Platform: Wii
Genre
- Epic Mickey is an action/adventure platforming game which, unlike other Disney licensed games, adopts a dark and otherwise dismal atmosphere in an ambitious attempt to reboot Mickey Mouse's iconic status. Yes. I just used the words Disney, dark and dismal in the same sentence together. Be afraid. Like other games of the genre it's designed in such a way that platforming is a necessity and the game is littered with enemies to kill and bosses to defeat which gains it the label of an action game, with a progressive story for an adventure status, too. In comparison, though, the game stands out entirely for it's own reasons, and was done in such a way no one would have ever expected it. Perhaps the darker, more surreal style was a must for the story this game holds, but for something endorsed by Disney it's somewhat of a surprise, and that alone set's it apart from it's competitors. It also adds in a new dynamic with your main attack which is the basis for most of the game, using a magic paintbrush with either paint or thinner to take care of your enemies or solve several puzzles, some of which have two different ways to complete them which will ultimately affect your Karma meter. The game also throws in several level changes your way, with some being in the 3D environment that takes up most of the game and some otherwise being in a semi-2D perspective that act as bridges between certain parts of the game, which are both a throwback to the old Mickey Mouse cartoons and the old 2D sidescroller games that came before Epic Mickey in all it's twisted glory.
Narrative
- The story begins with our titular protagonist, Mickey Mouse, sleeping in his bed, when he is promptly woken up by the mirror in his own room which seems to be beckoning to him. Upon entering the mirror to a totally new environment Mickey peeks around the corner into one of these newfound rooms to suddenly spot the magician Yen Sid putting the finishing touches on his new creation, a world known as the Wasteland in which all the forgotten, unused and rejected Disney characters go to live once their time is up. As the magician, satisfied with his current progress, retires for the night, Mickey takes it upon himself to take a closer look and add a simple touch of his own with the magic paintbrush laying nearby, attempting to create a statue of himself which promptly turns into an ink like substance and melts. Confused by this, Mickey bulks up the creature using an insane amount of paint, which in turns releases a shadowy abomination known as the Shadow Blot which sends the mouse into a panic. In this scuffle Mickey accidently knocks over the thinner, which spills onto the model of Wasteland and hearing Yen Sid returning our hero runs for the mirror once more and dives on through to escape unseen but most definitely not unheard. As Yen Sid sees the destruction caused to his world it's too late, and it's several long, long years that go by before Mickey is suddenly wrenched back through the mirror by the Shadow Blot and into the world that he helped destroy. The impact of the fall knocks our protagonist out, and soon enough Mickey awakes on a makeshift operating table with the Mad Doctor controlling the machinery above him as he is tormented with several instruments before eventually being attacked by a plunger, of all things, which is actually used for ripping people's hearts out of their chests, on the basis that hearts are needed to return to the real world. Managing to break free Mickey is suddenly confronted by the Shadow Blot once more, but is scared away by the paintbrush. From here the Mad Doctor escapes using a hatch, and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, who has been hiding, is spotted by Mickey and attempts to follow in the Doctor's footsteps by going down the hatch. He accidently breaks the machine, however, and turns the robot frenzied as he escapes through the door, and from here the game begins. Considering this is an adventure game the gameplay is going to be centred around the narrative very closely as you progress through the game, and along the way you'll meet various characters which you can interact with in different ways depending on the choices you've made during the course of the game thanks to your Karma meter. This game seems to be a game people either love or think it's nothing special, but it's more than likely appealing to those who like platformer games and want something different, and, depending on how you look at it, Disney fans may or may not be satisfied with this new, more darker take on Mickey and the entire situation he's in, taking a little trip away from the norm.
Production Process
- The game was developed by Junction Point and was released in 2010 using an engine known as Havok in conjunction with Gamebyro. When it came to actually making the game it wasn't exactly an easy ride, with the original concept of the game being made all the way back in 2003, but the rights to Oswald were no longer held by Disney and the game couldn't be produced at the time. When the rights were eventually returned three years later Disney Interactive studios could not secure a developer for the game until a year later in 2007 when Disney soon acquired Junction Point Studios. It was meant to be released on both the Xbox and PS3, but since the idea of a Wii port was said to be unachievable, it was suggested that they dropped the other ports entirely to focus all their efforts on the Wii version instead, which is what we ended up with in the end. From the very start of development the game was suggested to be a very dark version of the world and characters we all know and love, though those who followed the game from the beginning probably felt a little disappointed that this wasn't the ultimate surreal and corrupt retelling that we were looking forward too. I remember way, way back when this game picked up a ton of attention when a single piece of concept art depicted Goofy in a ravaged, almost zombie like style, with gears and poles replacing his limbs and his eyes are apparently missing, and it only makes us wonder what the game could have been like if the developers had seen just how much they truly could have got away with. Of course, being that it's Disney, there had to be a line drawn somewhere.
