LO4: Development - Music

Games are sort of like recipes, if you try and make one without one of the required ingredients things could go extremely wrong for you, so in addition to your synopsis, and your story, your graphics, gameplay, characters and everything else, you need music. Music can define a lot of factors, it can sway the player to feel a certain way during certain situations, it can emphasise something going on a lot more then simple silence, and good music is just another way for people to remember the game in their own way, hell, they might even be enough demand for a release of the soundtrack itself. The main feeling I get for this soundtrack is a sort of sombre one, just regarding the desolate surroundings, songs with almost dream-like qualities, droning and surreal music that have a somewhat calming effect despite being strange. A sort of upbeat soundtrack can work in places too, songs that aren't necessarily overly happy but are catchy enough for possibly some of the light-hearted scenes in the game, but also accounting for some of the more insane, zany moments that may pop up here and there, a full out bizarre sound selection would be good. The final main idea would be more serious, almost epic music for the boss fights, and especially the final boss too. Inspiration wise there are a lot of song choices that I would use as examples, so allow me to go over them, and be sure to click the images for actual links to the songs.

PEREGRINATION 

(EXPLORATION)

Exploring music shouldn't be too demanding for the player when they listen, if anything it should just slowly fade into the scene around them and fade out once it's done, the player only realising that it's playing when the song kicks in as to not detract from anything going on around them. Exploring insinuates a player will be concentrating on the world that encompasses them, and doing that would be slightly hard if there was music blaring in their ears. Like I've mentioned above, droning sounds and soothing songs would work good as background noise. When I use the term dream-like I think that stems from a favourite game of mine that essentially involves exploring a lucid dream world, and the music is very... unique. Sometimes soothing, disturbing, or both. Same goes for the countless fan games it has produced. These would be more downer sort of songs though, not necessarily upbeat but rather calming and happier tones would also work in maybe a post-game environment when the world isn't as deadly anymore.

RAPTUROUS

(HAPPY)

As much as it pains me to say, there isn't a lot of happy scenes that I can foresee happening in this game, the entire thing is dipped in a vat of bitter sweetness and the only gratification I can find popping up anytime soon is the ending when at least one major threat has been defeated, but the world is still in ruins, people are still divided, and even though the roses are now purged from this realm it doesn't stop another adversary rising from the ashes to take it's place. I do intend to use bittersweet and borderline happy-sad music, so that's something, yet an entirely happy music track would be quite rare indeed. It can happen, though, because without it the player wouldn't feel satisfied at all whatsoever with what they're doing and it doesn't entirely give that much incentive to carry on playing should a player not feel rewarded for what they're doing.

 

 

MELANCHOLY

(SAD)

I have no doubt that there will be some sad scenes within the game, though sad songs come in all sorts of varying forms, honestly. You can have sombre songs, or bittersweet ones, absolutely depressing ones or some that are just bordering on the line between being absolutely fine and neutral with an undertone that something isn't quite right. Sad songs are really hard to define but I would lean more towards a bunch of happy-sad songs throughout most of the game to further perpetuate the lost cause these people feel in this destroyed and dying world, though somehow they find the will to carry on, and then when something truly horrible happens it would make the more whole-heartedly downer tracks more effective if they played instead of what the player may be used to. Sad songs have to evoke emotion, otherwise they wouldn't be labelled as sad, so they have to fit the theme of what's going on, less they risk losing a reaction from the player otherwise.

INCONGRUOUS

(STRANGE)

There's no doubt that there will be some rather bizarre scenes in the game considering the nature of it, with people and monsters with strange designs all roaming around, and some of the locations may possibly be weird too. Strange music in game is rather hard to try and fit in to a definite slot because so many games utilise wacky music differently. In some games the entire music for just one level is zany because the level is designed with that in mind, strange music can also lean towards being creepy and dark, and likewise it can also be jazzy and quick, too. Creepy and strange would possibly be the best music choice here to fit into my game, but the more lighter ones could also work regarding some of the more lighter scenes of the game, or perhaps one track in particular could play when a certain character appears.

TREPIDATION
(FEAR)

Fear is a very powerful emotions and yet it so blatantly abused with games now that it has lost all credibility. I'm not talking about cheap jump scares and the ability to churn out a clone of an already successful horror game because that's the easiest option, I'm talking about the deep rooted horror, the type that messes with your mind and warps your surroundings. I'm talking about the kind of horror that makes you sleep with the lights on, that makes you flee up the stairs, that plagues your mind after you've experienced it. Music can sincerely do that, and what makes it even better is that with music, you usually have no visuals to go along with it. Your mind fills in the blanks with your worst nightmares and the music steadily influences that throughout. Horror isn't a massive theme within my game and yet some parts will be considered disturbing by nature. Fear is another highly subjective thing and not everyone will be scared by the same thing, but I usually find distorted sounds aren't appealing to most people, and foreboding music has the possibility to make people tense and panic.

