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Way back in 1990, SEGA released Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse for the SEGA Mega Drive, arguably one of Mickey Mouse's finest gaming outings. In it, Mickey has to travel through the Castle of Illusion in order to save Minnie Mouse from the evil witch, Mizrabel, who has kidnapped Minnie in an attempt to take her youth and beauty. At the time, it was to be another year before SEGA debuted Sonic the Hedgehog, so Castle of Illusion was considered one of the main reasons to invest in a Mega Drive. It spawned a number of sequels on SEGA platforms, and now, 22 years later, the series returns in spirit with a "tribute" game for the Nintendo 3DS.
Power of Illusion is set in Wasteland, the same world visited by Mickey in the Disney Epic Mickey console games. Wasteland is a world run by Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, built as a place where forgotten Disney characters can happily reside and coexist. It should come as no surprise, then, that when Mizrabel and her Castle of Illusion are "dropped off" in Wasteland, the evil witch doesn't take too kindly to being forgotten, making her presence known by once again kidnapping Minnie Mouse - and numerous other Toons from famous Disney classics as well - and attempting to take Wasteland as her own to rule over forever.
The game's introduction is a fairly long one, explaining in no uncertain terms Mizrabel's wicked plans and showing us how Oswald tries to reach out to Mickey to ask for his help in defeating her. Mickey remembers the castle as soon as he sees it - it's only been 22 years, after all - and sets out to travel through it to find and defeat Mizrabel. In order to make good progress, though, Oswald tells Mickey that he'll need to save other Toons from inside the castle in order to collect enough power to break the witch's many seals, as while they remain in place he won't be able to travel any further.
Your priority in the game is very much the same as other platformers: there are a number of different areas - the castle's various wings - each with a number of levels found within and a boss battle at the end. You'll need to travel through each level, saving Toons and collecting items as you do, before you're allowed access to the next. There's also a main hub called the Fortress, a safe house being looked after by Oswald, where saved characters go to stay until they're able to leave the castle. At any time between levels, you can visit the Fortress to see how the characters are doing and to help them if they require it.
Each level is made up of two sections: progressing from one to the next acts as a halfway marker, meaning if you lose all your hearts, you'll restart from the beginning of that section rather than the very start of the level. Unfortunately, this will act as little consolation for much of the game: not only are many of the levels really quite long, Mickey moves pretty slowly, making you wish there was either a go-faster button or some way to speed up time. There are quite a small number of levels in the game as well, which disappoints us greatly as we'd have much preferred some of the later levels to be shorter if it meant there being more of them.
As if levels weren't already long enough, you of course have the usual platforming elements to contend with. Levels are riddled with obstacles, including a shocking number of spikes throughout the entire game, and there are plenty of enemies in most of the levels as well - in fact, some of the later levels are positively overflowing with bad guys, which doesn't make your job any easier. Not only do you have to contend with all these, though, you also need to keep an eye out for the Toons who have been sealed away in the castle, talking to them and sending them off to the Fortress where they'll be safe.
Upon saving Toons and finishing the level, you're able to visit them in the Fortress, where they might need you to help them with something. This will trigger a quest, much like in the Disney Epic Mickey console games, and completing the quest will see you rewarded with various items and upgrades, including valuable health increases and brush power-ups. Tasks vary from finding an item or another Toon hidden in a level - usually only the tougher quests require this - to something simpler, like talking to another Toon already in the Fortress or just painting in an item somebody needs. It's good to complete these quests, as they'll make your progress through the game a little easier, and for the few minutes they take it's certainly worth it - though going all the way through levels just to get one item or find one Toon can be fairly bothersome.
Mickey has a couple of physical attacks on his side for getting rid of enemies: you're able to bounce enemies, with better timing doing more damage and dropping better items; you also have a spin attack at your disposal, though it's not quite as effective on some enemies and can even be a hindrance at times. Still being in contact with an enemy when you stop spinning will do damage to Mickey while still pushing you into the enemy, so it's not been too well thought-out. It's even worse in the later parts of the game, where just touching an enemy can lose you a heart and a half at a time, and if you're in a precarious position when you hit them you're likely to lose a heck of a lot more before you land safely.
Mickey's main form of offence isn't his physical attacks, however: another element of the Disney Epic Mickey series brought to the game is Mickey's magic brush, which you'll use to throw paint and thinner about a bit. In the console games, these have two different effects on enemies: using paint on an enemy befriends it, while using thinner will destroy it. This isn't the case in Power of Illusion, as all enemies are defeated regardless of which you use, though the strength of each will vary throughout the game. Instead, the main purpose of the brush is to paint in and thin out certain objects, ranging from platforms to steps and from allies to enemies.
This tends to be where the game falls over at times. The inclusion of the brush is clever, and to its credit it's used well, but the problem is that every time you need to use it, you've got to stop, tap whatever it is you're meddling with on the touchscreen, paint it in or thin it out, and then be on your merry way once more. Take too long painting or thinning - or run out of either partway through - and you'll have to start again. It can be especially grating in longer levels when you feel as though you've been slogging away for five or ten minutes and haven't made much progress. Its inclusion in the game is perhaps understandable, and if its use was similar to the "point and paint" nature of the console games it'd work very well, but it's more cumbersome than anything, and it just doesn't quite fit in a platformer like this.
It's worth noting that, despite Power of Illusion's flaws, there are areas in which it can't fail to impress. Most notable of these is its visuals, which are vibrant, clear and very impressive, especially in 3D: backgrounds stay in full focus even when the 3D is at full depth, which is more than can be said for recent hit New Super Mario Bros. 2, so it seems Mickey does what Mario doesn't on this occasion. The game's soundtrack is also wonderful, with a mix of orchestrated tracks from the Disney Epic Mickey console games as well as a few classic Disney themes thrown in the mix as well. There's very little in the way of voice acting - the occasional bit is all you're getting - but it's good to hear characters' real voices and not some shoddy sound-alike that doesn't really sound very much like them at all.
Disney Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion tries incredibly hard to be a classic platformer. It has all the right ingredients to be a fantastic title, but unfortunately, it's let down by some pretty noticeable errors. The use of the magic brush stunts gameplay, as do the overly long levels and Mickey's slow pace. There aren't quite enough levels for our liking, though trying to complete the game should last you a good 25 hours, a little less than double what it would last if you didn't. It should be commended for its level design and for trying to be more like its console counterparts, but with these aspects implemented as they are, it doesn't quite go all the way to being great.
Perhaps, then, Mickey needs to learn a few things from the hedgehog that so fantastically stole his thunder back in 1991. Much like the Sonic of recent times, Power of Illusion is a good game, but with flaws that can't be ignored; and if it were more like the classic Sonic we know and love, with a bit more pace and a bit less clunkiness, it would be an instant favourite. As it stands, despite Power of Illusion's charming nature and the love that's gone into it, it might not hit the sweet spot for some platforming fans. It's worth a try, and it's one of the better platformers on the Nintendo 3DS, but it ultimately does what many tribute acts try and fail to avoid: it makes you miss the original.
