A lot of you might be asking why I am reviewing Disney: Epic Mickey when our shtick seems to be balls-to-the-wall hardcore action games. Well SHUT UP that’s why!

In all seriousness, the reason why I am reviewing Epic Mickey on an action devoted website is because Epic Mickey is, at its core, an action game. I could make excuses about how we previously reviewed Kingdom Hearts and how Disney is trying to appeal to an older demographic by putting a darker spin on its universe, but beneath the Disney coat of paint, the game is a platformer with an innovative emphasis on interactive environments. Add in the fact that the game was made by game design genius Warren Spector, and I’d say that’s more than enough to warrant a review. If it really bothers you that much that this game features Mickey Mouse as its protagonist, just pretend it’s a new entry in the God of War franchise called Kratos’ Paint and Play Adventure or something. It’s all the same in the end.

In Epic Mickey, the titular mouse is portrayed as a mischievous troublemaker, more like his early days of pranks on a steamboat, and very much unlike his cloak-wearing keyblade-wielding current incarnation. Being a troublemaker, the first thing Mickey does when he stumbles upon magic paint, is use it to create a horrible Cthuloid entity that warps the entirety of the Disney world into a dark and twisted parody of itself called “The Wasteland”. In the wasteland, the happy vibrant colors you would normally expect from a Disney universe are drowned out by putrid blacks, browns, greys, and greens. It’s kind of like Kingdom Hearts meets Dead Space, which is actually even more accurate when you consider that some of your favorite classic Disney characters have been turned into dark versions of themselves. That one recurring picture of a zombie robot Goofy continues to haunt my dreams to this day.

Well, now it’s up to Mickey to set things right, which means he will have to travel through world after twisted world, putting things back the way they were, and trying to find a way back home. This plot, simple as it might be, is actually quite enjoyable. Actually, I shouldn’t even call it plot. I should call it atmosphere. The wasteland is a really screwed up place that stands out as a corruption of everything you held dear in your youth, and you kind of feel dirty just existing in it. The story is told through dialogue boxes and cutscenes, and once again don’t let the Disney coat of paint fool you, this game is pretty fucked up. It’s kind of interesting to see how Spector twisted the cookie-cutter plots of the old timey Disney cartoons into a sort of dark gothic epic. The animated cutscenes in particular are very well done, and you frequently find yourself pushing on toward the next cutscene even though you wanted to stop playing hours ago.

Gameplay wise, Epic Mickey takes cues from original 3D platformers, like Super Mario 64. All the worlds in the game are connected via one central hub world. As you complete stages in the game, more and more become unlocked, and you basically follow this pattern until you reach the ending. Much like Super Mario 64, completionists will find plenty of side quests and optional objectives, while speed runners can simply head for the next world as quickly as possible. It’s a tried and true game formula that isn’t broken, and thus wasn’t fixed.

However, unlike Super Mario 64 and other games of its time, Mickey can reach his objectives in numerous ways, and this is where the game’s moral choice system comes into play. Throughout the game Mickey can decide to be a helpful little mouse, or a mischievous trickster. Sometimes choosing between the two is as simple as a dialogue choice, while other times the game keeps track of how you play it and uses that data to figure out whether you are good or bad. This makes some “choices” sneak by right under your nose without you ever having been aware of them. Sometimes you can even defeat bosses in different ways which is something I haven’t seen many contemporary action games do.

The choices you make affect the game in a profound way. The locations you visit, bosses you fight, and the eventual ending you receive are all affected by your actions over the course of the game. This actually makes the game feel more like an RPG than an action game at some times, and that’s not a bad feeling. Once again it puts story and environment at the forefront of the play experience, and since these are some of Epic Mickey’s best aspects, I’m not complaining.

Mickey’s main tools on his journey are the two forces of “paint” and “thinner”, which are also the main method by which he makes moral choices. Paint restores characters and environments to their colorful Disney splendor, while thinner either returns them to their twisted wasteland incarnation, or erases them entirely. In combat, paint will charm enemies to fight on your side temporarily, while thinner will simply make them dissolve into nothing.

To use either, all you have to do is point the Wiimote at the screen and press a button, and a majority of the game is spent splashing paint and thinner on everyone and everything around you. You will be painting in platforms to traverse large gaps, and thinning out doors and gates that bar your way. However, as I said before the game presents you with choices whenever it can, and many of the problems and puzzles in the game can be solved by using paint, thinner, both, or none at all.

The environmental puzzles in the game are actually where you will have the most fun. Just about anything in the Epic Mickey universe can be painted on, or thinned out. Sometimes you’ll accidentally throw some thinner on something that looks like a plain old wall, and you’ll find a hidden collectible or secret pathway.

It’s hard to describe just how fun it is to use paint and thinner to solve puzzles. Every time you figure out an effective solution it comes to you in this grand “EUREKA!” moment. Creative solutions you have used in the past become staple solutions of smaller puzzles in the future, and using paint and thinner in new ways becomes second nature after a very short while. The paint and thinner mechanics are easily the most innovative and enjoyable parts of the game, and they easily sell the game all by itself, regardless of it’s spectacular story and moral choice system.

Unfortunately, the base platforming and combat pale in comparison to everything else the game has to offer. Mickey handles like a bare bones version of Mario from Super Mario Galaxy. He has a jump, a double jump, a spin attack (activated by flicking the Wiimote), and that’s about it.

As the game goes on Mickey will gain the ability to lure enemies away from him, drop anvils from the sky, or slow down time for a few seconds. These abilities, however, go almost totally unused in combat situations, once again being more creatively utilized in puzzle solving. Basic enemies are kind of bland and pose more of an annoyance than a threat, but bosses are appropriately epic in nature and stand out as some of the best combat situations the game has to offer. Overall, combat feels repetitive more often than not, but at least the game doesn’t throw it at you all that often.

Your real enemy is the camera, which is easily the worst part of the game. No matter how hard you try the camera simply won’t give you a workable viewing angle. It automatically adjusts as you move but it always swings to a viewpoint that hinders Mickey’s progress, especially during platforming segments. There are several times when I found myself running toward the camera, having my view blocked by the environment, and even having to contend with the camera that spazzing out. It doesn’t totally ruin the game, but it will cause you to quit a few missions in frustration along the way.

The platforming itself is kind of bland if paint and thinner aren’t involved. Once again you have to deal with a finicky camera, but aside from that you are basically just jumping from obvious platform to obvious platform. This is most notably apparent in the 2D side scrolling stages you have to traverse before you enter a new world. They are kind of cute in the beginning, but after a while they just become annoying. It’s very apparent that paint and thinner are the main attractions here.

Despite these downfalls Epic Mickey stands out as one of the best platforming games the Wii has to offer, and that’s saying a lot considering the Wii offers us Mario, Kirby, Metroid, Donkey Kong, and a Sonic game that doesn’t totally suck. In the end, it’s enjoyable merely due to its concept. I mean, you are Mickey Mouse wandering around a nightmare world combating Lovecraftian ink monsters and talking to the severed heads of some of your favorite Disney characters. What about this doesn’t scream “awesome” to you?

In my opinion, I think you should give Epic Mickey a try. Sure, you aren’t going to find a sex mini-game here, nor will you find yourself eviscerating zombies, but the game is easily disturbing in its own right. It corrupts all the Disney imagery that we have come to know and love and shoves it right in your face through the context of awesome puzzles and a really well-conceived moral choice system. So yeah, I guess I am saying that a game about Mickey Mouse sells itself based on its story far better than games like God of War or Dead Rising do. What a strange and twisted world we live in.

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