Genre: Action Adventure
Publisher+Devloper: Disney Interactive Studios
Release Date: October 25, 2011 (Out now!)
MSRP: $49.99
This certainly has been a remarkable generation in the greater history of video games, for the first time gaming is accepted into mainstream popular culture, no longer the domain of the 20-something who lives in his parent’s basement but something more, experiences that can be shared by the entire family, young or old. Developed by Disney Interactive Studios can Disney Universe fully utilise and pay homage to its long standing roots while creating an experience that the whole family can enjoy? Read on and find out.
Disney Universe takes place in a Disney themed amusement park, a novel idea. Divided, each world encompasses a different Disney franchise, from Lion King to Wall-e the selection though limited to a handful of worlds is varied. Panic ensues when the robot characters in the world turn on the visitors leaving you, the hero to battle the robots to help save the Universe.
As said previous the game is split up into different worlds with each world being split up into different ‘acts’ with each act consisting of 3 levels with an end boss at the end. Your objective is to hack and slash your way through these stages and collect as much gold as you can, this can be used to unlock later worlds and costumes for your character.
In gaming jargon the game is at its core a 3D – Hack and Slash, Puzzle Platformer. In that the main ‘action’ of the game is fighting evil robots, the control feels pretty responsive when attacking, combo attacks can be done with ease and the puzzle elements be it co-operatively work to open a door or work together to destroy a pirate ship work well and fit the family party atmosphere the game seems to push. The problem, and this isn’t a problem just confined to Disney Universe comes from the platforming sections, because of the nature of the game the camera perspective isn’t controlled by any of the players it’s all handled in game and as much as the game does try to give you a perspective that allows you to see the ledges you’re jumping towards it’s nearly impossible to judge a jump on the first try leading to some embarrassing but unavoidable deaths.
Puzzles in the game normally boil down to finding a leaver or building an automatic canon that can be used to attack enemies after the puzzle is over, world specific animals can be rode on too by both player characters and enemies.
In the spirit of not penalising poorer players there is no penalty for dying other than a small hit to the stats at the end of the stage.
On the side of character customisation, there’s not much. You get a choice of themed suits so you could have your character dress up as Donald Duck or the Cheshire Cat and that’s about it though at the end of each stage you unlock a new costumes along with using collected gold to purchase new costumes too.
The game supports up to 4 player simultaneous co-op and like in early arcade beat’em ups you can do damage to your allies as well as enemies. Co-op is a love/hate affair, when it works it’s fantastic, the mini bosses and challenges are a real blast to play with others but the normal combat is a confusing mess which very quickly descends into smacking square as fast as you can not actually knowing where your character is on screen thanks to the auto camera.
Normally a health bar would be displayed on a HUD on the screen allowing each player to see the health status of their character but not in Disney Universe, you can tell they didn’t want to confuse their audience with something as complicated as a health bar, no, instead they place the health bar around the coloured marker beneath your character so when you’re surrounded by enemies there’s no way in knowing how much health you have remaining. Then again it begs the question why the developers even put a health bar there if you’re given unlimited lives but I’m digressing, in short there’s no need in worrying about keeping your character alive or retreating from a fight, there’s no strategy at all.
On a positive note the graphics are bright and colourful, very inviting for a family orientated title, the costumes for the characters are very recognisable and the game has an art style which will no doubt resonate with the younger audience yet still not penalise any adults playing. Levels are well crafted and reused objects are hardly noticeable, the visual style though not accurate to the worlds it portrays helps to bring them all together in such a way as to give them a life of their own.
The game does have a very unique almost slapstick humour at times most prevalent in the introduction cinemas to each stage, I found myself laughing at the gags of the possessed robots in the different worlds and look forward to starting a stage to see the next gag played out.
The game has a somewhat disappointing soundtrack, very notable Disney songs have been remixed into nothing more than background elevator music, such a missed opportunity to incorporate some of what makes Disney movies so magical, the songs. Sound effects are pretty standard fair too, attacks are punchy and crates break with a satisfying crunch.
With an array of extra character costumes to unlock and the promise of unlocking even more characters by playing through levels twice this is surely a game collect-a-holics will love. Online game packs and even more characters may keep you coming back for more but this is a title you’ll play with your kids once or twice and then leave them to it.
A somewhat missed opportunity by Disney, the elements are all there to make a fantastic family orientated game but decisions such as the health bar, the lack or death penalties and the lacklustre music selection stop this game from being anything more than barely above average.
