 PM

Just spent 30 minutes with it. It is NOT too easy unless you're a platforming god. I'm sure as hell not, I have trouble getting through even the easiest Mario games. The game is very colorful and sharp with a great soundtrack, narration and atmosphere. The controls DO feel imprecise in terms of nailing where you land when you're in the air, but I attributed that to the rather crummy Dualshock 3 thumbsticks on the PS3 and my lesser experience with these thumbsticks compared to the 360.

Once I get access to the 360 demo I will try again. Right now its at least an 8/10 in my book. If controls aren't better on 360, I might knock it down to 7/10. Anything less is just plain cynical, jaded, and vitriolic.

JazGalaxy · 09-04-2013, 12:56 AM

I just bought it today and I would give it an 8/10.

Professional reviewers are tools, I've decided.

The game is flat out amazing. It's gorgeous and dripping with attention to detail. It sounds absolutely fantastic. I mean, I was literally thinking, while playing, "this thing looks gorgeous and sounds fantastic". I was eating it up with a spoon and it's one of the rare games I have played in the past few years where the visuals were actively entertaining me.

As for the control, it is a little bit crusty, but not becuase of floaty jumping. Micky does jump in a floaty way, but he did in the original game as well. Not all games are supposed to control the same, and every good platform game has their own style of jump. Simon Belmont didn't jump like Samus Aran who didn't jump like Mario, who didn't jump like Megaman. YOu have to get used to mickey's jump, but all the platforms are designed for his jumping style so it's a wash. I just completed a jumping bonus scenario where i jumped on llike8 or 9 floating platforms consecutively without stopping so it's clearly a capable jumping system.

As for difficulty, no, it's not hard. But there are bonus scenarios all over the place that actually can be quite tricky to get to. I'm someone who just played Ducktales to 100% on the hardest difficulty with "hard pogo" turned on, so if Mickey was too easy, I wouldn't be praising it at all.

I think it's absolutely worth the money to anyone who loves platforming games or loves disney. It is absolutey a work of art and playing it feels like being in Disney World.

Suicidal ShiZuru · 09-04-2013, 02:09 AM

The mainstream reviewers haven't been reliable for years...

laggerific · 09-04-2013, 08:35 AM

Retro remakes and all have been largely panned for years. When Double Dragon and TMNT were released people were tripping over each other trying to let everyone know how lame these games are compared to what our modern superiors provide. But, if you are looking for something authentic and consistent with the original, these are great.

JazGalaxy · 09-04-2013, 11:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by laggerific

Retro remakes and all have been largely panned for years. When Double Dragon and TMNT were released people were tripping over each other trying to let everyone know how lame these games are compared to what our modern superiors provide. But, if you are looking for something authentic and consistent with the original, these are great.

RIght.

Jeff Gerstmann at Giantbomb trashed Double Dragon Neon in the Quicklook. I made a forum post detailing point by point how the elements he was complaining about were actually taken directly out of Double Dragon 1, 2 and 3. In later podcasts and whatnot he softened his viewpoint into saying the game was actually pretty good.

I can't say the two things go together, but maybe.

ElektroDragon · 09-04-2013, 12:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JazGalaxy

I just bought it today and I would give it an 8/10.

Professional reviewers are tools, I've decided.

The game is flat out amazing. It's gorgeous and dripping with attention to detail. It sounds absolutely fantastic. I mean, I was literally thinking, while playing, "this thing looks gorgeous and sounds fantastic". I was eating it up with a spoon and it's one of the rare games I have played in the past few years where the visuals were actively entertaining me.

As for the control, it is a little bit crusty, but not becuase of floaty jumping. Micky does jump in a floaty way, but he did in the original game as well. Not all games are supposed to control the same, and every good platform game has their own style of jump. Simon Belmont didn't jump like Samus Aran who didn't jump like Mario, who didn't jump like Megaman. YOu have to get used to mickey's jump, but all the platforms are designed for his jumping style so it's a wash. I just completed a jumping bonus scenario where i jumped on llike8 or 9 floating platforms consecutively without stopping so it's clearly a capable jumping system.

As for difficulty, no, it's not hard. But there are bonus scenarios all over the place that actually can be quite tricky to get to. I'm someone who just played Ducktales to 100% on the hardest difficulty with "hard pogo" turned on, so if Mickey was too easy, I wouldn't be praising it at all.

I think it's absolutely worth the money to anyone who loves platforming games or loves disney. It is absolutey a work of art and playing it feels like being in Disney World.

Great mini-review, I feel exactly the same way. I'm just not sure about the controls, I keep falling off ledges too much, I almost with I had bought it on the 360. What platform do you have it on? I think I will have to put on my grippy skins on the DS3 thumbsticks for this game.

JazGalaxy · 09-04-2013, 02:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ElektroDragon

Great mini-review, I feel exactly the same way. I'm just not sure about the controls, I keep falling off ledges too much, I almost with I had bought it on the 360. What platform do you have it on? I think I will have to put on my grippy skins on the DS3 thumbsticks for this game.

I'm playing on PS3. I'm playing on a 3rd party Mad Catz controller though. I use the Dpad for all the 2d parts and the analog stick for al the 3d parts.

I haven't had a problem jumping at all, but I died like 5 or 6 times trying to run away from that Apple in the first level because Micky would get hung up trying to round the corner from the 3d perspective to the 2d perspective.

I only cleared 2 worlds last night, though, before I went to bed. I might find it more frustrating a little bit later.