Originally, depending on your Karma meter, Mickey's appearance would change depending on how it was influenced, especially if you used too much thinner. Thinner Mickey would originally make you seem more rat like and your skin would ooze so much ink off in places it would seem almost blank, but this was changed and made into Scrapper Mickey, which would only make you seem more malicious in appearance, but both these ideas were scrapped thanks to Disney saying that it would ruin Mickey's status as a hero. Oswald was also supposed to be the main villain in the end, resulting in a rather terrifying final boss that we can only see now thanks to the wonderful joys of concept art. The creators definitely knew their stuff, and it shows off in the end. The Gremlins were actually from an unused WWII cartoon and the old Basketball court that you could find inside the Matterhorn is actually in the game, hidden in a level known as Mickeyjunk Mountain which contains an obscene amount of Mickey Mouse merchandise. You can also unlock Walt Disney's firehouse apartment in a level known as Mean Street, too. The Moonliner rocket? Important plot device. The creators even referred back to old cartoons for individual barrel designs, and if that's not doing their homework, I don't know what is. I could list out all the references, but I'd be here forever. You've probably noticed the clock face up there, too, and some of you may even know where it comes from. In several Disney Land theme parks the "It's a Small World" ride was often accompanied by a smaller show on the exterior, where a ticking clock would tilt it's head from side to side and open it's doors to play a small portion of the song as a number of dolls would appear and walk along a specified path, and, once it was over, another set of doors would open to show the time. This happened every fifteen minutes, and to many people both the clock tower and song were a part of their childhood, being very iconic and nostalgic for a lot of people ever since they saw it as ki-...
... No. It's okay. I don't see any problem with turning a part of numerous childhoods into a twisted, alternate version that finally snapped after hearing that song play over and over again for years on end, but it doesn't get a break, considering the boss music is a warped version of the "It's a Small World" song, just without the lyrics. Even the dolls make an appearance, perched at the edge of the platform in which Mickey has to dodge it's robotic hands, because apparently it can't take it's anger out any other way and will smash anything it sees, including our iconic little mouse. Truth be told this has to be one of my favourite bosses of the game and probably of all time, too, just because the developers had enough guts to go through with this idea, and it makes it even more awesome knowing Disney must have agreed to the idea to have it put in there. As I said before, the music, though amazingly creepy, doesn't have the lyrics in there due to copyright issues during development. I can only wonder what it would have been like if it had been any different...
Characterisation
- Being that this is a Disney game people are going to expect Disney characters to be in there, and there are plenty to go around to keep anyone happy... or at least intrigued, because this game isn't exactly the definition of happy now, is it. Also take into account that the entire game is based around unused and obscure characters and worlds, and as such the more iconic characters may be absent, with the exception of Mickey. Donald, Goofy and Daisy do make an appearance... albeit being robotic versions of themselves that Oswald made in order to fill the void that Mickey left on him after he faded away into obscurity as his brother gained all the lime light. Yeah. One thing to note about this game? It's depressing as anything. Seriously. Oswald was originally the ruler of Wasteland and worked together with the Mad Doctor to create machines known as the Beetleworx that helped run the entire world, but was stabbed in the back when the Shadow Blot turned up and destroyed it all after Mickey caused the thinner disaster, as if he hasn't done enough harm to Oswald already. The Mad Doctor joined the Shadow Blot and Oswald promptly teamed up with the Gremlins and others in the world against the Blot in what's now known as the 'Blot Wars'. It didn't work. With Wasteland in ruins the entire resistance was forced into hiding, not to mention Oswald's girlfriend, Ortensia, was petrified in an attempt to save him from the blot and was taken away from him as a result. The rabbit literally lost the will to fight and fell into a depression in which he couldn't get out of no matter what happened. How long has poor Oswald suffered through this never-ending personal nightmare? Eighty years. All the while Mickey has become more and more famous without a care in the world. Ouch. Being that this is an adventure game you need a protagonist and you need an antagonist, being both Mickey and the Shadow Blot in this game respectively, but even then there are several changes of heart that occur within the game, more specifically Oswald as he puts his resentment aside to work alongside his brother in order to save his own world and return Mickey to his. The characters in this game, to me, are pretty strong. You have your own personal input into what Mickey does, but it still fits his personality, being that Mickey was a sort of anti-hero back into the thirties and slowly progressed into being a hero in the decades that followed. Oswald has a good enough reason to resent his brother and you feel sorry for the poor thing after everything that's happened, it's actually incentive to finish the game so you can save Wasteland and restore things back to normal. Both the Mad Doctor and more specifically the Shadow Blot are promising enough antagonists, with the latter being the most prevalent and the most badass in terms of design, which makes for a pretty good final boss fight. Everyone else fits into the run down world that they currently live in and all fit the criteria of being forgotten or unused, with some inhabitants being Horace Horsecollar, Henrietta the Cow, an unused version of Smee from Peter Pan and let's not forget some of the levels either, being based on old Mickey Mouse cartoons such as Mickey and the Beanstalk or Steamboat Willie.
