Disney Magical World when it was first announced sounded like a nice Disney take on the Animal Crossing formula. Sadly the reality is harsher than the imagination can brew up, as this game is a bit disappointing in the fun department, even from the perspective of “kid’s game”. The game is set up in a simulation type setting much like Animal Crossing. You are a person who has arrived at a fictional Disney World, with all your Disney cartoon friends like Mickey, and even some film characters like Aladdin. You can make use of your Mii if you wish, or make a new one. You can collect resources to make new clothes or furniture to use in your cafe, which you can sell dishes to make money. The money of course is then used to buy even more stuff. You can also go to the various worlds from several properties like Cinderella and Alice in Wonderland. These places have you doing quests that have you play various mini-games, but primarily you will be playing a simple action game where you use a magic wand to fight ghosts and hunt for treasure. Some of the worlds also have fishing holes, and the Winnie the Pooh world can let you try your hand at gardening.

There only one problem with all of this though, and it’s ultimately the reason this game feels like its lacking. The problem is that all of the game’s content is gated, and quite literally. You need to collect a certain amount of stickers to unlock new places in the game. To do this, you need to do the previously mentioned quests and requests. In other simulation games, most of the game is unlocked from the start, giving you a good sense of freedom to play the game as you see fit, but it’s not the case here. I understand that the development team wanted to make a game that appealed to younger audiences, but gating the game feels like a mistake. The stickers do give players incentives much like achievements, but that didn’t have to come at the cost of locking out content. Even more so once you get to the point in the game where it could be long time before getting a sticker, because the money or resource requirements are difficult to fulfill.

As for quality of the diversions themselves, none of them feel particularly interesting or fun, and there is little to no interaction with the Disney characters. They are pretty much there to give you fetch quests or sell things, and that’s it. Very poorly use of the Disney IP’s if you ask me. The music is also very average, just there to be there. There is also only a tiny bit of voice acting, mostly in the form of short voice clips. The visuals also are again just serviceable, but the game seems to chug at times while in 3D mode. The 3D also provides little to the experience. Maybe this is just a game that has little appeal to some gamers, but I can’t help but feeling like it’s lacking in substantive content. Only diehard Disney and Animal Crossing lovers and young children will find considerable enjoyment in this title, while other gamers wanting something more concrete should just play something like Animal Crossing instead.

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