Disney Magical Dice is a lot of fun, assuming you love Monopoly. Otherwise, I’m going to guess this isn’t for you. You see, Disney Magical Dice really is the perfect combination of Monopoly and adorable Disney characters. It offers a …
Disney Magical Dice is a lot of fun, assuming you love Monopoly. Otherwise, I’m going to guess this isn’t for you. You see, Disney Magical Dice really is the perfect combination of Monopoly and adorable Disney characters. It offers a few extra rules to the usual way of doing things, but if you like the classic board game, you’re going to really like this.
The game starts you out gently with a tutorial guiding you through the paces. While knowing Monopoly is going to help you out, there’s a fair amount to take in here. You compete with another player in real time, racing around a board, buying up locations and property. Each space on the board has a slight Disney theme to it, and it all looks pretty cute. Unlike Monopoly, there are numerous ways of winning. Besides simply bankrupting your opponent, you can also work toward collecting set groups of locations, leading you to win through a form of group domination. It’s an excellent rule change because it means that games don’t turn as one-sided as they could, always giving you an opportunity to win through strategy and other methods.
Luck still plays a role, given you’re rolling virtual dice, but you have some control over it, given a sliding scale that dictates the increased odds of a number of a certain size. It’s those little tweaks that ensure this is more than just your regular game of Monopoly. It also means that while some games can take quite a while to complete, others can take just a couple of minutes. Either way, you’re going to have to commit yourself to a game of Disney Magical Dice, as it’s all conducted in real time, but generally, games don’t take too long to conclude.
Outside of playing a game against someone, there’s still plenty to do too. Disney Magical Dice uses a leveling up mechanism, as well as a card collecting system. It all ties into the rather complicated economy and currency within the game. Leveling up leads to new features being introduced via the tutorial, but it also means you earn coins and other bonuses. There’s a steady trickle feeding of completing achievements through this, which in turn unlock even more bonuses.
What do all those bonuses and coins provide? A way in which to boost the cards you use. Rather than using a playing piece (or costume, as they’re known here) solely for the looks, you use a card which comes with its own advantages and disadvantages. Such cards can be upgraded by combining them with other cards, or even fusing them together for further bonuses. It sounds complicated, but it’s really not. Ultimately, you want to focus on one or two different cards to use when playing. For instance, early on, I favored Captain Hook who always gave me a bonus when crossing the start line. His stats were also increased steadily through regular card combining, further improving my odds.
It’s that kind of system that means Disney Magical Dice is more than just Monopoly with a Disney twist. There are plenty of reasons to keep coming back for more. Technically, it’s a form of grinding, but it rarely feels like that. Instead, you feel like you’re working towards something at all times, even if it’s simply collecting your favorite character’s card.
Given its real time multiplayer nature, Disney Magical Dice is going to need a steady community for you to really reap the benefits (although there is AI play), but it’s certainly enjoyable enough to keep you playing. It’s generous enough with its consumables too to ensure that you won’t feel cheated along the way.
