Photos from the Epic Mickey Preview Event, hands-on

Epic Mickeys not getting released for a few more weeks, but THQ was kind enough to let Melbournians play the game a little early

The Nintendo Experience at EB Games on Swanston St in Melbourne held an Epic Mickey preview event on Saturday. I thought Id go check it out so I could report back to you, the readers, and not because Ive been in a complete fanboy frenzy about the game. Not at all.

Arriving at the Nintendo Experience I saw Epic Mickey posters at the front of the shop as well as hanging from the ceiling inside. As I waited in the line for the upper floor (the floor where the game was), an EB Games staff member held some Disney trivia. Naturally, I got the first question right and won a free Epic Mickey poster… which was later given out to everyone else in the line, even if they didnt win. Upon opening up the upper floor, the first 100 people in line received a free Disney showbag, containing a BLOC28 by Disney pencil case, photo frame, sticker, diary and notebook (which, I should mention, features heaps of artwork). For those unaware, BLOC28 by Disney is a graffiti art project where various street artists who were inspired by the works of Disney reimagine and reinterpret the famous mouse in interesting new ways. Most of which are completely awesome. Click here to see some of their other works. Together with the poster Id say the showbag was well worth coming to the event for, especially since it was free.

Now, onto the game. I played the first 20 or so minutes of the game, right after the intro cinematic. The demo game starts off with Mickey being pulled into the Wasteland, a land created to house all of Disneys forgotten characters, by the the Phantom Blot. He is then strapped down while the Mad Professor, another forgotten Disney character, then starts to try and extract Mickeys heart using a giant Swiss Army Knife-like robot. But Mickey is not one to be tampered with, and pulls himself out of the straps. This is where the player comes in. Mickey is controlled with the Control Stick, the camera is controlled with the +Control Pad (Mickeys ears always face you, so when you rotate the camera his ears rotate as well, making for some odd ear movements). Jumping is handled with the A button and when in the air you can press A again to do a double jump, which is handy for when you mis-time a jump. With the help of your new ally Gremlin Gus you must destroy two generators to cut power to the robot. Once the robot is destroyed you get to do a bit of exploring. This level is called "Dark Beauty Castle", and as such is very dark and, coincidentally, is a castle. Suits of armour resembling Donald Duck line the walls and the stair cases, while statues of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Disneys first forgotten character and the ruler of Wasteland, are dotted around the world.

This section is where I noticed the superb graphics, especially in the various lighting and shading effects. The world of the Wasteland has a very dark colour palette, with bits of dark primary colours. Its very different to any other environment you see Mickey in nowadays, thats for sure. This is also the section where I found my first Mickey pin, of which there are 105 scattered around the game world for all you completionists to hunt down. Finding pins gets you extra content, presumably concept art etc. After a bit of exploring Mickey gains the use of the paint and thinner, which is the real meat of the gameplay in Epic Mickey. Pressing B and pointing at the screen squirts paint; pressing Z while pointing at the screen squirts thinner. Basically, you use the paint to draw in platforms, move cogs or build bridges, and you use the thinner to remove platforms, obstacles, walls and the like.

Once you start exploring you are presented with a few all-text, non-voice acted, 2D cut-scenes in which Gremlin Gus explains to Mickey a bit about the Wasteland and its inhabitants, namely the Seers, members of the evil Blotling army. Mickey can make them change their ways and befriend him by squirting them with paint, or he can dispose of them with the paint thinner. I chose to dispose of them. Once the enemies are disposed of and after a spot of paint/thinner-based platforming, you are presented with your first major morality-based puzzle. Youre presented with a Gremlin, locked in a glass cell and a treasure chest on a pressure pad. You can either free the Gremlin and lose your chance to get the treasure, or you can grab the treasure, but doing so will launch the Gremlin into the sky. I chose to launch the Gremlin. I was told that this would have an impact on how the other characters treat you later in the game, but alas, the demo wasnt long enough to demonstrate what consequences would be had.

After this little segment Mickey comes across a projector screen showing the title card for the classic Mickey short, Mickey and the Beanstalk. In Epic Mickey, projector screens act as portals to other worlds. Jumping through this particular projector screen transports Mickey to a short 2D level, based on Mickey and the Beanstalk. This 2D section of the game featured no paint or thinner mechanics and was pure 2D platforming fun. Definitely a highlight of the demo. The demo ended once you finished this 2D level.

My final impression of the game was "I need more time with this game". The paint and thinner mechanic is genius, the 2D sections are fun, its filled to the brim with various Disney references and the depth of the morality system sounds promising to say the least (I really need more time to see the consequences of my actions). Personally, I cant wait to get my hands on the game come November 25th, to see just how deep this game can get.