What is Disneyland Adventures?
A remastered take on the Xbox 360's Kinect Disneyland Adventures, Disneyland Adventures is a game that takes the original mini-game collection-cum-theme park exploration sim, and makes Kinect optional, making it a lot easier to play. With an accurately recreated California Disneyland Park to explore, you'll be able to meet and greet with characters, take on one of 18 ride themed mini-games, and collect the many collectables that are hidden around the park.
How do you play Disneyland Adventures?
Finding yourself at the top of Main Street USA, Disneyland Adventures is a game that lets you do everything you'd usually do in a Disneyland park - and more. Some 35 Disney characters are waiting to be found, with many having a quest they'd like you to complete, or something they could use your help with. From gathering dinglehoppers for Ariel, to hunting down Zurg's surveillance bots for Buzz Lightyear, almost every quest here is designed to get you out and about in the park, and exploring every nook and cranny.
Outside of the quests, 18 of the park's rides have been given the full mini-game treatment, letting you take on a game loosely inspired by the ride in question. From manning a pump handle car across the rickety tracks of Big Thunder Mountain, moving left and right to collect coins and switch points, to heading into the depths of Haunted Mansion in an on the rails adventure that sees you armed with only a torch, and the ability to move left and right, each mini-game is a familiar, and simple take on the ride at hand. Others, like the Princess Faire, and It's a Small World turn into a musical "rhythm action" game, where you have to press the highlighted button in time with the music. All the mini-games are playable in two player co-op, too - although when exploring the park, the second player will simply automatically tag along behind player one.
It's important to note that for all intents and purposes, this is the exact same game as the Xbox 360 instalment, only with Kinect now being optional.
How easy is Disneyland Adventures to pick up and play?
Perhaps ironically, Disneyland Adventures is a thousand times easier to play now that Kinect has been made optional than it was when the motion sensor was mandatory. With really simple controls, and no concept of lives, or game overs, players of any age and ability will be able to enjoy the game's mini-games - it's the park itself that provides much of the game's complexity.
With a hundred quests to complete, it can sometimes take a bit of intuition to figure out what you're meant to be doing next, or where you're supposed to be going. Luckily, a handy trail will lead you to where you're meant to go next, but you'll need to figure out for yourself what you need to do, and how. Similarly, while most of the mini-games are simple enough, others add a bit more complexity - like having to reload your laser in Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters, or having to manually hold the right trigger to turn on your torch in the Haunted Mansion. The game doesn't always provide prompts for some of these moves, so it's well worth reading the instructions before you start playing each mini-game.
For the youngest of players, then, while the vast majority of the game, and quests, are fully voiced, any prompts - and all the instructions for the mini-games - are delivered through text only, so while a strong reading ability isn't a requirement (especially if Mom or Dad can show them what to do the first time they play), it would certainly help.
Sample sentences include:
- Move (RS) to aim at enemies. To duck, just press (B)
- This cart ain't going up the hill by itself. Pump by holding (X)
- Wanna shoot? Aim with (RS) then press (RT) to shoot!
With nothing in the way of violence, bad language, or sexual content, Disneyland Adventures is thoroughly family friendly stuff.
Age Ratings
Format Reviewed: Xbox One
