The thought of a Deus Ex and Mickey Mouse mash up is one of those ideas that seem like a crazy urban legend, kind of like Walt Disney’s frozen body underneath Disneyland. Since the beginning of this year however, with the announcement of Warren Spector’s collaboration with Disney to revive the company’s greatest icon in Epic Mickey, it was a hot topic amongst gamers and became one of the biggest announcements that no one really asked for. With Spector’s reputation, how the team at Junction Point would create a platformer that centered around choice and consequence while trying to re-establish the roots of one of the world’s most beloved characters was a mystery to all, but now that it’s finally out, does it live up to the year’s worth of hype? Or will it be locked away in the vault of shame faster than you can say Home on the Range?
It was promised early on that the smiley do-gooder version of Mickey that we’ve all grown accustomed to over the last few decades would be replaced by the more mischievous… and dare I say selfish version that was prominent from his inception. The game firmly establishes how big of a d-bag he can be in the opening moments of the title. Mickey wanders in a world through his mirror where the sorcerer Yensid has created a world for all of the forgotten Disney cartoons using his magic paint and paint thinner. Being the curious little one that he is, the mouse tries playing with the paint, only to spill the paint and thinner all over the newly created world and utterly ravages it, destroying the lives within and spreading chaos across the land. Showing his compassionate side, months go by without batting an eye at the destruction he caused… until a giant paint monster reaches across the mirror and pulls Mickey into the world he destroyed. Now, Mickey has to find a way out of this world, but only with the power of creation and a little help from some unlikely allies.
When Mickey got dragged into Wasteland, he didn’t show up empty handed. The most important mechanic in the game is brought in thanks to the paint brush. Using either paint or paint thinner, the world is at your disposal. While the entire environment can’t be toyed with, most of the world can be erased and recreated at your discretion. At its best, the paint and thinner opens up so many possibilities, from carefully hidden extras to creating platforms and accessing different areas. In combat, aside from flicking the Wiimote to smack enemies around with the brush, paint can turn them into loyal allies where as thinner melts them away. Boss fights also present different outcomes depending on how you fight the battle, giving it an interesting dynamic. Using each one grants different side abilities that come in handy in a pinch, and you’ll want to use them a lot because exploring the worlds in the game is one of its highlights.
Anyone who’s ever been to a Disney theme park will immediately recognize Wasteland. Each section is designed like a distorted version of each locale such as Main Street and Adventureland. The characters that populate the world are all forgotten Disney characters that only the most loyal fan could recognize, such as many of the different incarnations of Goofy, Horace the Horse and Clarabelle Cow. The bulk of the game will come from these characters with the many side quests they offer. Depending on how you solve these problems brings about different rewards, but do you want to help them for some admiration and a potential power up or do you want to screw them over for the sake of curiosity and some extra cash? Traveling between worlds brings about 2D side scrolling stages that pay homage to some of Disney’s history in the form of cartoon themes with level design that’s sure to bring back a memory or two. Topping it all off are the individual stages that render some of Disney’s most famous rides and movies, creating an ultimate nerdgasm for the choir of Walt. Sounds good, doesn’t it? If only this was all to the epic adventure…
Epic Mickey shows signs of greatness throughout, but when it fails, it fails hard. When playing with the thinner, Mickey must have erased a functional camera system, because while it’s passable in the beginning, later stages constantly snag the camera and make it hard to spot secret areas. Those 2D stages I mentioned also have to be played EVERY TIME that you travel between hub worlds, making them redundant and annoying. Some of the “good” or “bad” choices are so cookie cutter that I’m surprised that they made the cut, sometimes giving no reason to be a rascal other than for the sake of it. Most of the side quests are fetch quest after fetch quest after fetch quest, and guess what? They usually make you travel between worlds! So yes, more replaying the same stages… To make things worse, this has to be the only game of its kind that I can think of where you can’t revisit completed stages, and here lies the biggest problem. If a side quest isn’t completed by the end of the stage, it’s gone for good. Well, not exactly, but do you really want to play a new game plus and spend another 12 hours or so just to get back to that point? What makes side quests fun is the ability to do them at your leisure, but strong arming you into finishing them in one go is incredibly dumb, (unless you REALLY like fetch quests. You’ll be doing them for awhile.) The saving grace is how much fan service the game pays to its fans with all of the references, but if you’ve never been to Disneyland or if you’re young enough to hold The Lion King in the same regard as High School Musical, most of that will be lost on you. It was a huge missed opportunity to have collectible film reels but only have two actual cartoon shorts as extras on the disc. Having most of the game’s reference material could have helped some get up to speed, but keep in mind that this is the same company that thinks paying almost $100 to spin in a giant tea cup is a fair price…
But I trudged on through the Wasteland, and its story was one of the biggest reasons. Besides the atmosphere and nostalgia trip, the greatest asset the game has is its story, specifically surrounding Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Walt Disney’s first creation is the ruler of Wasteland, and is instantly at odds with Mickey. His jealousy stems from being forgotten and feeling like he should have everything Mickey does, which is part of the reason the world is in the image of Disneyland. As the two characters grow together through the stylistic cutscenes, I really cared about the dynamic between them and how Oswald would possibly come to terms with his unfortunate place in Disney’s history for the sake of restoring his world. But how would he react when he finds out that Mickey, the one who took everything that should have been his, was responsible for destroying his second home? I never thought I could be so engrossed in a game about anamorphic mice and rabbits that wear nothing but shorts, but that’s exactly what happened thanks to the fantastic writing and the care taken with weaving real events into a story about cartoons.
Junction Point took on a huge task trying to reinvent and revive an icon at the same time, all while creating a unique game in a genre as timeless as a platformer. The game shows signs of brilliance with the paint and thinner mechanics, and Wasteland is truly a sight to behold, but with so many basic faults holding it back, it’s just too much to ignore. The game could have been a contender with a better camera and the common sense to allow replayable levels, but Epic Mickey is still a must buy for any hardcore Disney fan. For the genre, the game is a decent length and collectable Disney trader pins require multiple play throughs to find all of them, giving quite a bit of reason to replay it, but for the casual Disney fan, be cautious. It might not be as epic as the title leads on. So as a whole, Epic Mickey succeeds in bringing out a side of Mickey that’s been dormant for too long. Let’s just hope that next time, the camera and design problems won’t be dormant in the mouse’s place.