Disney - Epic Mickey - Nintendo Wii

The game disc came in good condition, and works very well!

a+++

I’m not much of a gamer, and when I do play a video game, I prefer the simpler games like I grew up playing. As a result, the quest games that follow a long story through a created world aren’t normally my thing. But I quickly made an exception when Epic Mickey was released for Wii. You expected this Disnerd to do any differently?The game is a dream for those of us who love all things Disney. Once upon a time, the wizard Yensid (from the movie Fantasia) created a world for all the forgotten Disney characters to retire to. However, during its construction, Mickey accidentally stumbles into the studio and spills paint and thinner on it. Now, years later, the place is in disrepair and Mickey is kidnapped and drawn into the world, now known as Wasteland. In order to get out, he must make his way through a bunch of quests. He is helped along the way by Gus, a Gremlin who helps guide you through the game. You also have a paint brush filled with paint and thinner you can use to create or erase things and even enemies in the world.I’ve got to confess that I have had multiple geek out moments as I’ve played this game. You spend parts of it chasing Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and you meet up with Clarabelle and Horace. Plus you are playing through levels that resemble various places in Disneyland (some say Disney World, but I think of Disneyland). While most people will recognize the places, few will probably get the characters. I’m enough of a Disnerd that I not only get them but I absolutely love seeing them.The game looks impressive. As my brother was the first say what I was thinking when we started playing it together, it’s Disney with a Gotham City make over. You’ll recognize much of what you are playing through, but it looks darker, sadder, and run down. Okay, so it’s still cartoony rather than realistic looking, but since we are living in a cartoon world, that’s not that surprising.Likewise, the music is good. It sounds like the soundtrack from some epic movie. Yes, at times they mix in classic Disney songs, but at other times it is all completely brand new.The majority of the game is made up of various quests, and you have to explore your current level to find what you want, then bring it back to your starting point. It gets repetitive, and it would be nice if they mixed it up a bit more. I also don’t like the fact that once you move through an area, you can’t get back there easily. So make sure you have explored everything there is to see before you move on.Much has been said of the “camera” for the game, and with good reason. That is the weakest flaw by far. It can be hard at times to get things to the angle you really need to see. Yes, you can use some buttons on your controller to tilt the camera and you can hit one button to recenter the camera from Mickey’s viewpoint, both things I do regularly. But still, it manages to mess me up and kill me more often than I would like.Then again, that’s also part of my non-gamer nature coming to the forefront. I get frustrated after two or three tries at an area if I can’t move on, and there are a few points in the game that have really frustrated me. This game will probably be too complex for those under late elementary school age, and just at the time when Disney will no long be cool. Then again, with all the obscure Disney history in this game, maybe the real target is adults after all.The games uses not only the Wiimote but all the Nunchuck as well. You use the little joystick to move and the buttons to jump and spray the paint and thinner. You shake the Wiimote to do an attack spin. I found these controls very easy to grasp, and they were second nature to me almost right away. I struggled a bit more with aiming the paintbrush when I shoot the paint and thinner. There is a target on the screen that reads off your Wiimote and where it is currently pointing. I kept firing and wondering why Mickey was shooting the paint in a different direction until I remembered to watching where I was aiming that thing.There are lots of times where your actions determine the outcome of the game. If you aren’t careful, you can make characters mad at you who won’t help you later. Or, if you free them from a prison, they’ll save you a lot of work later. That’s definitely an interesting feature.As you transition from one world to another, you do it through 2D levels based on classic Mickey shorts. Most everyone will have at least heard of the shorts we play through, things like “Steamboat Willie” or “Mickey and the Beanstalk.” All of that is very fun as well, although these levels don’t add too much to the overall game.This is a game I enjoy in spurts. I’ll pay it several times for a week and get a little frustrated with a level. Then I’ll walk away for a while and come back and enjoy it again later. Okay, some of my breaks are also because I don't have the time to play it much. People who more regularly play these games will probably find it easier than I do, however. I know my sister-in-law breezed through it.But I do enjoy Epic Mickey. It’s not an easy game, made harder by a the poor camera, but it is a blast for Disney fans of all stripes with the almost constant nods to the Disney we already know or might have forgotten.

