Epic Mickey (Wii) Review
The current state of Mickey Mouse is a bit of a strange one. While we saw heaps of Mickey Mouse in almost every animated feature from Disney that wasn’t solely focused on someone else, as well as several rather lower budget made for TV sequences too. It’s pretty easy to see how Mickey Mouse is becoming more of a simple icon rather than the character who we’ve all grown up with and love. And thus, we bring ourselves to the core premise of this project, to revitalise the beloved mouse, and it’s quite an accomplishment to see Disney placing their trust not only in the Nintendo Wii system to do so, but also in the platform of videogames as a whole. A collaboration between Disney Interactive Studios and auteur game designer Warren Spector’s game design firm, Junction Point Studios, has produced Epic Mickey. Does Epic Mickey do a good job at revitalising the character AND provide a compelling gameplay experience? Read on to find out.
Epic Mickey sees Mickey throw himself into a world known as “Wasteland” ruled by a mysterious wizard known only as “Yen Sid”. Ruling over his Wasteland and painting it with his magical paintbrush, Yen Sid leaves his room and Mickey naturally takes interest in the magical paintbrush. Being rather uncharacteristically clumsy, Mickey knocks over the paintbrush and ruins the whole of the Wasteland. Nervous at what the wizard will think when he comes back, Mickey runs back home and believes he’s managed to escape his problems. Follow on a few months and a mysterious shadow ink blot sucks Mickey back into the world. Literally being a fish out of water, Mickey is equipped with the same magical paintbrush to restore the Wasteland to its former glory.
Oswald The Rabbit, a creation of Disney’s that pre-dates Mickey, is the ruler of this Wasteland, turning this system into a rather lifeless and ugly husk of all of the things that made Mickey so great. This story of Epic Mickey is told through a mixture of stylised animated cutscenes that combine the unique Disney style with a rather gritty and worn down artistic direction. The result seems to be a perfect blend to create the perfect atmosphere for this kind of game. Facial expressions in these cutscenes are so simplistic too and yet convey such strong emotions – it’s just so well developed and put together. There is one thing that’s wrong with them, but we’ll touch on that one later.
In terms of in-game presentation, Epic Mickey manages to excel on almost every level. Environments are designed beautifully, creating a kind of worn down Disney theme throughout the whole game. Character models, including Mickey himself, animate fluidly and really bring the characters to life outside of the usual animated features you’d be used to seeing them in. Frame rate is somewhat bearable with hardly any dips throughout more hectic sequences in the game. Similarly, the fluidity of Mickey’s paint and thinner substances is just amazingly rendered from the moment they leave Mickey’s brush to the moment they splatter on the wall, almost as well as water was brought to life in Super Mario Sunshine all those years ago. The idea that Mickey is a painting that is infected by the shadow blot in-game is also reflected in a very nice effect in which small blots of paint slowly drip off Mickey should he stand still within the world. These little effects really add another element of charm to the game’s design, and puts it up there as being one of the best games on the Wii with so much attention to presentation and detail.
The crux of Epic Mickey’s gameplay sees Mickey utilising his magic paintbrush to move throughout a world designed to be a multicultural Disneyland style world. Finding items and completing quests allow Mickey to progress further into differently themed worlds based on continents. The whole overarching gameplay design is very reminiscent of an old school platformer akin to Banjo Kazooie or Donkey Kong 64. While this is, for the most part, a blessing, Epic Mickey unfortunately brings with it a lot of the problems with those games into this game itself – but more on that later.
The main component of Epic Mickey’s gameplay is the magic brush and its abilities to add or remove elements of the environment to solve puzzles and generally progress throughout the game. Using the Paint Thinner, Mickey can remove parts of a bridge to make the enemies standing on it fall to their doom, or remove an axis on a gear to present it from spinning to turn it into a platform. This mechanic is an extremely well thought out idea, however at times it does feel as though the designers ran out of clever ideas to use this gameplay mechanic with and as such, thought it would be a good idea to repeat these moments.
Basically, the game’s ability for players to add or remove elements of the game’s environment is brilliantly executed, just not nearly as many clever ways as it could be. These elements are incorporated into the game’s rather shallow combat system, in which Mickey can use thinner to remove enemies or paint to befriend them in battle. Despite these options, it’s still a pretty simplistic affair and a quick shake of the Wii Remote will usually defeat most enemies within less time than it takes to aim and shoot enemies with either paint or thinner.
