Game Review – Disney Crossy Road (Mobile Free to Play)

Why should the chicken get to have all the fun? Brought to us by Hipster Whale and Disney LOL, the masters of animated originality have put their great minds together and come up with, Disney Crossy Road. Crossy Road with Disney characters.

Review based on Version 3.101

We all know Crossy Road right? Brought to the masses by Hipster Whale, it has proven to be one of the most popular free to play games on mobile. It is also celebrated for using the ads/in app purchases in a way that is both fair to the player and doesn’t detract from the user experience at all. So how do you improve on it? Well it seems that Hipster Whale and Disney decided simply that if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.

Disney Crossy Road is simply Crossy Road in a Disney skin. All the fun of Crossy Road but with a sprinkling of Disney magic.

So, the aim of the game is to progress as far into a level as possible. The further you go, the higher your score. Simple. Often likened to a simplified version of Frogger, Disney Crossy Road is simple to play and hard to master. A simple screen touch will move your character forward a space. Obstacles will come flying along roads, rivers and the like at different paces and with different spaces. You try to move forward through these spaces without getting hit. You get one life to make it as far as you can and you can also then swipe in any of the 4 standard directions to move your character a space left or right or whatever.

To really give the game that special Disney gloss, it isn’t simply characters that have been added. To be fair to all involved, they have really gone to town on “Disneyfying” this game. There are a load of new characters from the Disney and Pixar universe of course. They range from classic characters like Mickey Mouse to fan favourites like The Lion King and Toy Story all the way to more recent films like Zootopia and Big Hero 6. Unlocking and playing as a character is more than just getting a new character as they are essentially themes. Each character brings with it it’s very own themed level and music. All of this is delivered in that 8-bit, blocky charm retained from the original Crossy Road.

Not content to just provide themed visuals, the levels themselves are much more intuitive and detailed with, for example Pirates of the Caribbean levels having cannons and the like shooting at you as you progress. The cars on the roads also change depending on the level with bright and colourful cars in the Mickey and Friends level and horses and animals in the Tangled level. There are also a load of bonus additions in level specific to each type. Wreck It Ralph as candies that can be collected to gain a score boost and there are boost pads on Big Hero 6 to shoot you off down the level a bit further. It is a really thorough facelift and really captures the Disney magic.

Unlocking new characters is the secondary but most fun aim. Trying to get a character to be able to access them in their own level is something most people will be trying to do. In level characters can be found as you make it through each level. For example, good progress in the Mickey level may well see you come across other characters from Mickey’s world. You also can collect coins as you go and every 100 coins will give you a spin on a machine where you will be awarded a character. Collecting coins this way would take time though so luckily you are also awarded a free gift of 50 to 150 coins after a certain amount of time passes, in or out of game. This is the easiest way to get new characters though you can be awarded duplicates which is a little annoying.

Monetization comes from mainly from the purchase of new characters. Costing between £0.49 and  £2.99 each, there are a load available to you but they are not necessary. You may have a favourite you want to buy, fair enough, but really you can enjoy Disney Crossy Road fully without ever spending a penny. Other than the rare pop up offering a character for sale, they aren’t pushed on you much either. Other developers could learn a lot from this game.

Disney Crossy Road is a bright and bouncy, addictive game much like its predecessor. If you got bored of Crossy Road because you wanted more characters, well look no further. Maybe you are a Disney fan, look no further. If you just like a short, fun pick up and play game, look no further. Disney Crossy Road is mobile gaming at its finest. Simple fun, loads of content and real money purchases there for you, if you want them. Nice.

Disney Crossy Road is available on all the usual platforms, ike the Apple Store, Google Play and Amazon now. You can pick up a version from the Disney website too here.

[amazon_link asins=’B01C3G7SS0,B06XHGWCG6,B0742GX4JM,B01MQR4TJT,B00IUW8PCA,B0193VF560,B076CLRRH3,B00G0J86ZQ’ template=’UseThisOne’ store=’g0e5b-21′ marketplace=’UK’ link_id=’7a06d56c-46f5-11e8-aaf3-bb0ad8f09ffb’]