Seemingly this game is sacrosanct unless you've played it first hand, but I'm scratching my head here a bit.
Saw some dude on twitter criticizing J.P. de Win's work on this game, asked him questions, and then proceeding to watch Joe's video from Tuesday, and then Jack Danger's as well.
I'm a bit taken back by some of the design choices he's made here. Definitely not his best JJP work, and I wonder if Disney demanded/instructed certain things, or this was entirely his own design, as I always find his work some of the best aspects of a JJP release.
Why is the main score floating that far up in the lower blue score box, with that big empty gaping area below it?
I don't like when Caboom jumps, and the hoop pops up and blocks Buzz. Buzz is a key element of the design interface frame, and breaking that frame with a quick pop up looks messy, and breaks structure in a way that compromises that frame.
I also don't like the weird detached focused eye frame and arm extending from Buzz in the same area. It's jarring in how detached those elements are from one another, and not enough space exists for those two comic book type frames to appear in a way that compliment one another or either establish a dynamic aesthetic or functional action effect.
I'm not sure what is going on with the ultra tiny BoPeep and Woody figures in the upper right, and how teenie tiny the numbers are below them.
Also at some point a bonus is hit, and dozens of very, very small scores echo off the top of the main score. It looks bizarre, size wise compared to the main score, and again, super tiny.
Definitely a lot of clouds floating in the middle of the screen for seconds on end, which the twitter user mentioned.
There's more I noted, but can't remember offhand.
In contrast, POTC created such a nice balanced aethestic for that game. It served as a backdrop more with maintained mode tracking information, more so than distracting entertainment. The lack of character clips help maintain focus for the player, all the while allowing game objectives to be monitored seemlessly and without jarring the player away from actual gameplay. (Kind of the ideal for a backglass usage for me!)
Add in the smaller screen, the hot rails, the playfield lcd's, and the sound effects, and man this game seems an explosion of stimulation that maybe is more targeted for a kid on a sugar rush, holding a phone, while watching a Pixar flick on a tablet. Viewing Joe's gameplay, I found it tougher than usual to distract myself from the backbox LCD, and actually be able to watch the playfield.
Anyway, just some thoughts.