Disney's Treasure Planet

Published by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe
Developed by Magenta Software
Platform: PlayStation (PSone)
Released - Out Now
Price : £19.99

Released to coincide with the the release of the movie, Disney's Treasure Planet is the classic tale of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island with a sci-fi twist. Instead of sailing the oceans you'll be sailing across the galaxy and instead of buried treasure you're after Treasure Planet. Of course the old characters are all here but in a sci-fi guise. Take the infamous ship's cook, John Silver, for instance. He's here but now he's a cyborg and just like in the book he's a total scallywag and yes you've guessed it, you play as Jim Hawkins.

Disney's Treasure Planet is basically a 3D platformer and all things considered it's a rather good one. Whilst it never reaches the high standards set by the Crash Bandicoot series, it is still an enjoyable game. This PSone version closely follows the events of the film, or so I'm told as I've yet to see it. The game's controls feel natural and anyone who has played a 3D platformer on the PSone will instantly be at home with the controls.

In Treasure Planet there are four worlds to explore. Races, fights and good old platforming action is the name of the game and the whole thing will come as a pleasant surprise to those of you that usually don't trust a game that is based on a film. Each of the worlds are split up into multiple levels and the variety that these levels have is very pleasing indeed. Of course you'll have to deal with Silver before you finally succeed but there is plenty of fun to be had before you get to the climax. Whilst the game is primarily aimed at children it is fair to say that any fan of the platform game genre will appreciate the gameplay.

Throughout the game you are accompanied by a creature called Morph. Morph is really handy and can change into a variety of objects to aid you solve certain problems. The inclusion of Morph helps to give the game some freshness and Morph's many uses help to add a nice twist to the gameplay. Along with Morph's help there are also a number of power-ups that will temporarily give you extra abilities that allow you to complete your tasks.

Graphically the game looks good but in all honesty the textures are probably not as good as they could have been in places. It can be tricky to see ladders if you are not standing directly in front of them. The game's camera does a fine job but should it go astray, you do have the option of manually correcting it with the right analogue stick.

What let's Disney's Treasure Planet for the PSone down, for deaf gamers, is the unsubtitled cutscenes that are taken straight from the film. Subtitles are automatically enabled, in fact it's not an option they are just there, for in-game dialogue and this is useful for giving you instructions. It's good to have some subtitles in the game but it just doesn't give you the same enjoyment when you can't enjoy included parts from the movie.

Disney's Treasure Planet is a good platforming game, whether you're interested in the film or not. What's disappointing is that the film extracts are not subtitled and this takes away the intended ambience for deaf gamers. Deaf gamers aren't really going to be able to appreciate the game's story unless they have seen the film, which is a shame. That said though even without the film's story to enjoy, Disney's Treasure Planet is still a fine game.

Overall Game Rating: 7.8/10
Another impressive title for the incredible PSone console. It's just a shame that the film clips are not subtitled.

Deaf Gamers comment:
Cutscenes are not subtitled which is a shame as they carry along the story of the game.