https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kq0_dGKx4Os Harmonix’s next game is being built exclusively for the Xbox’s Kinect (both of them) is not a surprise. Its Dance Central series was among the motion controller’s best and most successful franchises, after all. It’s also not unexpected that it’s a music game. Harmonix, after all, is a unique development studio built on the principles of connecting people with music in new and interactive ways – and the legacy (Frequency, Amplitude, Guitar Hero, Rock Band, and Dance Central) clearly reflects that. What’s more shocking is that the studio's hooked up with Disney and are making Fantasia: Music Evolved, a modern-day take on Walt Disney’s obscure theatrical experiment from 1940. I’ll give you a moment to process that. If you can’t picture it, don’t worry: I’m here to help. Almost everything here is an instrument. You play the Sorcerer’s Apprentice. Not Mickey, but you, as the new Apprentice of Yensid. You will “literally don the hat and cape and conduct music into the world,” says Disney executive producer Chris Nicholls. “It’s less about music simulation and more about music creation,” adds Harmonix’s John Drake. I saw two areas: the undersea, coral reef-y Shoal and the newspaper-inspired Press (the latter of which I played). It plays a bit like the strange lovechild of Dance Central and Child of Eden. You whip your arms in various directions to the tune of the music, as queued by the game, using interactive bits of the scenery to add new layers to the mix. At key points of the song, you choose whether to add a guitar, drum, or horn layer, which gets added to the song. Swipe your hands or fingers in the directions the arrows point. It's surprisingly fun. The songs, interestingly enough, are mostly licensed, modern-day fare, such as “Some Nights” by Fun., Bruno Mars’ “Locked Out of Heaven,” and Harmonix staple “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen. Ever heard Queen with a metal drum track on it? After seeing Fantasia, I now have. But isn’t it odd to have pop music in Fantasia? No, say Disney and Harmonix. “[Disney was] starting to branch out into other [musical] genres” before Disney pulled the plug on its theatrical aural experiment, suggests Nicholls. “Had Fantasia been allowed to evolve with modern music, I don’t think it’s a stretch” to think that modern hits would’ve been included, adds Harmonix project lead Daniel Sussman. Another interesting moment happens in the middle of the tune: the Sound Sketcher, in which you use your gestures to “draw” a melody line that plays over the next verse. Meanwhile, “everything’s an instrument,” says Drake, and so on The Shoal you can play jazz on the backs of crabs, clarinet with a fish, and drums on a group of clams. You'll move through various scenes, tearing open new wormholes into the songs. Yeah, it's weird. Like Harmonix’s recent Dance Central titles, Fantasia will be a Kinect exclusive – but it’ll be heading to both Xbox 360 and Xbox One. Grab the next-gen version and you’ll be treated to prettier scenery on the screen and more precise 1:1 gestures as you play. The version I tried was an odd hybrid: Xbox One visuals played with an original Kinect sensor. Post-release downloadable songs are also a given, Harmonix says. Source IGN.
