Review – Epic Mickey
Forget Steam Boat Willy and Mickey’s Christmas Carol, 1990’s Castle of Illusion and 1993’s The Magical Quest are the classic mouse adventures many a gamer will recount from the circle eared ones past.
Platforming games that could rival the best, their penchant for creative power ups and wonderfully enchanting locations gave the mouse feet in Mario’s domain while the plumber floundered in his own attempts to rival the mouse on his home turf, animation. The transition one-way was certainly smoother than the other.
Fast-forward a few generations and Disney’s number one rodent sits on the pile of 3D casualties. Failing a successful transition and with a diminished screen presence Mickey is out of pace in modern media while Mario’s popularity climbs ever higher as games become more mainstream by the day.
Enter Warren ‘Deus Ex’ Spector and his studio Junction Point. Epic Mickey is their attempt to make the mouse relevant and great in the era of Call of Duty and waggle controls by fashioning a loving homage to Disney’s eclectic past while also designing a unique labyrinth of gameplay styles hidden under the visage of a simple children’s platformer.
Epic Mickey
Our story begins with the Fantasia wizard polishing off his latest creation, a world for Disney’s forgotten characters of which Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Walt Disney’s very first 1927 cartoon creation, is king. One evening the mischievous Mickey finds the world by chance and when playing with things he shouldn’t accidentally creates The Blot, an evil manifestation made entirely of paint thinner, and the world for forgotten characters is ravaged by result.
Many years and a successful career later Mickey is snatched from his house by The Blot and dragged into ‘The Wasteland’, the wizards world still ruled by Oswald and inhabited by forgotten characters but a world at war with The Blot. Enter Mickey and his magic paintbrush to save the day; this mess was his fault after all…
From the first note Epic Mickey is effortlessly captivating in the treatment of its source. Dropped into a twisted Cinderella castle the Mad Scientist is an instant Disney delight, and as Sleeping Beauties ‘Once Upon a Dream’ mournfully punctuates the soundtrack it’s clear that Epic Mickey is thorough yet strikingly elegant in its homage.
From lovingly crafted 2D sections based on classic cartoons to the various takes on Disney World locales, Epic Mickey’s world is one full of delights for the Disney aficionado, but equally enticing in the impossible chance you’ve never seen any of the studio’s work in the past.
What will also grab you is the game’s dark edge. Mickey’s close shave with death in the game’s opening serves to assure you that The Wasteland is a dangerous place. While this may seem at odds for a mouse more commonly associated with jaw breaking smiles Disney’s dark side is well documented in cartoons as early as the 1930s as well as the majority of their filmic output. The dark presentation of the world is very much in keeping with these early animations and an unsurprising direction considering the mouse’s monochromatic 1930’s inspired re-design.
The game’s plot covers issues of regret, abandonment, and duty all within a child friendly environment with characters that are pleasantly well developed for a game aimed at a younger demographic. Even if the overall design leans a little heavily on the blacks this is not Emo Mickey. He doesn’t have a slicked parting and cry about all the pain he feels, this is classic dark Disney and all the more intriguing for it.
Aesthetically speaking, Epic Mickey is gorgeous. Environmentally, audibly, and in terms of characters, animation in particular, there’s rarely a smudge on it. Then of course, there’s the gameplay…
Meh-pic Mickey
Playing Epic Mickey is unfortunately far from faultless. Dressed up as a platformer hailing from the days of the N64 Mickey’s floaty, imprecise jumping and the occasionally awkward camera are real humps the game rarely manages to shake off. Fortunately it’s how the game shines in other areas that save what could have been a platforming disaster.
Coming from such an enigmatic design background it’s hard to lump Epic Mickey with one description. There are platforming elements, both 2D and 3D, but there are also Zelda like elements with you talking to characters and solving their problems, there are intense logic puzzles dotted around, and the paintbrush Mickey wields adds an Okami-esque reinvigoration aspect to the world.
This magic paintbrush is Mickey’s primary tool of destruction and regeneration. Able to blast rejuvenating paint or damaging thinner you will use the brush to manipulate the world and battle enemies. Need a platform to jump somewhere? Try drawing one in. Is the platform spinning too fast? Erase the cog causing its momentum. This style of gameplay is intuitive and incomparably empowering, while pointer controls makes splashing the fluid even more fun.
Thanks to the dual mechanic of adding and removing you’re often given the ability to be a goody goody, by helping people solve problems and probably take longer about it, or taking the role of a mischievous mouse, by dropping a safe to open it irregardless of who’s standing under it for example.
Epic Mickey’s decision mechanics are far from the polar opposite moral quandaries present in games like Fable and Fallout, and while it’s a necessary evil of the character that you can never be a complete arse the subtle differences have enough nuance, with options varied enough that it is possible to read into choices a player makes and the effects they will have on The Wasteland.
This element of choice gives identifiable messages about life to younger players in particular, and in this way alone the game manages to sit itself far above the majority of video games designed for the younger demographic, or even the adult demographic for that matter.
Take the case of Little Pete for instance. Early in the game you meet Pete who informs you of a mistake in the upcoming Gremlin town where he mistakenly crashed his boat. Arriving in the Gremlin town you’re pointed to the exit, however you also notice the boat. If you ignore it you’ll have to fight Little Pete later but if you grab the charter you can avoid the boss fight by giving it to a Gremlin and clearing Pete’s name, give it to the right gremlin and you’ll get a reward as well. It’s a game that constantly rewards players that search for alternate methods and fully scour locations.
On top of this lies an unfortunate truth, the way many people will blitz through the game in roughly ten hours and not explore any of this available depth, seeing it as simply an under whelming platform experience. If you have the time and patience to invest in the adventure then Epic Mickey will ensure upwards of twenty memorable hours for a single run, with many more piled on top if you wish to discover alternate gameplay routes.
It’s simply a fact that many people, either through a pressing narrative, arguably simple design, or a combination of these and other factors may never realize what Epic Mickey truly has to offer the dedicated, explorative, and inquisitive gamer.
Yes, Epic Mickey
Epic Mickey was a game full of promises but one that, while an intriguing and imaginative title in its own right, falls slightly short of its lofty goals.
A combination of imprecise platforming, an awkward camera, and sometimes less than epic locations make up the bulk of the games issues. However its artistic qualities, the game’s imaginative scenario design, great creative direction, its lovingly crafted world, open-ended gameplay, and the beautifully realized story help make up the positive side of things.
It may not possess the polish that Mickey games had when mimicking Mario in safe 2D platformers but it certainly carries the same eye for ambitious artistic design and a creative passion that only Disney can imbue.
In searching for a unique video game persona for the mouse developers Junction Point have succeeded in crafted a love letter to all things Disney and created a children’s game with real heart in the process. Ignoring its technical faults it’s an experience that is, like its lead character, extremely hard to forget.
Leave a Reply