Of course, with the ability to destroy or create, Epic Mickey incorporates a rather interesting moral system that judges how players solve their problems to create their own interpretation of Mickey himself. Several areas of the game require the player to weigh up two specific decisions and make a final decision to either gain wealth or the gratitude of another character. These elements are very nice elements that give the player choice and forces them to consider the consequences should they make a sketchy decision, and even affect the ending too. Play your cards right and your newly made friends can even help Mickey defeat bosses, or fetch quest items instead of having Mickey run around with them. It’s nice to see the repercussions of the player’s decisions actually make a difference beyond the actual decision itself, though I would expect nothing less from Mr. Spector.
One of the coolest inclusions in Epic Mickey is the little areas that connect major parts of the game, which are themed similarly to Disney’s rather famous and classical cartoon pieces and taking the form of a very simple 2D platformer. These segments are very well done and a very good ode to some of Disney’s greatest original works, although the fact you’ll have to continually repeat them when backtracking is a bit disappointing – they are awesome but will wear your temper thin after a few tries.
The biggest problem, and most probably the widest publicised, is the game’s camera system and the repercussions it has on the gameplay. Epic Mickey continually puts the player in situations where the camera has to be continually adjusted to properly be able to see where Mickey is jumping. Combine this rather simplistic camera system with the annoying floatiness of Mickey’s jumping and some of the platforming segments in the game can be rather frustrating. These problems can be remedied through manual control of the camera and a “snap” function that moves the camera behind Mickey himself; however there is a distinct lack of sensitivity and speed in these functions.
Usually I would not be so nit-picky about such a shortcoming but when I had to adjust the camera constantly throughout the game at almost every turn of a corner, things began to get rather irritating. These issues carry into battle too, utilising a lock on system supposedly to remedy the camera issues during battle, but this system is also flawed against multiple enemies, which is again quite disappointing and seriously detrimental to the gameplay.
In terms of audio offerings, Epic Mickey both delivers and fails to deliver. Mickey and Oswald being silent is something I can only just accept for some reason, however I believe that during some of the cutscenes, particularly in our current technological climate, that voice acting could have been implemented into the game for some of the cutscenes. Instead, the player will be treated to various grunts in a very similar style to the original Banjo Kazooie games, albeit less annoying. The soundtrack itself is largely comprised of very warped remixes of classic Disney tunes, no doubt meant to signify the rather depressing nature of Oswald’s twisted Wasteland, which are nice touches.
In terms of value, Epic Mickey is a game that makes players want to play through it again to see how things would play out if they made different choices. When players consider that the game can take anywhere between 12-15 hours to complete, there’s actually quite a bit to do and find in Epic Mickey. Similarly, finding certain collectibles unlocks classic Disney art and even some full animation sequences for viewing. This is, for all intents and purposes, a brilliantly crafted love letter to Disney’s very early days and is a must for any self-respecting Disney fan.
Epic Mickey is a game that largely does everything right, but unfortunately a rather glaring flaw on this potential gem reduces the overall package’s value quite significantly. If you are able to see past the terribly implemented camera controls and focus solely on the brilliant and unique artistic direction, interesting gameplay mechanics and great choice system, Epic Mickey is still a great game that not only provides fan service to Disney fans but a very meaty package for any Wii gamer.
Graphics 9.0
Very well thought out art style and a great use of effects to build a very convincing world. Mickey looks great as usual.
Gameplay 6.5
Shallow battle system along with an awful camera system really mar an otherwise decent gameplay experience. Implementation of moral choices and their consequences really add to the experience.
Sound 7.0
Great soundtrack of familiar tunes warped to accommodate the depressing and dreary wasteland, although the lack of voice acting in certain cutscenes is disappointing.
Tilt 8.0
Theres quite a bit to do in Epic Mickey, almost 15 hours worth if you take it at an average pace. Players who love Disney will find more and more reason to collect everything, as the rewards are great. The choice system also creates a desire to replay the game at least once more.
Value 9.0
I had heaps of fun playing Epic Mickey, although the lack of any post-80s Disney stuff did disappoint me. That being said, this was a bit of an unrealistic expectation of mine so its unfair to mark it down so. A great game with great homage to Disneys greatest and original.
