Interview/Review for Toontown 3-Day trial

Recently, Disney Interactive has been advertising a 3-Day free trial all over the childrens' cable networks. Since this is the first time I've seen a MMOG on maximum advertising rotation on national TV, and one that was specifically marketed toward children, I felt it was interesting enough to check out.

However, I didn't feel that I, as an adult, would have the best context for judging the quality of the trial. So, I assigned it to my crack in-house reporter: My 10 year old son, Morgan.

Mystery: Morgan, how many times have you played the Toontown 3-Day free trial?

Morgan: Eight times.

Mystery: Do you consider yourself an expert in Toontown, or at least the 3-Day free trial?

Morgan: No, nowhere near.

Mystery: Why do you say that?

Morgan: Because, even on the first try, when I got the farthest, I was not able to even get up to 45 points for either of my first gags.

Mystery: In 3 days, how much can you really accomplish?

Morgan: You can pretty much just get to the cream pies and the water gun.

Mystery: What do you mean by "getting to the cream pies and the water gun"?

Morgan: Cream pies and water guns are gags. Gags are jokes that Toons use against the evil robot Cogs that are trying to take over Toontown. You start out the game with a cupcake and a squirting flower. Cream pies and water guns are level 3 gags.

Mystery: So, is there any violence in Toontown?

Morgan: The most violence is throwing pies and stuff at Cogs, and when they run out of life points, they blow up.

Mystery: Is there anything in the Toontown to do besides fighting Cogs with gags?

Morgan: Yes, you can go on the Trolley to earn jelly beans to buy more gags.

Mystery: Just going on the Trolley wins you money (jelly beans)?

Morgan: The Trolley brings you to a game where you have a limited time to play that game. If you do well in that game, you get more jelly beans than if you only got 1 or 2 points.

Mystery: Do you play against other Toons in these games, or is it just against yourself or the computer?

Morgan: You can play against other Toons, or you can choose to play by yourself. The limit of Toons on any one Trolley is 4.

Mystery: How do you compare Toontown with games like Asheron's Call and Dark Age of Camelot?

Morgan: I think that it relieves you of stress while the other 2 give you more stress.

Mystery: Can you give an example of how, say, Asheron's Call might give you stress?

Morgan: When you're fighting in Asheron's Call, you lose a lot of life. If you die, you might lose items that you like. In Toontown, you don't even have life points. If you lose all of your skill points in Toontown, you can return to a specific place to get everything back.

Mystery: The penalty for not playing well in Toontown is just the time it takes to get your stuff back?

Morgan: And you have to stay in the playground while you heal. While you're fully "sad", you cannot leave the playground.

Mystery: What is your motivation in Toontown to succeed? In games like Asheron's Call, it's to get better items and better weapons so you can fight the really big monsters. Is there anything like that in Toontown?

Morgan: Your motivation is to get better gags. Basically the same thing, but if you save Toontown from the Cogs, you get to train with other toons and you get announced as a hero. You want to be able to get to new places that are sometimes restricted or their Cogs are just too high level.

You are trying to prove that you are "Toon" enough to be in Toontown.

Mystery: In the 3 day free trial, are you able to go to any other places besides the beginning zone, or are they all restricted or too powerful?

Morgan: If you are a boy, you start out in Toontown Central. If you are a girl, you start out in Minnie's Melody Land. Many other places can be reached during the 3 day free trial: Donald's Dock, Donald's Dreamland, and Daisy's Garden. If you complete enough quests, you'll be able to begin making a Cog suit, which you can then use to enter Cog Headquarters.

Mystery: Were you able to finish your suit during the 3 day trial, and enter the Cog headquarters?

Morgan: No, I wasn't even able to start my Cog suit. You'll only be able to start getting a Cog suit if you know every gag that you can know. This includes Noise, Throw, Tune-Up, Squirt, and a couple of other categories.

Mystery: So, it's not likely in the 3-day trial that even someone playing all day and all night would be able to make their Cog suit?

Morgan: Well, no, I've seen one or maybe two people with their Cog suit in the 3-day trial. I'm sure that they're one of those kinds of people that would play all day and all night.

Mystery: How do communicate with other Toons in Toontown?

Morgan: You can use Speed Chat on the 3-Day trial, or, if you own Toontown, then you can use Chat, where you can type in messages to other Toons.

Mystery: What is Speed Chat?

Morgan: Speed Chat is a listing of phrases like "Hi", "Bye", "I'm sad", "I need more jellybeans" (cash in Toontown). You select a phrase, and your Toon says that out loud. If you select a Toon, you can whisper (targeted Speed Chat) or secret information (targeted Chat) to that Toon.

Mystery: You're 10. Would you recommend this game to other kids your age? How about adults?

Morgan: I would recommend it to both, because it seems more of a family game than just a kid's game. Even grown ups know about Toons.

It goes without saying that we thank Morgan and every other 10 year old that contributes to WarCry. It's hard working children like Morgan that make us wonder why they repealed the Child Labor Laws in the first place.