There had been rumblings that Disney Interactive Studios was working on an unannounced action-adventure title that would incorporate the worlds of Disney and Pixar together, and now we know what they were about. DIS today announced that they are currently developing Disney Universe for the Sony PS3, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, and PC/Mac. In Disney Universe, players will be able to play through a mix-up of worlds based on various Disney movie properties, including those from Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar Animation Studios, and Walt Disney Pictures.
The initial game will have six different worlds to play through, which will see the characters playing through various missions that follow the movie that the world is based on. In playing through these worlds, your characters will have the ability to suit up as various Disney and Pixar characters as they battle through each level, with the suits providing unique powers to help fight enemies and solve various puzzles. There will be more than 40 costumes in all, with some of the known costumes including Alice from Alice in Wonderland, Mike from Monsters, Inc., TRON from TRON: Legacy, and Stitch from Lilo & Stitch. The costumes have their own specific ability and will level up in power as you progress through the game.
“Disney Universe is a vast treasure chest of Disney properties with memorable characters, places and experiences that gamers, as well as Disney fans will enjoy,” said Adam Sussman, senior vice president of publishing, Disney Interactive Media Group. “The fast-paced, frenetic gameplay combined with wacky humor and hilarious situations make Disney Universe the perfect game to play with family and friends.”
From a gameplay standpoint, Disney Universe will offer frenetic gameplay for up to four players at a time, presumably in competitive and co-operative form, and will appeal to all ages, as we would expect a Disney title like this to do. There are also plans for the game to expand with post-launch DLC offering new worlds, costumes and more.
On the surface, there are certainly comparisons to be made to the LEGO series of games with the slapstick humour, drop-in drop-out co-op, character-specific abilities, and movie playthrough, and also LittleBigPlanet with the four player support and dress-up aspect as some people have pointed out. At GamerPops, we see this as a good thing, as those are two successful game franchises that are very suitable for playing together with your kids. Of course, once we get a little more hands on with the game (hopefully at E3) and closer to release, scheduled for this Fall, we’ll know more about how similar the games really are.