Epic Mickey, from the man who brought you so much, Warren Spector, is a game in which you will be playing the role of Mickey Mouse as you try to save a world ravaged by evil with the help of a magic brush that can either shoot out paint or thinner. You will have to piece back what once was, and find away to return home.Graphically this game looks good for a Wii game, I really wish it was a PC game so that I can ramp up the graphics just a touch more, but this is a very well done, from a graphics standpoint, game. You will get to run through side scrolling worlds of old Mickey Mouse cartoons. You'll also get to interact in 3D worlds that feel like they belong in or have been a part of Mickey Mouse cartoons. You'll also get to see very recognizable characters, from the black and white days, all the way to the present.I don't think its really necessary for me to delve to deep into the music of this game, its a Mickey Mouse game, there's different levels from different Mickey Mouse cartoons, so lets say that there's plenty of music that was used in those cartoons present in your adventures.The controls is where the wheels start to fall off for the game. You're going to have control of the camera, which in retrospect probably leaves more room for error than it could have. You'll find that the depth of field is never quite right, and you'll also find that while trying to center the camera you're never going to be able to get it just right to be in the correct position to cause you less aggravation. The sad thing is that the worst part of the controls is probably the most vital piece of the game, aiming to shoot out the paint and thinner. The reason I say this is because of the fact that the camera position is going to make the reticle on the screen false. You're going to have a lot of trial and error trying to paint certain areas because where you're aiming isn't going to be close to where the paint/thinner is going to fly.So you have this wonderful concept of a game that is meant for all ages. There's not really any violence to speak of in the game. You'll have enemies that you'll have to fight but you attack them with thinner to make them melt, or you attack them with paint for them to just turn friendly. You'll have to deal with bosses along the way that you'll have to decide to either fight with thinner or paint, which ever you choose will dictate what you'll have more of when you're at max. Thankfully the reticle issue that plagues you during trying to traverse the levels doesn't come into effect during the boss battles.You're going to get to meet Oswald the Bunny, and a ton of old school characters, as well as robotic versions of your friends, that were created to keep Oswald company. Sadly those versions of your friends have basically been reduced to talking heads, and you'll have to help put them back together. You'll also find that you're going to be going on a lot of quests that will take you back in forth between areas, and to be honest this was the nail in the coffin that almost made this game unbearable. Here's the deal you get a quest from a character to go to another area, well you're going to have to go through a load screen, then you'll have to do the side scrolling action through a clip of an old Mickey Mouse cartoon, you'll get a load screen, then you'll do whatever you need to do there, then you'll want to return, which will be a load screen, that side scrolling clip this time you'll have to go backwards, and then a load screen. Now there's a very good possibility that you're about to get another quest to go back to the same area, well guess what, you'll get to do that all again. The break in the action and the constant hassle of having to re-traverse the same level over and over again is going to leave you wonder what the game could have been if they didn't try to leave it with so much filler. As a result you're going to want to see the storyline pick up, but its going to drag, and you're going to be left feeling like you'll have to drag yourself through the finish line.This was a game that I couldn't wait to get my hands on, I got to see Warren Spector do his keynote at PAX, I was excited, and I got to take a peek at the demo at PAX, but after playing the game, as much as it pains me, I think that I can't give this game higher than a 4.7 out of 10.

I really can't rate it from firsthand play, but I give it 4 stars because whenever the disk is in the Wii, my 7 year old hogs the Wii remote. Just kidding, but seriously, she seems to have lots of fun with it. I'm not sure if it is the game itself, or the fact that she can control 'Mickey', but either way, she really seems to like it. From what I can tell, a lot of the game seems to be exploring around Mickey's world, fighting against enemies that are mild enough to not scare kids, and it is done in a G-rated way. So far, she is having loads of fun just exploring, and only using Mickey's special powers once in a while. Mickey can 'paint' stuff, as well as 'erase' stuff, with paint thinner. Beyond that, I really don't know much, because in the 2 weeks since we gave her the disk, she has been having more fun exploring, and interacting with the game, and hasn't really been concerned about winning it.4 Stars because my 7 year old is entertained with it, doesn't seem to be frustrated because it is 'too hard', and because I got it for under $5 through Amazon. It was $5 well spent.