Disney Epic Mickey is a game that has very lofty goals, but fails to achieve any of them. It was an ambitious project that aimed to take the Wii’s strength — family friendly cartoon games — and merge that with a bonefied quest-oriented game that appealed to more mature gamers. Unfortunately, instead of defining a new genre or carving it’s own niche, the game fails to deliver much of anything.
As the game starts, Mickey finds himself sucked through a magic mirror that transports him into a mysterious hallway. Peeking through a doorway, he watches as a man in wizard dress puts some final touches on what seems like a model town. Happy with his work, the man sets down the brush and heads to bed. Mickey then decides he is going to be a complete jerk and paint over the man’s hard work. In his fervor to vandalize this stranger’s model, Mickey accidentally knocks over the paint and thinner vials which unleashes all sorts of holy hell upon the work.
Does Mickey run to find the stranger, so he can right his wrong? Hell no! Mickey turns tail and runs back through the magic mirror. Like any good sociopath, Mickey doesn’t seem to care one iota about what he has done. However, karma is a bitch. So one night as Mickey is sleeping (and presumably dreaming about defacing the Mona Lisa) one of the dark blobby whatevers he unleashed reaches out from the mirror and pulls Mickey back into the world he set into turmoil.
"Did you forget that you spin to interact with this? Don't worry, we'll remind you over and over. (. . . and over . . .)
You find yourself face-to-face with some sort of mad scientist, and we’re supposed to believe that poor Mickey is somehow the victim here. I wish I would have just let the villain win right then. I mean, Mickey’s been nothing but a jerk. Why shouldn’t he get his comeuppance?
The game itself consists of a mix of awkward platforming and the paint/thinner mechanic. As you explore the world, you can aim the Wiimote at the screen and shoot either paint or thinner from your magic paintbrush. Paint can re-build broken or missing parts of the world, while thinner does the opposite. When you spray enough of your goo on enemies, the paint will eventually turn them friendly or the thinner will viciously kill them! (Or just make them disappear.)
Every puzzle boils down to making something appear or disappear and jumping from place to place. You have a limited supply of goo, but you’ll find plenty of things to smash that will reward you with health, paint, and thinner refills. If you run completely out, your bar will refill itself one-third of the way after a short period of time. This makes sure you never get ‘stuck’ without the proper spray.
Aiming can be a bit annoying as your stream will occasionally hit something short of your target. It’s often hard to tell right away that you’re not hitting whatever you intended to hit, leading to a lot of wasted goo. If this was the only control issue, it would be forgivable. Unfortunately the poor camera also becomes an issues. You can re-orient the camera with the D-pad, but this is slow and frustrating. The C button will re-center the camera, but it’s very disorienting to have to snap the camera back behind Mickey every time you change directions.
I think this is how Da Vinci painted his subjects.
Bad camera control and platforming usually don’t mix. Epic Mickey is no exception. I don’t think I ever fell victim to any of the game’s puzzles; but I repeatedly found myself falling to my death because I couldn’t tell where the hell I was going. That’s not the kind of challenge that makes a game fun. Fortunately, you have endless lifes so death doesn’t really mean a whole lot.
Epic Mickey was advertised as being somewhat of a quest-driven ‘RPG’. First off, there’s no real character building. The further you get into the game, your tendency to use thinner or paint will transform Mickey. Paint, which is viewed as the ‘good’ option, will keep you as the classic Mickey we all know and love. Thinner will eventually transform ‘the Mick’ into a more rat-like, old-timey Mickey. But there’s no skills or talent trees here.
As for the ‘Quests’, most boil down to “get to the next part of the level.” So, you’re not so much completing quests and deciding what to do next as you are constantly being reminded that you need to continue down your mostly linear path. None of it is very compelling, and instead played like an Xbox game with poor use of achievements. “Gate opened! – 10GP!”
Visually, the game was very underwhelming. I’m not talking about the Wii’s hardware limitations. I’ve no qualms with the system being less advanced than it’s competitors. Polygon count and flashy effects are nice, but you can create art without those things. And a Disney game should be the ideal product to make that point.
The world felt dark and muddled. Initially, it is supposed to be. The evil that Mickey unleashed on the world has ravaged the landscape. But as you paint and repair things, you’ll find that it wasn’t all that breathtaking to begin with. The ‘evil’ or ‘destroyed’ land doesn’t feel evil enough, and the re-claimed painted world never feels vibrant and alive. It all makes your entire endeavor feel rather pointless.
At various points in the game, you’ll find yourself in 2D side-scrolling segments. They’re not difficult or imaginative, but I found them to be the most enjoyable part of the game. It was fun traveling across the famed Steamboat Mickey scene, and the controls were tight and responsive. I think a full-fledged 2D game would have ended up being a much more successful experience. Alas, these segments are short and play only a minor part of the overall experience.
Ontop of the “questing”, there is the usual smattering of collectibles. From bronze Mickey-ears to silver Mickey-ears and even gold Mickey-ears. You’ll find little tickets which are equivalent to coins in a Mario title, and you’ll find movie reels that unlock animations that can be viewed from the menu. Again, none of it is particularly compelling.
The abundance of idiot-proof pop-ups makes it very clear that the developers wanted the game to be playable by the younger set. Tutorial-style text pop-ups continued on for about the first hour of the game. Even my six year old niece doesn’t need to be told “spin to turn the valve!” every single time you encounter a valve. I solved that “brain teaser” the first dozen times, thank you. I get it. Everyone gets it. Just shut up already!
But a more mature control scheme and the level of accuracy needed in the platforming segments seems to be beyond the abilities of such young gamers. So while I’m sitting here being annoyed by the hand-holding, a young gamer would be stymied by the fast-moving platforms above life-draining pools of thinner. So you may ask, who is this game supposed to be for? Damned if I know.
The game was ambitious, but proves that when you try to cast such a wide net, you often lose that critical amount of focus that is necessary for success. Disney Epic Mickey reminds us of this again and again, failing to really find success on any level. I tried to give the game a chance — I really did. But the more I played, the more evident it was that the game wasn’t getting better. The game may be a great alternative to “inhumane” interrogation methods such as waterboarding or family Monopoly night, but as a form of entertainment, I’d recommend taking up knitting before I could recommend playing this game.
njoystic 
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