~Advice from a Caterpillar~
Epic Mickey - Review
By Azure Caterpillar
This review may contain a few minor spoilers but nothing to do with the end game story.
Story
Epic Mickey's premise is thus; Mickey Mouse finds himself pulled into an alternate Disneyland, one created by Yen Sid for the forgotten characters. However prior to this Mickey had found his way into Yen Sid's workshop and accidently spilt thinner on this creation.
When Mickey arrives in Wasteland it is delapidated; the Phantom Blot and Mad Doctor are causing havoc. The game itself starts with Mickey chasing Oswald through Dark Beauty Castle and Fantasyland; eventually catching up with him atop Wasteland's version of the Matterhorn... but it is up to the player to decide whether to either help Oswald and Wasteland or to make things worse... of course you could always go neutral.
The story is interesting and the whole idea of it is quite unique; I really have no complaints story wise... apart from maybe it could of been a little longer.
Gameplay
Mickey has a few skills at his disposle in this game; first there is his spin move which can smash barrels and knock enemies flying and is sometimes used to interact with objects. There is also his Paint and Thinner abilities which are aimed by using the Wii remote's motion sensor; it took me a while to get used to this as I don't play the Wii that often and I found it wasn't sensitive enough sometimes. Paint is used to make enemies your friend or to fill in pieces of the landscape... Thinner is used to defeat enemies and to erase the landscape. Depending on how you deal with the game's bosses your Paint or Thinner skill will increase.
The enemies in the game are usually easy to deal with at the beginning... swarms can be a little difficult though. However as the game progresses you'll meet some rather heavily armored enemies that can be rather hard to deal with.
The platforming in this game can be very difficult; especially near the end. Certain platforms you'd have to make appear then jump onto while quickly Painting the next platform before an enemy makes the platform your on disappear... things like that.
Mickey gets to different sections of Wasteland via filmstrip side-scrolling levels. These are usually quite easy however later on some rather hard ones appear... mainly due to the platforming side of them or enemies who push you away or off things. You all might be glad to know there is only one of these with the traditional rising water effect.
Overall the gameplay itself is fine... but the camera can often mess things up... the camera in this game makes me want to cry.
Visuals
This is probably the best looking Wii game I have seen. Of course it isn't "Oh wow amazing HD graphics makes games the best!!!!1111one!!!111!"; but the graphics are nice and work very well with the style of the game. Some places look generally creepy but others can look quite pretty and friendly.
The cut-scenes are done in 2D-animation based on the style of the amazing Mary Blair who was a concept artist for Disney and worked on films such as Alice in Wonderland. These are very nice and compliment the game.
Sound
Voice-acting wise... there isn't much. Infact the only proper voice-acting in the game is in the intro and outro FMV's. However it doesn't make the game any less enjoyable.
Now music wise... this game's music is actually really nice! Obviously a lot of the music is taken from old Disney cartoons or from the theme parks; and some have a twist. I have to say I really liked the Tomorrow City music and Its a Small World being played backwards; and the creepy rendition for the boss battle too. In all the music for the game is atmospheric and works well.
Overall
Hmmm... I like the game a lot even though Wonderland didn't appear in it when originally it was going to be in the game. However I do have a few complaints... mainly the camera and some of platforming.
Another thing about the game is that at first I was unsure on how to deal with the bosses and I accidently defeated a boss in the way I didn't want to resulting in the boss getting destroyed... this made me sad. It was the sun in Its a Small World; he's gone crazy because of the music... I felt bad so replayed the game and helped him instead. By the way in my opinion he's the coolest looking boss in the whole game.
You have to know how you want to play the game! That's very important.
The game is pretty good! And if anyone tells you its easy... it ISN'T! Infact I found many parts rather difficult; but I did manage to complete it. I guess the main difficulty is the platforming; some jumps are very hard. Also when enemies swarm things can get scary... oh did I mention the camera in this game makes me want to cry? I think I mentioned that.
Anyway Epic Mickey is a very good game and it almost feels like the old-fashioned platformers that we don't see often anymore. The game could of been longer and they should of kept Wonderland but perhaps they'll make a second game.
