Disney is coming after fans of the Little Big Planet video game franchise, and if it’s done right, they may just nab a nice chunk of that market.
Today, Disney Interactive Studios announced Disney Universe, a multiplayer adventure game that allows users to “suit up” as their favorite Disney and Pixar characters (like Stitch, Mike Wazowski, Tron and Alice in Wonderland) and explore worlds inspired by many beloved Mouse House and Pixar films. Hoping to hit all the bases, the game is in development for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, and Windows PC/MAC.
It’s a bit like Little Big Planet, which allows for multiple characters to explore lands, solve puzzles together, and of course, choose their own costumes. While the game won’t include the level-building capability included in Little Big Planet, Disney will continue to have new worlds and costumes available for download as time goes on to keep things interesting.
There is one small worry with this new game. As a Disney fan, I gobbled up the Kingdom Hearts games; they dropped Disney characters and their respective realms into a Final Fantasy-style game and let it all mix together in a very strange, yet entertaining mix. The only complaint I had was that their use of the Disney characters was so off; their stories were twisted, their lands were turned into haunting spaces with odd fantasy-alien creatures. Sure, I played all of the games all the way through, but I’d hope with another game that aims to offer up our favorite Disney characters in a playable format, that they’ll hold a little truer to the source material. But even if they don’t, I’m sure I’ll spend another few months trying to shake my addiction to it.
Disney Universe is on schedule to hit shelves in fall this year and if it offers everything it says it will, we’re likely in for a treat. And as a treat right now, here are some screen shots from the Monsters Inc. section of the game:
Source: Disney