  

 

CONFLICT

(FIGHT)

Considering how much players will be wandering around the wilderness they'll often encounter things that aren't so friendly as to simply let them walk on by, and these things will attack, either that or warn the player off before they do should they not get the message loud and clear. Enemy themes do often get recycled as do the enemies themselves but it's pretty commonplace for the themes to change depending on the area or possibly the enemy too, so you aren't stuck hearing the same thing over and over again. Usually these songs are upbeat to herd the player towards taking them down quickly so they can carry on and not let the enemy hinder them, but again, depending on the game and style, that can change dramatically. Some enemies can't be defeated and must be avoided, and some enemies are often ones that chase, stalk, and do other such things that would ultimately change the mood of the song that plays when they decide to give the player some attention.

OVERSEERS

(BOSSES)

Bosses are overwhelming things in games, set there in the players way to act as obstacles that the player must then use everything they've learnt up until that point to destroy and overcome before carrying on their merry way through the rest of the game. The bosses in this game are essentially puppets to an otherwise rather pretty looking parasite, but they're still huge, they're still deadly, and they will pose an extreme threat. Boss themes have to be different to normal battle themes to match the unique feeling most bosses give in games, where enemies will be recycled throughout the entire game, bosses are usually a one off, never to be fought or seen again. Depending on what sort of boss it is, however, can affect the theme that plays. Most boss themes do add a sense of urgency into the player knowing that the opposition can and will kill them, though some themes take a more sinister route, or sometimes even a more upbeat selection to entice the player to move it.

 

RESOLUTION

(FINALE)

The end. After the player has gone through all the turmoil and the ups and downs to get to this point, after the hours and hours that they spent, they need some sort of pay-off to end all of this once and for all. It has to be epic, booming, tense, exciting, all of these things thrown into a pot and then perfected in order to create a memorable final battle theme, that the player won't get sick of hearing after the tenth time they've died, that the player feels encouraged by, but also intimidated. Usually such themes are orchestrated but there are other good alternatives. Themes which are quite heavenly when you may be fighting something that seems otherwise I find tend to work well with that contrast, and quick, foreboding and otherwise rather unnerving themes also work, too. All in all I think the final battle theme is one of the most important song choices in the entire game, as everything during the end is anticipated, and it would not be wise to disappoint your players.

LO4: Legal and Ethical

• Legal Constraint - Anything bound in law is on this particular side.
• Ethical Constraint - The morals and actions of the situations or the characters within the game; are there any questions raised?

Legal

I can't really think of anything within our game that would go against any legal constraints, hopefully all of the content would abide by them. I wouldn't want to get into any trouble by them.

Ethical

Bad language, maybe? I don't really think there's any ethical issues within our game right about now, nothing seems to stick out as being something that could raise questions. It is rather dark in nature, I'll grant you that, but there's nothing outright there to disturb you. The majority of the game you're fighting gigantic robot monsters and even when you do get to fight people they're not organic anyway, but I guess some people could raise this and say that even though they're not biological beings, the depiction of killing them is the same. Gore has become common-place in games and media now anyway, so it's not exactly a massive issue, but I guess it can cause some concern with people who don't really enjoy or like seeing that sort of thing. The only other thing I can potentially think of is our main villain, whose backstory in a nutshell is that his mind has been affected so much by a parasite in his body that he's essentially been brainwashed into eradicating what's left of the 'human' race. I'm skeptical on whether or not to call it a mental health issue, the situation isn't something commonplace in this world and the proportions of his torment have been stretched to exaggerated length due to the world and setting around him being one of fantasy, of things that don't exist in our world. If it is seen as similar to a certain mental health issue, however, we're gonna have to take our time to represent it in a realistic light.

• Copyright Constraints - Anything owned by something else that restricts you from using their content in your products.

Copyright

I did want to base one of the potential boss ideas on or around the concept of the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland, so I'd have to get permission to even do that, I suppose. Perhaps music if it's decided that we want to add in licensed music either to replace or put in alongside our own original music, and then we have easter eggs, too, which are very common in games now and are a really nifty little ideas. Mainly they're always referencing something else, but it's best if you don't outright copy what you're referencing and paste it into game. Subtlety is key.

• Obscene Publications Act

Obscene Publications

No.

• Liable and Slander - Saying, writing or creating an image about something about someone, no matter what, that may cause emotional damage in the eyes of the general public.

Liable and Slander
None of the characters within our game are based on anyone in real life, and I doubt that we'd have anything to say about them, either. It's based in an entirely fictional world, and the only reference to our world that I could possibly think of including would be things like easter eggs, but they're generally light-hearted, not at all trying to mock or harm anyone by creating such an image.