I recommend playing Epic Mickey.
By Azure Caterpillar
This review may contain a few minor spoilers but nothing to do with the end game story.
Story
Epic Mickey's premise is thus; Mickey Mouse finds himself pulled into an alternate Disneyland, one created by Yen Sid for the forgotten characters. However prior to this Mickey had found his way into Yen Sid's workshop and accidently spilt thinner on this creation.
When Mickey arrives in Wasteland it is delapidated; the Phantom Blot and Mad Doctor are causing havoc. The game itself starts with Mickey chasing Oswald through Dark Beauty Castle and Fantasyland; eventually catching up with him atop Wasteland's version of the Matterhorn... but it is up to the player to decide whether to either help Oswald and Wasteland or to make things worse... of course you could always go neutral.
The story is interesting and the whole idea of it is quite unique; I really have no complaints story wise... apart from maybe it could of been a little longer.
Gameplay
Mickey has a few skills at his disposle in this game; first there is his spin move which can smash barrels and knock enemies flying and is sometimes used to interact with objects. There is also his Paint and Thinner abilities which are aimed by using the Wii remote's motion sensor; it took me a while to get used to this as I don't play the Wii that often and I found it wasn't sensitive enough sometimes. Paint is used to make enemies your friend or to fill in pieces of the landscape... Thinner is used to defeat enemies and to erase the landscape. Depending on how you deal with the game's bosses your Paint or Thinner skill will increase.
The enemies in the game are usually easy to deal with at the beginning... swarms can be a little difficult though. However as the game progresses you'll meet some rather heavily armored enemies that can be rather hard to deal with.
The platforming in this game can be very difficult; especially near the end. Certain platforms you'd have to make appear then jump onto while quickly Painting the next platform before an enemy makes the platform your on disappear... things like that.
Mickey gets to different sections of Wasteland via filmstrip side-scrolling levels. These are usually quite easy however later on some rather hard ones appear... mainly due to the platforming side of them or enemies who push you away or off things. You all might be glad to know there is only one of these with the traditional rising water effect.
Overall the gameplay itself is fine... but the camera can often mess things up... the camera in this game makes me want to cry.
Visuals
This is probably the best looking Wii game I have seen. Of course it isn't "Oh wow amazing HD graphics makes games the best!!!!1111one!!!111!"; but the graphics are nice and work very well with the style of the game. Some places look generally creepy but others can look quite pretty and friendly.
The cut-scenes are done in 2D-animation based on the style of the amazing Mary Blair who was a concept artist for Disney and worked on films such as Alice in Wonderland. These are very nice and compliment the game.
Sound
Voice-acting wise... there isn't much. Infact the only proper voice-acting in the game is in the intro and outro FMV's. However it doesn't make the game any less enjoyable.
Now music wise... this game's music is actually really nice! Obviously a lot of the music is taken from old Disney cartoons or from the theme parks; and some have a twist. I have to say I really liked the Tomorrow City music and Its a Small World being played backwards; and the creepy rendition for the boss battle too. In all the music for the game is atmospheric and works well.
Overall
Hmmm... I like the game a lot even though Wonderland didn't appear in it when originally it was going to be in the game. However I do have a few complaints... mainly the camera and some of platforming.
Another thing about the game is that at first I was unsure on how to deal with the bosses and I accidently defeated a boss in the way I didn't want to resulting in the boss getting destroyed... this made me sad. It was the sun in Its a Small World; he's gone crazy because of the music... I felt bad so replayed the game and helped him instead. By the way in my opinion he's the coolest looking boss in the whole game.
You have to know how you want to play the game! That's very important.
The game is pretty good! And if anyone tells you its easy... it ISN'T! Infact I found many parts rather difficult; but I did manage to complete it. I guess the main difficulty is the platforming; some jumps are very hard. Also when enemies swarm things can get scary... oh did I mention the camera in this game makes me want to cry? I think I mentioned that.
Anyway Epic Mickey is a very good game and it almost feels like the old-fashioned platformers that we don't see often anymore. The game could of been longer and they should of kept Wonderland but perhaps they'll make a second game.
I recommend playing Epic Mickey.