Gameplay
- Considering this game is rated E for Everyone and anything labelled with Disney is going to attract any kid within a ten mile radius the challenge isn't the hardest it could be, but at least the game makes you think and lets you solve puzzles for yourself which someone younger may or may not find challenging. Let's also not forget that various enemies pose a threat with the different ways in which they attack and bosses are serious hazards if you don't know how to deal with them, too. It's engaging in enough itself because there are various ways in which to take care of these obstacles and the puzzles it presents you with are enough to make you think and solve out for yourself in the best way possible by either using paint or thinner depending on how you want your Karma meter to be influenced, or both if you don't really care either which way Mickey ends up. Which leads me onto the games main mechanic: the paintbrush. You can use this magic brush to either shoot out a stream of paint (blue) which repairs or creates walkways and objects in which you can walk over or interact with, or you can shoot a stream of thinner (green) which can destroy the things you paint and other various things and people littering the wasteland. If you're going more towards being a hero then paint is the one you want to use the most, or, likewise, if you want to be a jerk, you can use thinner to go the other way, but you'll never be able to stick to one solely, as most places and puzzles will require you to use both paint and thinner to get by. Depending on how much you use you can also attract things known as guardians, which are either blue (Tints) or green (Turps) and can either befriend enemies or cover them with thinner. You'll also get refills to your paint and thinner meters by picking up cubes of the same colours and if your bar is less than a third full it'll refill automatically so you'll never run out for good. You can also collect E-tickets that can act as currency in some places as well as pins and unlockable content, but keep in mind your initial playthrough will never be 100% no matter how hard you try or even if you know where everything is, because you can only kill certain bosses and do certain things one time before it's a definite decision. You'll get the reward for that option but to get the other reward you'll have to play the game through again and choose the opposite method, which adds to the replayability of it all. The game does not let you turn back also, and auto-saves after you leave an area. The developers said this was so you couldn't change your actions, which does make sense in a game that takes into account a morality system. As per the story you'll now have to control Mickey through the Wasteland and set things straight, either cleaning up the world (or making it worse), ultimately helping to defeat both the Mad Doctor and Shadow Blot as well as setting things straight with his older brother in the end. These puzzles and the difficulty levels do progress along with the player the longer the game goes on, so you'll have to pay attention, otherwise you'll get left behind.
Target Audience
- The target audience for this game seems to be children mostly, despite the overall dark mood, and it seems to have no definite gender divide in which I could pick up on, although those who are both a fan of Disney and/or more surreal adventure games may find some or maybe a lot of appeal in a game like this. The main reason why I say children are the target audience is purely down to the fact that this game is made by Disney, who are pretty much gods when it comes to kid's entertainment, plus the fact that the game was rated E and as such kids are allowed to play it, but since it's E for Everyone it's also for those of an older age who may or may not get the references that are thrown into the game which would be otherwise by unknown to those younger than them that played it. It's appealing enough to those who wanted a more darker Disney game and to children if it's entertaining enough to keep their interest, but as I've mentioned before, the final release of the game wasn't full of the eldritch styled abominations that we all saw in the concept art which was a little disappointing in comparison, but that doesn't mean everything that was in the game was light-hearted and cheery, oh no. There were a lot of 3D platformer games by the time the Wii came out and the real reason I think this game stood out among the rest was not only because of the Disney license but also because of how different it was from your usual Disney endorsed games. It was nice to see a change, and those who were curious enough to get sucked in more than likely found it either an enjoyable surreal experience or a warped vision which supplied endless amounts of nightmare fuel for weeks to come. Or both. That's always fun.
Platform
- Knowing that the ports for both the Xbox and PS3 were scrapped the game was only ever released on the Wii, which allowed them to focus all their efforts on this, and it does make a little bit more sense in that the Wiimote is used in a similar way to how Mickey uses the paintbrush in game. You'll require both the Wiimote and the Nunchuck in order to play the game. The A button is used for jumping and pressing it twice will allow you to double jump, as well as interact with objects and characters when the prompt appears on screen. Tapping the B button will allow you to splash things with paint whilst holding down the B button will send out an entire stream. The C button will allow you to centre the camera, but the camera seems to be a main complaint within this game whenever it's brought up, in places it often gets stuck and you cannot no matter what you do centre the camera, and in a game which relies on platforming especially in a 3D environment having a camera with a mind of it's own or one that simply refuses to cooperate can be torture sometimes. The control stick on the Nunchuck is used to move Mickey around and the Control pad can also be used to move the camera also. The + button can be used to select Sketches and the - button can be pressed to use the sketch while aiming with the pointer. Using 1 will allow you to switch to first person perspective and the 2 button will display the pause menu. Tapping the Z button will spray thinner everywhere and holding it down will send a barrage in the direction of anything unfortunate enough to be in the way. Shaking the Wiimote will also make Mickey spin and if you have guardians present you can control them using the Wiimote, too. Holding your Wiimote upright will show you the way forward, but if you flick your Wiimote in this position you can send your guardian flying at the enemy. If you hold both the Nunchuck and the Wiimote upright and flick them you can launch all of your guardians at your enemies as well.
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