the grunter

It has been a good while since the last time I actually looked forward to a Wii game’s release, in fact the last time I anticipated something Wii-related was probably.. the Wii console.

When Nintendo showed off concept arts of Epic Mickey for the first time, gamers ate it right up, since the whole idea was so new, original and not the stereotypical cartoon game. I’m talking about slaying evil creatures with an emo version of America’s childhood icon in a hellish abyss (at least that’s the idea conveyed by the concept arts), you don’t see it everyday.

(Sometimes I think the world is mono and dark because the artists simply got lazy)

I bought the collector’s edition on the day it came out in stores, since I really wanted the vinyl figurine of Mickey. As for the game itself, well let’s see:

The Good

• Interesting plot which involves elements that normally don’t exist in Disney cartoons – Fear, hate and guilt
• Art style and music help setting up the right atmosphere to tell the story
• Some stages are based on classic Mickey Mouse cartoon episodes such as “Steamboat Willie”
• Enough collectibles and side missions to keep younger gamers occupied
• Boss fights are quite creative (some of them)
• Battling enemies using the “Painter and Thinner” feels new, player can kill enemies with thinner, or make them your ally with paint

The Bad

• The”Painter and Thinner” system is what makes the game a Wii exclusive, but the actual execution seems more scripted than flexible. Even gimmicky at times (For example player cannot alter the non-”highlighted” part of the world, much like in FPS games the so-proclaimed “destructible environments” only apply to the one wall that has to be taken down as part of the story)
• Camera is a biatch, which immediately makes movements in game not fun to say the least. One can say that if Nintendo did not bother to fix the same camera issue in Mario 64 over ten years ago, why should Disney bother now? Nonetheless, attempting a sprinted jump onto a small ledge against the wall only to be staring at the ground through Mickey’s nostril is only funny for the first couple of times
• Muted dialogues. In this day and age. On a home console, not handheld. For a Disney game you would think Mickey would get more voice acting than the few lines in the story-telling slide shows in the game
• Uncreative ways to progress through story, on too many occasions. “Come back when you collect x amount of purple flowers” or doing Fedex runs repeatedly

The ???

• What exactly is “Epic” about a story that begins with Mickey ruining some old man’s plastic model town and trying to get away from being caught?
• What is the target audience here? Disney created an overall atmosphere that is all dark and evil, but the core gameplay is no different than any other “Mickey’s Magic Journey” games on any older consoles. The end result is that young kids will not be attracted to this game (Not to mention none of the other famous Disney characters are in it) and adults who are intrigued by the plot will eventually give up on the shallow gameplay

Lastly

If this review doesn’t sound negative enough, it is perhaps because I willingly got hyped up too much, had high expectations and temporarily forgot that it is indeed a game on the Wii.

Yes, to be able to explore an underground world that has all the forgotten sideshow characters in Mickey’s cartoons is definitely a great concept, but they just had to mellow things down in order to secure a “Rated E for Everyone” ESRB rating because it means a larger customer base. Nothing wrong with playing it safe, but they really contradicted themselves on this one.

It would be fantastic if creatures in the underground world of ‘Epic Mickey’ behave like the monsters in ‘Bioshock’, running around with half-melted faces and insulting Mickey with sexual orientation slurs.

(Review 2 of 52, 2011)