Pap the
Disney Gamer's Highlights: Just
what is Fantasia: Music Evolved?
And the high
profile Disney game releases
continue! With the likes of
DuckTales:Remastered and Disney
Infinity hoping to capture the
imaginations of Disney fans and
gamers alike in 2013, we can add
another hopeful to that list of
highly anticipated releases:
Fantasia: Music Evolved.

Of course, we
can't talk about the game
without first talking about the
Disney animated masterpiece that
inspired it, Fantasia.
The third animated film by Walt
Disney himself, Fantasia
represented a huge creative and
financial gamble for the
company. Despite the incredible
success of Snow White and the
Seven Dwarfs years earlier,
Pinocchio did not create
the same results, and with the
world on the brink of war, as
well as the oddness of the
project, Fantasia was
poised to be a cult classic. But
time can often be kind to
masterful pieces of art as
re-releases of the film helped
it finally find the audience it
deserved. People went from
complete indifference to hailing
it as one of the finest films
ever made. This legacy inspired
Disney to create a follow up
with Fantasia 2000, which
saw mixed reactions from fans
and critics alike.
On the other
side of the spectrum is
Harmonix. The company is highly
regarded in the video game
industry as one of the finest
creators of rhythm music games.
Their work on the early Guitar
Hero games gave them success
thanks to immersive gameplay
that was very easy to
understand, yet challenging to
master. Soon, they evolved the
Guitar Hero concept and created
Rock Band, a title that inspired
the music band game craze of the
mid-00s. Rock Band allowed
players to control different
instruments, allowing them to
live out the dream of being in a
rock band. That game featured
various editions such as The
Beatles: Rock Band. Once the
band game fad fizzled out, they
created Dance Central for the
Xbox 360 Kinect, a game that was
quickly praised as the best game
for the newly released motion
controlled camera.

Now, we have a
gaming company that has
rightfully earned its reputation
as the creators of innovative
music games, and that company
has taken extreme inspiration
from a film that celebrates
music and animation as
legitimate art forms. The end
result is gonna be Fantasia:
Music Evolved for the Xbox One
and Xbox 360. And the title is
about... It's a complete
mystery!
All kidding
aside, as we can see from the
teaser trailer below:
The premise of
the game remains a complete
mystery for many. What's even
more interesting is that despite
the Fantasia name
attached to the project, the
music will not be about
classical musical compositions
as seen in the feature films.
Instead, the soundtrack will be
adorned by the likes of Fun's
'Some Nights' and Bruno Mars.
The release of this trailer has
not only confused people, but
also made them mad. As it
stands, people believe that
Fantasia: Music Evolved only
takes the Fantasia name
and put it on top of a generic
music game, disrespecting the
legacy the film had created in
the art and music world.
The very small
pieces of information regarding
this game indicates that the
game will have kinetic rhythm
game components, as well as free
style modes where players use
their arms to generate images
inspired by the music. Of all
the elements from the two films,
the appearance of Sorcerer
Yensid and Apprentice Mickey
from 'The Sorcerer's Apprentice'
has been confirmed. The idea
behind the films, which is to
generate visuals according to
the mood and feel of the films,
so far seems to be the main
reason behind the gameplay. It
has also been confirmed that
players start off in a blank
universe that becomes more alive
as the music grows along with a
player's performance. And that's
just it: information is just so
sparse right now that people
have no idea what to make of it!

All the
confusion and indifference makes
me believe that this is what
Walt Disney and his animators
experienced when the film was
first announced and eventually
released. Just like no one could
understand the idea behind
Fantasia, players and Disney
fans don't know how to react to
Fantasia: Music Evolved. The
usage of modern day music throws
a lot of people off, and the
lack of gameplay details just
generates more confusion. In my
eyes, though, I rather give
Disney and Harmonix the benefit
of the doubt as not only is the
information so small it is hard
to form a general opinion of it,
this may be the kind of
experimental game that may
eventually yield a huge
following in its release.
Harmonix has many years of
expertise under their belt, and
if there is one company that can
give justice to the game, it is
them.
Fantasia: Music
Evolved is slated for a 2014
release on the Xbox 360 and the
Xbox One. No word if it will be
a digital release or a retail
release.