Sorcerer’s Apprentice for the Atari 2600

I know this title is made for kids, but I am a big Disney fan (and mentally a kid -Ed) and could not and still cannot resist a game with Mickey Mouse on the cover, no matter how potentially bad it may be. Sorcerer’s Apprentice starts out pretty promising with a surprisingly well rendered Mickey Mouse. The game looks great, and you can tell this was done at the end of the 2600’s life-cycle because they really do a great job graphically. From the shooting stars to the rising water level, the game is a visual treat. Sadly, that is about all it can be called.

The game has two screens. The first one is the star field, where you can shoot or catch stars. Shooting gives you points, catching gives you buckets for the next room. When you have some buckets, you move off the edge of the screen and into the Broom carrying scene from Mickey’s part in “Fantasia”. You must stop the brooms before they fill the room with water. But don’t worry, your buckets will try to help you with this exercise in futility.

The game gets tedious real fast, and it is difficult to figure out the relationship between water loss, and the buckets. So you keep moving back and forth with seemingly no sense of urgency. Plus, it has that great piece of music they play in the Sorcerer’s Apprentice of “Fantasia”, but the loop is extremely short and seems to reset every time you shoot. THAT get tiresome very quickly.

Sorcerer’s Apprentice was designed for children, but I cannot imagine them actually enjoying this game for more than an hour. For an adult, it gets old after about 20 minutes (so you played it for an hour, right? – Ed). The game looks great, but it is all gloss and no substance. I give it 2 out of 5 stars.

Gameplay Video