LO4: A Developed Idea

DUST

(WE'RE JUST ROLLING WITH IT)

"In a world riddled with dust and decay very little life is left on this earth, the ground cracked and scarred, the sky cold and dark. The last remaining population of humans have gradually replaced their biological limbs with mechanical apparatus over the years they have been left to suffer, and congregate only in the small, rickety outposts that mark the null, endless desert. Resilient at best, the poor bastards hold out for even the slightest hint at a better life, until one day, one fateful day, it seemed their prayers were answered. Dancing, prancing and singing with joy, a curious show rolls into town, chanting to all those who would lend them their ears to join them in their delight. There's just one problem though. 

Roses.

Though once they were harmless, beautiful and forbidden, the plants seem to have taken a more sinister toll.  Their parasitic nature has lead them to become an icon ready to be feared, and the sudden appearance of this fools parade alongside the increasing growth of the thorned leeches has more than a few people suspicious..."

In a nutshell the concept of our game is the typical standard affair of taking control of a protagonist in order to stop an antagonist from doing something typically insane that'll surely bring around the end of the world as we know it. Whilst the characters themselves are in development at the time of writing the story centres around this potential hero going against a band of villains that plan to spread this potential parasite around the world to make it 'beautiful' again, unaware that they're practically turning everything around it into a potential hive-mind for an enemy even greater than themselves.

I am going into go into detail about certain major characters on separate posts, don't worry, but for a quick overview we've got the main character, a set character, who can be accompanied by lesser, more so secondary characters should the player choose to have them accompany them during their adventures (careful though, they may die!). There's the main villain, too, as well as a few lesser minions of his which you will encounter through the game. Giant robotic creatures which act as bosses are found within the game, too, and there are countless NPC's to interact with. We sort of thought that maybe depending on how you react and respond to certain events during the game it could shape what NPC's think of you, like a sort of disposition gauge, and in turn it'll have either consequences or benefits on what happens in the story.

We also came up with the idea that because people need to replace their limbs with robotic ones to survive in this potentially volatile land, there's a big divide between those who are willing to give up their humanity and those that aren't. People who are fully flesh and bone consider themselves to be pure and are willing to die to stay this way, whilst those who are converted fully into robots will label these human elitists as insane and childish. People who are halfway there to being fully converted, bio-mechanoids, are stuck in the middle of this clash. Concerning our main protagonist we considered making him a bio-mechanoid so they wouldn't be biased when it came to the whole divide between those human and those not. Their appendages are robotic whilst their head and torso are organic. Taking into account there are no bones in their legs or arms, what's left of their skeletal structure is the original bone, although there is a slight spinal brace to it to steady his body with the sudden weight and power of these mechanical limbs. I had the idea of his internal organs being mechanical yet his brain, eyes and heart are organic, but it's not decided for.

The world we created for this game is a desolate wasteland (sort of the inspiration for the name) where little to no life lives. I came up with the idea of calling it Eden to contrast the popular belief that the garden of Eden is a beautiful place, creating a lovely contrasts of sorts. At this moment in time the various settlements in this world are unnamed, but they are all different from one another in some way. The actual environment of Eden is extremely hazardous and all sorts of obstacles make sure that travelling in the desert is always a struggle to survive, things like gorges, tar pits, extreme temperatures - both hot and cold - make it a chore. Most of the time though it's an endless expanse of dirt for as far as the eye can see, and the mild wind mixed with little to no colour and life leads to a very numb existence.

LO4: Moodboard

LO4: Initial Brainstorm

LO2: Comparison of Reviews

When reviewing games there's no definite set of what's right and what's wrong, a lot of formats can be helpful in getting the reviewers point across and what they choose is essentially up to how they feel comfortable. Two of the most widely use formats to review games however are through articles and through videos, the former being usually found in magazines or online on niche websites specifically for that sort of thing and the latter can be pretty much made by anyone and uploaded to a site such as YouTube for the world to see. Not only can the format be different but the formality of it can be too, a twinge of humour can be used to emphasise points or just make the review more memorable then simple words on a screen or paper. Let's take for example this Walking Dead review by Empire Magazine as our first example of a text and picture based review (as seen below) and pick it apart before comparing it to another review of a different nature.

