Disneyland Adventures Review

With Microsoft launching their new Xbox One X console this week, Disney have released a new remastered version of the Xbox 360 Kinect game from 2011, with the game upgraded into 4K.

Players get to roam around Disneyland, meeting characters, taking photos, getting autographs, collecting items and taking in the sights of the park.

And all the major attractions are here, like Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, Peter Pan, Splash Mountain and more.  Each of these attractions is a few mini side games, rather than recreate each ride, the games are more themed, such as the Matterhorn sees the player skiing down the mountain with Goofy, while avoiding the Yeti’s.

I think these attractions work well as mini games, rather than just recreating a ride, since this fits the Kinect gameplay style.  Which is part of the problem, when your using a controller, they don’t offer much variety since your primarily just going forward, resulting in a player either going left, right or jumping.  Some are more fun than others, with extra hidden items that will require some repeat play.

For park fans, there are lots of little touches that Disney does so well, the hidden Mickey’s and the soundtrack, hearing those classic songs as walking down Main Street, while other park guests make small talk.

There is probably too much running around collecting little items for my liking, but for younger players, this will give them plenty to do, but for more experienced gamers, this is a bit tiresome.

While the game has been upgraded to look better, the main benefit is that controller support has been added, making it much more enjoyable to play, however some of the mini games feel like they don’t work with a controller as well, such as the dancing games.  However if your looking to tire children by burning off some energy, using the Kinect is a good option.   I also question the need to upgrade to 4K for a older game aimed at kids, since they won’t notice.

The other issue is that this is still a 6 year old game, it might look nicer but there are lots of frame rate drops and load times are very slow.  I even had a couple of crashes too, which is a shame as it feels very much like all the efforts to bring it up to a 2017 release was focused on its looks.

For a new player, it’s a nice budget children’s title, but if you’ve already played the game on the Xbox 360, there is little point in picking this title up.

Overall: Disneyland Adventures is a fun family game that does give park fans a chance to revisit their favourite moments, but it is still a last generation game based on Kinect, with all the same technical issues that haven’t been fixed.  It’s a budget re-release that doesn’t match up to a real visit to the most magical place in the world.

Review Score: 6