Toontown? I haven’t heard that name in years…

Probably because it was shut down… but it’s back now! Well, it has been for a while. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, I’ll fill you in.

Toontown Online was a game developed by Disney Interactive and published by the Walt Disney Company in 2003. It was an RPG that was open 24 hours a day, seven days a week to anyone with internet connection. A few months after its tenth anniversary, the game was shut down. Since then, fans have created their own servers. Today, I am reviewing Toontown Rewritten, the most popular of these fan servers. This new server does not charge money for special features, making it much more enjoyable for all players.

So, how does the game work? You start out by creating your character called a “Toon.” A variety of options are available to customize the Toon, including size, color, species, etc. You can choose a name either from the list of pre-made names or make your own, but it must be looked over first to make sure it is appropriate for the fetus eyes that might witness it.

Once your character is complete, you can freely explore the world. There are multiple Playgrounds that you can visit, each with their own perks and difficulties. New players will start out at Toontown Central, where they first encounter the main enemies, the Cogs. Cogs are pretty much capitalist robots that want to propagate business culture in this town of cats, dogs, and horses. I am betting that one of the makers called for a meeting during the game’s construction to turn this feature into a political statement.

Overall, I like this game. I played it a lot when I was younger, and I admittedly play it a fair amount even now. The animation is wonky and problems like freezing and crashing occur pretty often, but what do you expect from a game that came out in the early 2000s? There’s no harm in checking TTR out. You can have mindless fun running around by yourself or with friends, if you can convince them to make accounts as well. (Please do it. I need pals on this website.)