Disney Magical Dice Review: Card Collecting Meets Monopoly

Disney dives into the mobile game market with Disney Magical Dice, it’s first board game, which combines card collecting and a global ranking system into a hyper-active monopoly style environment.

Developer: NetMarble

Publisher: Disney

Platforms: iOS (Version reviewed) & Andriod

Release Date: April 28th, 2016

Two months after the initial launch, Disney Magical Dice has received positive feedback but has failed to grab a global audience in the crowded mobile market. The game greets players with a guide, Felix Fortune, who helps the players understand the concept of costume cards, the layout of the home screen and the initial mechanics of gameplay.

The game will be immediately familiar to just about anyone, as it uses the monopoly style tile and building format as its foundation. The aim is the buy spaces, build landmarks, and race your opponent to victory through a number of ways. Victory can be achieved via the following methods:

1. Bankrupt your opponent – Outmaneuver your opponent into bankruptcy through strategically buying and upgrading tiles, as they land on them they pay you money.
2. Color Completion – Place a building on each tile for three sets of colors.
3. Point Victory – After 25 minutes or 25 rounds of play, the player with the highest point total wins.
4. Line Completion – Place a building on all tiles for a side of the board.
5. Magic Square Completion – Own each of the five magical squares on the board.

Players earn and collect hearts, gold and diamonds in the game as currency to play new rounds, buy cards, dice, or special abilities. Character cards from Disney’s extensive catalog are featured in the game as avatars, with special attributes, such as Peter Pan’s hat, as add-ons.

Overall, NetMarble has done a tremendous job creating a lot of content for a game rated ages 4+, but this also serves as a negative. Let’s look at three areas to explain this further – (1) Missions & Rewards, (2) In-game Strategy, and (3) Appearance.

Missions & Rewards

Disney Magical Dice offers plenty of features aimed to hook players in both the short term and create long in-game sessions. Daily, weekly and monthly missions, along with bonuses for playing each day reward frequency and longevity. If you play two competitive match-ups, along with time unlocking rewards and learning the various areas of the game you’ve likely spent 40-60 minutes, which is a solid amount for a mobile game to pull. However at times it can feel like you are going through pre-determined motions to hit targets versus planning out your long-term progression.

In-game Strategy

The game throws an endless supply of cards, gold bonuses, daily wheel spins, challenges, etc. at the player to make it feel rewarding and progressive. However, the tutorial and the game lack a focus on long-term strategy and how players get a competitive edge in-game. Pre-match I was given the ability to buy three advantages, but after matching a few players levels 1 through 10, it became apparent everyone has these same abilities. The cards have varying attributes but ultimately feel like the same experience with a different avatar appearance. Personally, I found the ability to see my international rank, as well as my nation’s global rank, the strongest pull to continue to master the game and move up.

Appearance

This game is wonderful for kids, and anyone looking for casual fun. The classic Disney music plays in the background. Familiar characters, locations on the game board and mini-games are all exciting for anyone who enjoys Disney movies and cartoons. There are a lot of bright colors, animation, and non-stop movement on the screen to keep you entertained. Ultimately, however, the adult or more strategic gamer may be put off by the focus on appearance vs. strategic mobility in the long run.

A copy of this game was provided to App Trigger for the purpose of this review. All scores are ranked out of 10, with .5 increments. Click here to learn more about our Review Policy.