Pap the
Disney Gamer's Highlight:
Cinderella's Midnight Dash
Sometimes,
adaptations of various Disney
franchises take liberties in
their execution, much like
Disney take liberties in their
own films. On some occasions,
this works for the better,
sometimes for the worse, and
sometimes it is so silly you
can't help but enjoy it. Today's
game takes a very famous scene
from an animated classic and
creates a game that can be
silly, but still fun to play:
Cinderella's Midnight Dash.
An online 3D
flash game created to promote
last year's Cinderella's release
on Blu-ray, Midnight Dash has
Cinderella escaping the 12 tolls
of midnight, where the spell
will end, and she shall be back
to her rags. This scene is one
of my favorites from the film.
While in other adaptations of
the Cinderella story the escape
is very quiet and happens very
quickly, Disney's take on the
story creates a tense moment
where everyone's lives are
affected by the midnight curse.
Cinderella has to return home
before the spell is over, the
Grand Duke must stop Cinderella
from escaping, and Prince
Charming has lost his mysterious
girl. The usage of music and
imagery is also fantastic,
creating a scene that makes an
already fantastic film even
better.

So it comes as
no surprise that they have
created a 3D flash game based on
this scene. However, the
liberties they have taken in
order to create a playable
version of this scene make it
both fun and really funny in an
unintentional way. As
Cinderella, players must guide
her as she makes her way back to
the pumpkin coach. Using the
various keys on the keyboard,
players can make Cinderella move
left and right, jump over
obstacles and skip on various
stones. As I played this, I
couldn't help but think, 'Wow,
Cinderella really had a long way
to go before she reached the
coach!' The idea of Cinderella
jumping around while wearing a
heavy dress is also a funny one.

Players can also
summon the Fairy Godmother. When
doing so, Cinderella can fly,
helping her reach her
destination faster. They can
also find some of Cinderella's
mice friends are scattered
throughout the track. This will
create a bigger score at the end
of the run. And... that's it!
Flash games like this one are
often created to be featured on
a promotional website. They are
not complicated, and feature a
very simplistic aesthetic
presentation. Yet in some cases,
they can be very engaging and
fun time wasters outside their
promotional stance.
Midnight Dash is
one of the many Flash games that
uses 3D graphics to depict the
overall gameplay. Cinderella's
3D model, in particular, looks
really nice. When you use the
Fairy Godmother power up, you
can see Cinderella's bare feet
as she flies across the track. A
nice detail indicating that she
has left her shoe behind (though
why she left behind her two
shoes is beyond me).
The game is free
to play, and may require
additional Flash plug-ins and
updates in order to run it. You
can do so at this link:
http://opaygames.com/es/games/2426_cinderella-midnight-dash/play/