Game: Castle of Illusion

Before we get into this, a disclaimer: This reviewer has never played Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse in its original release for the SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive. As such, no comparisons to the original game are to be found in this review, and it will only be judged on its own merits. That said, this iOS port of the Xbox 360/PlayStation 3/PC remake is good. Quite good, in fact, and perhaps surprisingly so. Platformers can be hit or miss on the iPhone, especially when they weren't originally made with the system in mind; and when they fall, they can fall hard.Such is not the case here, though. While not perfect, Castle of Illusion still works well in the palm of your hand, and almost feels like it's been optimized to compensate for its shortcomings. The biggest issue we had was with the controls, which feel a bit sticky when you try to move in just about any direction except to the right. This provides a bit of a problem when you need to duck, or worse, when the left-right portions change to full-on 3D movement, which the game does seamlessly otherwise."Even so, the game doesn't seem to have a standard lives system, as such games from the era of the original typically did. On occasion, including near the start, you might run into a situation where it feels like a checkpoint would be handy, but for the most part, they're frequent and the lack of lives means you can continue trying as much as you need to in order to get it right.