Review for The Disney Afternoon Collection. Game for PlayStation Network, PC, Steam, Mac, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the video game was released on 18/04/2017
"Duck Tales uh uh". Yes, ok, it's a foregone start, but we couldn't resist the desire to plant the theme song of the famous Disney cartoon like a nail in your heads. Even if you all have loved it, some of you may not know that Duck Tales, and most of the cartoons that are part of the Disney Afternoon Show, have enjoyed excellent video game transpositions in the past.
The most popular are undoubtedly those that appeared on NES, which thanks to The Disney Afternoon Collection have also seen the light on PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4.
Not just Duck Tales
Although in the introduction we focused our attention on Duck Tales (thanks to the fact that he is the best known of the four) let's not forget the other three members of the Disney Afternoon Collection: Darkwing Duck, Chip 'n Dale Special Agents (first and second chapter) e TaleSpin. In fact, the collection brings together all the Disney Afternoon-inspired titles released between 1989 and 1993 (except for Goofy Troop, which initially appeared on Snes).
We are not facing a remastering of the titles, but a collection that aims to reproduce them faithfully 100%. By starting The Disney Afternoon Collection you will in fact be invaded by a wave of retro. With 8-bit songs and original title covers put in plain sight, the guys at Digital Eclipse wanted to make newbies immediately understand what awaited them and make older players burst into tears.
The games contained are six and they would not even need an introduction, but we will talk briefly about each one and then give a more general opinion.
Duck Tales and Duck Tales 2 are the two leading chapters, not that the most loved by the public. We are faced with a naturally very classic platformer that will make us live the adventures of Scrooge, engaged in one of his fantastic treasure hunts in full Duck Tales style. With a very basic narrative we will be introduced to a gameplay with four possible actions: jump, movement, interactions with the stick and pogo jump. We do not dwell on the first two and move on to the second ones: Scrooge always has his stick with him and in these two games we can use it either to hit objects and move them or to attack enemies with the famous pogo jump.
For those unfamiliar with this mechanic (now famous) it is the possibility of using your weapon to launch attacks downwards by bouncing on enemies. The levels were, are and always will be very enjoyable and the bosses all in all fun to kill. A very important element in all six titles (which we will mention now but will also apply to the others) is the sound sector, with extraordinary 8-bit music.
Darkwing Duck is a cartoon born as a spin-off of Duck Tales, tells the story of Drake Mallard aka Darkwing Duck, the first superhero experiment at Disney. Although the work from which it is based had a short life and little fame in an undeserved way, in our opinion, the video game was very successful and many still remember it today. In this case we are no longer faced with a simple and banal Platform, how much more to a beat 'em up with platform elements. Our "Double D" has in fact many more tricks in store than the simple stick of Scrooge.
During the adventure you can in fact collect different upgrades for the gun, which will have different effects (armor-piercing bullets, suction cups to create platforms on the walls, etc ...) and will greatly expand the depth of the gameplay.
Chip 'n Dale Special Agents 1 and 2 are perhaps the sore points of this collection. Although the controls are more responsive than the other titles, the limited gameplay makes them the two aging titles worse. Even simpler than that seen in Duck Tales here the gameplay will be limited to hopping around the levels and collect various items to hurl at enemies. This mechanic creates some interesting possibilities (especially for a title of the time) but in most cases it will only weigh down and make the gameplay boring (especially during boss fights).
TaleSpin it is the title that most distances itself from the others. This game is indeed one Shoot 'em up horizontal scrolling. During the adventure you will impersonate Balou, the cute bear friend of Mowgli in The Jungle Book, engaged in a real air warfare. The movement will obviously be totally free and you can even shoot diagonally, a very obvious possibility for the era in which it was produced. Although TaleSpin will initially seem to you probably the funniest of the six titles in the collection, it will take a short time before boredom takes over. The game in the long run is in fact quite repetitive.
The real news
If you already knew the titles in question you will probably have jumped so far directly from the introduction, now we will talk about the new features that this collection introduces compared to the old titles. To tell the truth practically nothing inside the game, if not the possibility of going back in time by pressing a simple button. This mechanic will likely turn up their noses for many purists, but it will make just as many novices happy.
The real implementations are outside the original games, with ben two new modes and two galleries dedicated to music and images. As for the galleries, we find the OSTs of the titles entirely re-proposed, instead in the images the collection offers much more valuable elements: in the latter you will find the original sketches, worktops, pixel art and various very interesting illustrations.
As for the modes, the game offers: the time challenge, where you will have to complete the titles in the shortest time possible by competing with the world ranking, and the boss rush, similar to the time challenge but where you will be asked to quickly defeat all the bosses. In short, if you are a lover of the genre or the cartoons that these titles pay homage, you will certainly have a lot of time to spend in front of the screen.
The Disney Afternoon Collection contains six 80s / 90s pop culture milestones and six major platformer titles. Whether you are a lover of the genre, lovers of the series from which the games are based, novices in the world of platforming or in the world of Disney niche animation, we recommend the purchase of this splendid collection.
► The Disney Afternoon Collection is a Platform-type game developed by Digital Eclipse and published by Capcom Disney Interactive Studios for PlayStation Network, PC, Steam, Mac, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the video game was released on 18/04/2017
