As well as the unusual arsenal of silly weapons, the combat is turn-based. Rather than the typical action bar controls, players essentially lock into battle with a Cog and Gags are selected through a pop-up dialogue. The system is seamlessly integrated and it captures the spirit of cartoon combat wonderfully. Eliminating Cogs and completing other tasks in ToonTown earns you access to better Gags with which you can overcome tougher Cogs.
Gags, however, are not free. You need to buy them with jellybeans, the currency of ToonTown, which are obtained primarily by playing Trolley Games. These are miniature arcade games that can be played solo or in groups. There are a variety of Trolley Games but they are all very straightforward. For example, one is an adaptation of PacMan; another involves positioning yourself to catch apples as they fall from a tree.
The typical health bar has been replaced with a happy meter, which indicates how happy or sad your Toon is. Rather than dying, when the Cogs prove to be more than you can handle you become sad and you must hang around in the playground for a bit to cheer up. This doesn't take long, and you can do a little fishing to pass the time.
They've also eliminated any need to run around the world trying to find your friends. Once someone is on your friends list, you can teleport to them at any time, making it a breeze for kids to play together.
You might think that ToonTown would be incapable of holding an adults interest, but quite a few adults do play along with their kids. Don't get me wrong - it's no replacement for EverQuest or World of Warcraft, but it is remarkably engaging and there is an impressive variety of gameplay that will appeal to even the shortest attention span, which you can't say about a lot of MMORPGs.
Bottom Line
ToonTown is a noteworthy accomplishment because it gives young kids a colorful online world to explore that is not only safe, but also easy to learn and entertaining. Disney has done a commendable job of ensuring that there are no obstacles in the interface or gameplay that children might get stuck on. It's already a great package, and they will soon be adding Goofy Speedway, which will introduce racing action that sounds a lot like Mario Cart. Expect to hear more about ToonTown in the future, because it's also being released for consoles. My guess is that the biggest problem you'll have with ToonTown is getting your kids to stop playing.