EMPIRE

Format wise the review itself looks like a review, you can open the page and know it's a review without looking at the great big honking arrow that's at the top left hand of the page. The text is all neatly laid out at the bottom of the page - or pages, rather - and is in typical column format and in a rather trimmed formation to keep everything somewhat in unison and to not have words and text flying all over the place. The title itself sticks out and is distinct to grab the readers attention, the subheading is in bold to indicate where the review begins and there are pictures to go along with the text to further showcase the game and to also perpetuate some of the points raised in the article, which include a picture of one of the former survivors, for example, as the article makes notes that the actions the players took in the previous season will affect what happens in this one, a picture of Clementine, now that she's the main character of this season and the typical horror aspects one expects from the game, with a walker gripping onto someone's arm. Content wise the review isn't terribly long, only spanning about a third of the way across both pages, but for a shorter article it does cover a lot of points. The author leads in with a synopsis of the game and a little bit of background to the company and the first season knowing this is essentially a sequel, and then goes on about the fundamentals of the gameplay (surviving, decision making, all the drama) and then about the improvements that have been implemented (dialogue trees and combat), though they don't necessarily note any examples of this other than the specific topics, though they may be leaving the actual content itself for the reader and/or potential player to find out. The style of writing isn't exactly formal either, it's somewhat colloquial and easy going for anyone to simply pick up and read. At the end the review gives a list of what systems the game is now out on and essentially backs up their statements by mentioning that the first episode of the season is out, so anyone who is interested from the review can go about finding out how to download the episode if their curiosity has been piqued.

ZERO PUNCTUATION

Now we delve into the world of visual media, and there are a lot of things people can do with a video review. The most important thing to remember, however, is video reviews require visuals and audio instead of the simple visual aspect that belong to written articles. Not only do you need something there to keep the viewer engaged, your voice also can take on a different tone instead of relying on people to use their inside voice to narrate the review themselves. Turn your attention to Zero Punctuation, a review style set up by one Ben 'Yahtzee' Croshaw, a snarky british-australian reviewer who has a very  distinct style of humour and an even more distinct way of reviewing games. As the name may suggest, Yahtzee rambles excessively on about the game with little to no breaks between, leaving them as one massive rant of sorts, though despite his tendencies to be harsh on some games he can be quite forgiving with others. Format wise it takes on a unique style of his, with having caricatures and little minions visualising his humorous points frame by frame in a sort of half animation, though everything else is much the same as any other review, with his commentary overlaying it, albeit it a quick one, though he doesn't show any actual gameplay from the game itself, possibly giving it a backseat to his animation instead. One thing to note is the animation is, uh, quite vulgar at times with certain pictures, and his commentary isn't exactly any better, but it does get the point across, it's not just for the hell of it. Content wise he goes into a lot of detail, though he doesn't make it entirely distinct when he's going into it, especially when he's on a roll. When the actual criticism of the game kicks in he first starts off with a synopsis of the game, explaining that it's more so based around the aspect of relationships with other people (who get along like 'six velociraptors in a tent with only one sleeping bag') more so then merely running around gunning every single zombie down in an apocalypse setting, and that all your decisions will have an impact. He does criticise the mechanics and the moral binary choice, however, and shows examples of the decisions that both he and his friends made, which turned out to be the same, and carries on to explain that there are puzzles but they're not exactly engaging ones, saying that 'they're more like devices to make sure you're paying attention'.  Yahtzee picks apart the combat aspect and the controls by saying the typical way to move around (on PC) is the WASD keys and then the mouse initiates talking, so when any sort of combat happens it's time for a quick time event. Finally he does praise the game by saying that the core mechanic of the game is setting the player up for very hard decisions and the game does that very well, both the quick reactions and the slow planning situations equally. He does say the game is absorbing and tense but despite all of that he doesn't necessarily want to see how the rest of the episodes will turn out because he feels the genre has been overdone. 

COMPARISON

It's sort of hard to try and compare two reviews that are in entirely different mediums but it can be done, but whether or not you prefer one or the other is entirely subjective. The Empire review does what it was intended to, to provide a quick review in a magazine that is potentially full of them to potential players in order to give them a brief oversight and an incentive to play the game. Yahtzee also attained his goal, which was to produce yet another snarky video for people to watch and laugh at, alongside actually learning aspects about the game. The Empire does go into depth about some things (synopsis, fundamentals, improvements) but considering the length of it there isn't much detail you can shove into that small space, but Yahtzee's review is around about five minutes long, and goes into the whole concept of the game, the mechanics, the pros and cons of this, the puzzles, the controls, the combat and the core mechanic of the game, but does also praise it. It's interesting to note that the Empire Magazine is on a neutral basis and doesn't exactly pan or praise the game too much in either direction, but Yahtzee's style has him taking the negatives to an extreme and yet the praise to a neutral level, possibly to keep in touch with his character of sorts as it's come to be expected of him. With the magazine one has to read it in their own voice and certain things may not be read the same way as the author intended, yet with the video you have audio, so Yahtzee himself is speaking exactly as he was intended to be heard. Accessibility wise the video is much easier to get a hold of then the magazine, though the video itself isn't to everyone's tastes. It's vulgar and of course there's swearing, so those who want a more formal review might want to take the magazine option over this one, though I prefer the video itself.

LO1: Analysis/Review #6 - Epic Mickey

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.