Disney Magical World comes to Europe!

With all the fun of finally getting our European hands on Fantasy Life today we would almost forget that another great game is making his way to our shores: Disney Magical World will be released the same day that the US will be getting Fantasy Life: October 24.

I downloaded Disney Magic Kingdom the day it was released in the USA. I wasn’t sure what to expect then, but I’m not disappointed at all. It’s a game that has Animal Crossing elements, and Rune Factory elements too. I had expected an overload of Disney characters, and sure enough, they are there to greet you enthusiastically. But aside from collecting cards they give you, there’s lots of other things to do. The standard game includes 4 worlds to explore (Cinderella’s, Aladdin’s and Alice’s world and The Hundred Acre Woods.) In the American version an added world, the world of Jack Sparrow was added as paid DLC.

You do quests in these worlds to gather materials and treasure. The questing starts off very easy, but let me tell you, it doesn’t stay that way. Right now I’m stuck in one of Aladdin’s caves, with no idea how to slay the boss! And I’m used to RPG bosses! Being in Pooh’s woods is a quite different experience: it’s farming, it’s relaxing and has a nostalgic atmosphere. You run a cafe, which is the main source of income where you can entertain guests by making them the most delightful dishes, making sure the cafe is themed just right. It can be calm and peaceful like the Hundred Acre Woods or it can be garish and colorful like Aladdin’s cave. You can decorate your room above your cafe, and visit other people’s cafes all over the world.

Be prepared to do quite a long prologue, as they call it. It’s designed of course to teach you the ropes of this game, and it will take you some two hours of gameplay to get that far. You won’t be bored though, as they keep throwing new stuff at you at every turn. You learn how to gather things you’ll need to make clothes, you learn to fish, to greet people and how to collect cards. By the time you become the owner of the café, things are really underway.

The game isn’t as good as Animal Crossing, and not as good as Rune Factory. But it’s the only game I know that manages to combine the good points of both those games and make them into a charming game on it’s own. The graphics remind me a bit of MySims, the characters are what you’d expect from Disney, and I can understand young kids will love this game too. But even for us grownups, there is a ton of things to do, the game goes in all kinds of directions and it manages not to come across as a jumble of stuff. It really ties in everything in a nice way.

So, if you are looking for something new and you like the other games I’ve mentioned here, you should really check this out. Even if you are not a huge Disney fan!