Castle of Illusion

"Wow. A licensed game that doesn't stink! And far from it!"

Okay.... a video game starring Mickey Mouse? Most people would be turned off because of the licensed junk (E.T. anyone?) that's released most of the time, but this game isn't in the 95% range of licensed junk. Well, let's look at one of the best platformers released for the Sega Genesis. As far as I can tell, this is probably the coolest title you could have for a Mickey Mouse game. Castle of Illusion? I'm just glad it's not Adventures in Disney Land... Anyways, let's go to the review.

Story- ?/?- I'm not reviewing this game with story in mind. Minnie is captured by the evil witch Mizrabel because she is jealous of Minnie's beauty. Mickey goes out to find seven gems, defeat Mizrabel, and save Minnie. The story works well with a game tha doesn't NEED one.

Graphics- 8/10- The graphics in this game were very good for 1990, and they still look really good today. They are very different from world to world, and that's obviously a good thing in any game. This has the usual Sega Genesis (Sega created) quality. 16 bits of fun!

Gameplay- 9/10- The gameplay is always the true meat of any game. You have your basic jumping and ducking, a butt-stomp, and a throwing abilities. They all work just like you would want them to. All of the levels are very good as well. The boss fights can be a challenge, but they never get too hard to be really frustrating. You should play on Normal to really enjoy this game fully.

Music- 10/10- WOW! The music in this game is amazing! Especially when you remember that this is a licenced game. Then you really appreciate it. You'll even wonder if this was even originally going to be a Mickey Mouse game at some points (check out level 3-1). The sound effects sound fine, too.

Options- 7/10- Nothing special. You have difficulty and some other control stuff. Sound tests are always fun though, especially when the music is so amazing!

Control- 10/10- They work just as good as you would like them to. He jumps with on button and ducks with a downwards press on the Sega Genesis d-pad. The butt-stomp is the most used attack, and it works really good. Just press down after junping for a smaller bounce, and hold the jump button to bounce off of the enemy higher. Another button throws items you get in your adventure.

Difficulty- 7/10- This is one of the less good parts of the game because of Practice mode and hard mode. Normal difficulty is the perfect challenge you would want, but Practice and Hard you would never use. Practice shortens the game by 90% and makes it not worth playing, and the same is with Hard which is too hard to get very far without yelling.

Replayability- 8/10- Although there isn't really any obvious reason to play again after you beat it, the game is so fun that you'll want to come back shortly to beat it again. There are about 15-20 levels, so it is a decent length. It could have been longer though.

Pros-
- Great graphics
- Awesome gameplay
- Amazing musics you'll want to put on your MP3 player
- Good controls
- You'll want to play it again and again

Cons-
- The options and difficulty settings could have been much better
- The games 15-20 levels are great, of course, but it could have been longer

Buy, Rent, or Skip- Well, you couldn't rent this, but why would you? It should be a definate buy. If you don't have a Genesis to play it with, buy one of those, too. Trust me. If you love platformers, you WILL love this game.

Final Verdict- 9.0/10- Buy it today!!! This is definately in my top 20 or 15 Genesis games!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 09/14/09

Game Release: Castle of Illusion starring Mickey Mouse (US, 1990)