Synopsis: One of the year’s most anticipated games is finally here, toting the Disney name and a number of characters and environments almost forgotten; Disney Epic Mickey is an action platformer for gamers of all ages exclusively available on the Nintendo Wii. You will play as Mickey Mouse on a journey of creativity and discovery, armed with a brush, some paint, and thinner which is used to change environments, solve puzzles, and interact with your friends and enemies, in a play style described as “Playstyle Matters”, where there will be consequences for your decisions and actions. All characters, both friends and enemies, and environments are inspired from Disney’s vault of films and shorts, some newer and some older, such as the ruler of the alternative Disney universe, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Will this title from the mastermind behind Deus Ex, Thief, and Wing Commander, Warren Spector live up to its hype?
Praise: To start off, the characters and environments in this title make me feel like I am looking at Disneyland through the eyes of Tim Burton. The graphics and music that accompany the game are beautiful, memorable, and keep players hooked to see what they will encounter next. The “Playstyle Matters” element of gameplay is the standout feature which also provides the games replay value, as the story and character interactions are based on your previous actions, whether heroic or mischievous. The levels are a pretty good length, taking between a half hour to an hour depending on how much you are looking to complete and explore. I really liked how the developers made the world from Disneyland and provided their own twist on how the park would look in their eyes should an evil blot run rampant through it.
Gripes: I really wanted to like this game more but there were a few issues that really affected the gameplay for me. The camera, yes I know this is commonly a complaint from me on adventure games, you cannot manually control it but press a button to bring the camera behind Mickey, unfortunately sometimes that doesn’t work or help. The paint/thinner does get old at times as this is your main means for playing through the story, however, when you have to decide on what to use on each enemy along with challenges, it grows tiresome. I have a love/hate relationship with the controls as I understand why this was made for the Wii, using the remote to aim your brush, but half of the time you aim at something and are unable to hit the target without having to move around trying to find the right angle.
Overall, I had a lot of fun with this title, all gripes aside, the good outweighs the bad. Sure it was very frustrating at times trying to complete quests where the boss seems to be the camera, but once you best the camera, it is very fulfilling and entertaining, until your next fight with the camera. Unfortunately, I do feel that this game was oversold as I had higher expectations, and with a little extra polish to the gameplay it could have been a truly epic title.
Mashbuttons.com gives Disney Epic Mickey a 7 out of 10.
Disney Epic Mickey is available now for the Nintendo Wii.
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