Walt Disney World Quest: Magical Racing Tour

If there ever was a company that has everything to gain by making a competent kart racing game, it’s Disney. With the cavalcade of globally adored characters and franchises and a series of well established and brilliantly designed licenced video game titles already on the market, it seems like a no brainer that Disney should cash in on this popular genre. So true to form, Disney would aim to rake in the cash as they are known to do through the kart racer, Walt Disney World Quest: Magical Racing Tour.

This game is pretty much a carbon copy of any popular kart racer that you can think of. Most notably is Mario Kart of course but the game also plays rather like Crash Team Racing, Modnation Racers, Team Sonic Racing and Looney Tunes Space Race. This game has the player compete with a fleet of 7 other racers with powerups and pitfalls acting as hurdles to your success.

Pre-Pixar Storytelling

We have grown accustomed to the belly laughing and tear-jerking animations that are often produced by Disney-Pixar. However, this game doesn’t come close to rivalling any Disney plot for story. In fact, it struggles to even create a feasible plotline at all. The motivation for the player to race around in this game boils down to the fact that you need to collect parts for a fireworks machine that Chip and Dale broke. So how do you get those? By racing other Disney characters around a track obviously.

The same also falls flat when it comes to casting. With a cavalcade of notable characters to choose from, the developers opt for some pretty lame picks. Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy all fail to make an appearance with the only Disney branded characters being Chip and Dale, and Pinocchio’s Jiminy Cricket. It all feels a little bit slapdash and thrown together with as few licences as they could manage.

Kids, We’re going to Disneyland

Where the game shines in spite of its lack of authenticity in areas, is with it’s visuals, track design and sound quality. You’ll race around 13 unique tracks that are based on Disneyland attractions such as the famous Splash Mountain, the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, the Rock ‘n’ roll coaster and Disney Studios Florida to name a few. Each area is well presented and genuinely looks recognisable when compared to the rides or attractions themselves. Sure they are hyperbolized for the sake of fun but you know exactly what each track is meant to represent and it’s a great effort.

Then when referring to the sound quality, you get exactly what you would expect from a Disney licensed titles. The renditions of Yo Ho, a Pirates Life For Me or It’s a Small World are quintessentially Disney in their delivery. This coupled with apt sound effects for each character, power-up or new environment, this all culminates to give an audio masterclass, especially considering the time of release.

It’sa Me, Walt Disney

As mentioned above, this game is a carbon copy of the Mario Kart racing series. However, despite this obvious attempt at imitation, the game actually benefits from going with a tried and tested format. The power slide mechanics, powerups, steering and general gameplay all control like a Mario Kart racer and this allows casual players who enjoy this genre of game to jump into this game seamlessly. This title doesn’t offer anything you haven’t seen before in terms of gameplay and quite frankly, it’s probably better that way.

It’s a Magical Time

This game is predictable in terms of gameplay and admittedly is very light on the Disney characters that you may be purchasing this game for in the first place. However, if you can look past the cast of original characters and the all too familiar gameplay, you’ll begin to see the good aspects of this title.

Pros

• Fantastic visuals and track design
• Quintessential Disney musical score
• Multiplayer functionality

Cons

• Basically another Mario Kart clone
• Storyline is unrealistic and lame
• Cast of characters is lacking in big names