Score: 5.5
Disney Universe PS3 Review
This certainly has been a remarkable generation in the greater history of video games, for the first time gaming is accepted into mainstream popular culture, no longer the domain of the 20-something who lives in his parent’s basement but something more, experiences that can be shared by the entire family, young or old. Developed by Disney Interactive Studios can Disney Universe fully utilise and pay homage to its long standing roots while creating an experience that the whole family can enjoy? Read on and find out.
Disney Universe takes place in a Disney themed amusement park, a novel idea. Divided, each world encompasses a different Disney franchise, from Lion King to Wall-e the selection though limited to a handful of worlds is varied. Panic ensues when the robot characters in the world turn on the visitors leaving you, the hero to battle the robots to help save the Universe.
As said previous the game is split up into different worlds with each world being split up into different ‘acts’ with each act consisting of 3 levels with an end boss at the end. Your objective is to hack and slash your way through these stages and collect as much gold as you can, this can be used to unlock later worlds and costumes for your character.
In gaming jargon the game is at its core a 3D – Hack and Slash, Puzzle Platformer. In that the main ‘action’ of the game is fighting evil robots, the control feels pretty responsive when attacking, combo attacks can be done with ease and the puzzle elements be it co-operatively work to open a door or work together to destroy a pirate ship work well and fit the family party atmosphere the game seems to push. The problem, and this isn’t a problem just confined to Disney Universe comes from the platforming sections, because of the nature of the game the camera perspective isn’t controlled by any of the players it’s all handled in game and as much as the game does try to give you a perspective that allows you to see the ledges you’re jumping towards it’s nearly impossible to judge a jump on the first try leading to some embarrassing but unavoidable deaths.
Puzzles in the game normally boil down to finding a leaver or building an automatic canon that can be used to attack enemies after the puzzle is over, world specific animals can be rode on too by both player characters and enemies.
In the spirit of not penalising poorer players there is no penalty for dying other than a small hit to the stats at the end of the stage.
On the side of character customisation, there’s not much. You get a choice of themed suits so you could have your character dress up as Donald Duck or the Cheshire Cat and that’s about it though at the end of each stage you unlock a new costumes along with using collected gold to purchase new costumes too.
The game supports up to 4 player simultaneous co-op and like in early arcade beat’em ups you can do damage to your allies as well as enemies. Co-op is a love/hate affair, when it works it’s fantastic, the mini bosses and challenges are a real blast to play with others but the normal combat is a confusing mess which very quickly descends into smacking square as fast as you can not actually knowing where your character is on screen thanks to the auto camera.
Normally a health bar would be displayed on a HUD on the screen allowing each player to see the health status of their character but not in Disney Universe, you can tell they didn’t want to confuse their audience with something as complicated as a health bar, no, instead they place the health bar around the coloured marker beneath your character so when you’re surrounded by enemies there’s no way in knowing how much health you have remaining. Then again it begs the question why the developers even put a health bar there if you’re given unlimited lives but I’m digressing, in short there’s no need in worrying about keeping your character alive or retreating from a fight, there’s no strategy at all.
On a positive note the graphics are bright and colourful, very inviting for a family orientated title, the costumes for the characters are very recognisable and the game has an art style which will no doubt resonate with the younger audience yet still not penalise any adults playing. Levels are well crafted and reused objects are hardly noticeable, the visual style though not accurate to the worlds it portrays helps to bring them all together in such a way as to give them a life of their own.
The game does have a very unique almost slapstick humour at times most prevalent in the introduction cinemas to each stage, I found myself laughing at the gags of the possessed robots in the different worlds and look forward to starting a stage to see the next gag played out.
The game has a somewhat disappointing soundtrack, very notable Disney songs have been remixed into nothing more than background elevator music, such a missed opportunity to incorporate some of what makes Disney movies so magical, the songs. Sound effects are pretty standard fair too, attacks are punchy and crates break with a satisfying crunch.
With an array of extra character costumes to unlock and the promise of unlocking even more characters by playing through levels twice this is surely a game collect-a-holics will love. Online game packs and even more characters may keep you coming back for more but this is a title you’ll play with your kids once or twice and then leave them to it.
A somewhat missed opportunity by Disney, the elements are all there to make a fantastic family orientated game but decisions such as the health bar, the lack or death penalties and the lacklustre music selection stop this game from being anything more than barely above average.
Score: 5.5
