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It's been many years since Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck performed together. But on the eve of their reunion, disaster strikes. Mickey and Donald have long been dabbling in amateur conjuring since Mickey's days as the sorcerer's apprentice, and for some time the two pals had been practising a magic show to perform at the local theatre. Sadly, on the night of their dress rehearsal, Donald unearthed a terrible secret...

After tripping on the stage curtain and collapsing into the props hidden behind it, Donald stumbled upon an old wardrobe, with a heavy curtain concealing the inside. Donald expressed his pleasure at his find, stating in his confused quacks that perhaps a disappearing act could be introduced into their routine. Although Mickey was hesitant, Donald plunged head-first into the box, before vanishing with a forlorn quack. Ever valiant, Mickey gave chase and he too was swallowed by the evil cabinet.

As the pair looked around their unfamiliar landing spot, they heard a booming laugh. "In your world you are good magicians, but here I am the master," echoed the disembodied voice. "Find and defeat me and I shall return you to your home, but fail and you shall be trapped in my World of Illusion... forever! Ahahahaha!" With Walt Disney in a cryogenic state of suspended animation and unable to write them out of danger, could this spell the end for our animated pals?

An original platform game based on the escapades of those two Disney wags Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck.

Guide your favourite toon around the platform levels at the World of Disney, bashing baddies and casting spells as you go.

One of the big advantages of being a two-dimensional drawing is that your artist can make you do anything at all. This sort of flexibility comes in very handy on an adventure such as this.

Both characters walk and jump like any other platform character, but they also have a number of other moves at their disposal. At the press of a button, the outsize rodent and his waterfowl chum throw caution to the wind and run at high speeds.

They are also pretty handy, defending themselves by swishing their magician's capes at their enemies. A direct hit from this cape destroys most targets, and anything caught in the fairydust afterwash is momentarily stunned. Finally, should the beezer animations wish to sneak under a low ceiling or through a hollow log, they are perfectly able to crawl on the ground, albeit at a decreased speed.

Whether you're mad about Mickey or dippy about Donald, it's up to you which character you play as in either one or two-player mode. However, there is more of a difference than simple cosmetics. The order that some of the levels are tackled in changes for the two characters, and each of the toons have some levels exclusively to themselves!

As if that isn't enough, the game is different again when played in two-player mode! In this third play style, the two characters interact with each other as well as the scenery, allowing a number of wacky two-player stunts and capers...

1. The Flying Cartooni Brothers
   Jump on the shoulders of your pal and it is possible to reach some of the higher platforms present in the two player mode.
2. Give 'Em Enough Rope
   Once one character has safely made it to a high ledge using the other as a leg up, the other chap is stranded, but press the RUN button and the elevated Disnoid lowers a rope, pulling his chum up to join him!
3. Tugging Your Duck
   Being a duck, Donald is endowed with a somewhat weighty posterior, which often gets stuck when he is crawling through low tunnels. Thankfully, with a few hefty tugs, Mickey is able to pull him free.
4. Marjory Daw Skylarks
   At one point in the game, the two chums hop aboard a see-saw-type rail cart. Mickey and Donald jump up and down on their end of the lever to propel the cart along the tracks. However, if they don't build up enough speed, they fall prey to hazards such as collapsing bridges and falling rocks.

Although the odds are stacked quite heavily against Mickey and Donald, there are a number of handy items secreted around the place to help them out. Those evil masterminds, eh? When will they learn to stop leaving power-ups lying around?

1. Cards
   The most commonly found item, there are generally hordes of cards around every level. However, there's no chance of getting fifty-two and having a quick game of snap because they're all aces of spaces. But they do yield bonus points when collected, so it's not all bad.
2. Sweets
   Collecting these replenishes Mickey or Donald's energy bar (and probably rots all their teeth if they collect too many).
3. Hats
   The pick of the bunch. These topper Toppers add an extra life to the fortunate recipient's running total.
4. Bombs
   Left as booby traps by the evil overfiend, bombs explode when uncovered, injuring our animal pals should they be caught in the blast.

Being magicians, Mickey and Donald are able to cast some minor spells, such as pulling rabbits out of hats and making hankies disappear. However, in the increased magical atmosphere of the World Of Illusion they are capable of much greater feats. At the end of every level, Mickey and Donald learn a new spell, although the magic word (in full digitised speech) is always "Alacazam!".

These spells allow them to traverse otherwise untraversible parts of each level. The conjurings range from allowing the pair to command the cards in the Queen of Hearts' garden to turn themselves into platforms, to conjuring flying carpets and magic bubbles to get through sky and sea levels respectively.

Graphically, Castle Of Illusion and Quackshot were very hard to top. Surprisingly though, World Of Illusion manages to leave both of them standing. The sprites are almost cartoon-perfect replicas, with some of the best animation yet seen on the Megadrive. The backgrounds are similarly great, full of detail, life and colour, and there's loads of little touches which maintain the cartoon-esque atmosphere throughout. However, I was a mite concerned about this being another platform game, with a total lack of thought in the design.

How wrong I was! World Of Illusion is stuffed with puzzles and tricky skill-testing platform trials and packs something of a challenge, although the infinite continues and password reduce this challenge somewhat.

Where World Of Illusion really comes into its own is in two-player mode, as each player relies on the cooperation of the other to get past the obstacles and puzzles. The exploration aspect of the game in one-player mode is also a great idea.

World Of Illusion is one of the best platform games on the Megadrive, but whack up the difficulty setting or it won't last you long.

Is this taking the mickey or what?! Actually, no. It is, in fact, a damn good game starring the infamous Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. It's amazing how a bit of imagination, some neat imagination and a stack of variety can jazz up your run-of-the-mill platform romp.

World Of Illusion piles it on with a trowel and the result is a really fun, nice-looking game with some great, if occasionally basic backgrouonds, merry toons and more playability than you can shake a stick at.

Hardened gamers might find the infinite continues make for less of a challenge but your average animal, mineral or vegetable (mentioning no names) will find it a positive blessing, especially since if you conquer it as Mickey there's a heap of new levels to crack as Donald then a pile more in two-player mode.

All in all, good stuff and well worth a look.

Presentation 92%
P. Beautifully presented throughout, as you'd expect from Disney.

Graphics 95%
P. Fabulous sprites and backgrounds, superb animation and great use of colour.
N. Some of the enemies are a little unoriginal and bland.

Sound 90%
P. A host of good tunes and some fab effects.
N. The cute soundtrack may grate after a while.

Playability 93%
P. Well programmed, great fun to play and there's loads to do.
N. It can be a bit slow at times.

Lastability 81%
P. A game you'll want to play once you've completed it.
N. Sadly, it won't take too long to complete, unless you resist those continues.

Overall 91%
A top-notch platform game which easily betters Castle Of Illusion but has the same lastability difficulties.