Disney's PK: Out of the Shadows

Overview

Donald Duck has a secret identity, he's a superhero with cape and everything. He's called Paperinik and fights crimes, although still plagued with Donald's bad luck, often leaving him humiliated in one way or the other. Donald Duck is voiced by Tony Anselmo but when he assumes the role of PK, the voice changes, performed by Rob Paulsen.

Story

PK Out of the Shadows is based on a spin-off comic from 1996 that features a darker, grittier take on Duckburgwhere robberies againstScrooge McDuckbecomes minor inconveniences. Donald fights criminals from space, other time zones, underwater and anywhere one can imagine. Donald himself is more serious and closer to the role model an uncle should be. When working as a night watchman at Ducklair tower, in the heart of Duckburg, he stumbles across an entrance to the top floor, a high-tech lair, inhabited by Uno, an AI. Upon finding out that Donald is Paperinik, Uno promptly renames him PK that stands for "platyrhynchos kineticu" or Energized Duck.

The game follows the premise loosely when Uno recruits the agitated Donald and creates a superhero out of him from scratch. Earth is under invasion by Evronians and it's up to the two of them to stop them.

Gameplay

The story is a bit more simplified to appeal to the target audience and so is gameplay. The shield, the X-transformer, is an upgradeable laser cannon, and shooting alien invaders is the main gameplay together with platforming sections in a level-by-level structure. There's no fighting gameplay, despite PK mainly using his fists in the comic books.

The game was received poorly because of lackluster AI, too easy campaign and repetitive combat, not to mention the fact that no one outside of Italy had ever heard of the idea of Donald Duck being a superhero.