Disney Epic Mickey

When I heard the words "Mario Killer" being tossed around about this game, I was of course skeptical at the very least, I mean  who hasn't said that about their platform before? But on second thought, I was like isn't Warren Spector behind this game? If anyone could deliver on the promise of a "Mario Killer" it would totally be the "genius" behind such critical acclaimed games as " Deus Ex" and " Thief" right?  At least I hoped as much....
 

The Story: Well, For The Most Part

" Epic Mickey" stars Mickey Mouse, (hence the title of course), it opens up with Mickey wandering into Yen Sid’s workshop (The Wizard from Fantasia), where he was working on building this seemingly Utopian magical model, well until Mickey accidentally spills a great amount of "magical" paint onto the world, resulting in the creation of the Shadow Blot.  Mickey then proceeds to fight it with a absurd amount of "magical" thinner believing it to be vanquished and takes off to avoid any subsequent trouble that might ensue.  
 
Many years later though, he's taken out of his element. Being "literally" dragged from his world  to the dark ominous world

known as Wasteland, Mickey must now atone for all the chaos he's caused in Wasteland and  is willing to do whatever to set things right. By subtle circumstance, Mickey begins packing a paint brush which can recreate objects in the world that have been distorted by thinner. He can also remove objects using his own splash of thinner. These two abilities are mixed with some standard platforming, exploration and puzzle-solving  all thrown in for good measure.
 

The Good

  The Aesthetically Spectacular Factor
 The ambiance that's been created in "Epic Mickey" really serves to immerse you in this truly stunning and dynamic setting. The idea of course is that it's all a twisted version of Disney World, complete with familiar rides and locations, but made up of a medley of randomness. It's almost like a post-apocalyptic, ( WoW Outland)/ Fallout-ish take on Disney World and each location has its own unique design and feel.

The more complex environments are paired with smaller, side-scrolling levels which happen to be directly inspired by Mickey's and also Oswald 's cartoon past. These, too, are craftsmen like in delivery and offer the "player" a charming glimpse at what cartoons used to be like in the heyday of Disney. You know? Filled with musical farm animals and archaic forms of transportation, that Oh yea! just happens to be sentient. 
 
The Sad, Heartwrenching Story behind Wasteland                                          

What you eventually come to learn is that Wasteland in fact is a home for all of the forgotten Disney characters throughout the years. Unfamiliar ones like Clarabelle Cow,  Gremlin Gus and Horace Horsecollar populate this world. The ruler of these "forgotten" toons, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, whom was created by Walt Disney before the "famous" Mouse, but was lost due to copyright issues after Disney subsequently left Universal(so this game is also surprisingly meta too). But the whole interweaving of the Oswald-Mickey dynamic in general is some of the most compelling stuff the game has to offer.   

The Not So Great

 The Janky Camera for instance, and Oh boy! Is it Janky                                        

  A well executed camera system in a game shouldn't ever be noticed in the slightest. It's definitely a seen and not heard type standard, however this game's camera system is heard and it's heard really loudly at that. The camera unfortunately needs to be constantly monitored, and you're often fighting with it to show you the desired angle you want. Also the camera I'm pretty is sentient and is a real jerk, from just locking up and breaking the gameplay and other times just making you utterly blind. So to play the game without the camera ruining it all the time, be prepared to stretch your thumb absurdly. Basically the game should warn you dexterity and patience required. Really though, it's just a utter train-wreck in the camera department.

Staleness and Repetition definitely don't make for a good combination

So when trying to make a good platformer (at least from what I've seen),  you often want to give the player some new ways to interact with the world to avoid anything becoming overly repetitive.  Other acclaimed platforms tend to offer things like new costumes, different versions of levels, or  a different objective all for the sake of keeping things fresh. Unfortunately "Epic Mickey's" entire range of gameplay is played out in the very beginning and you end up doing pretty much the same old  things often, of course aside from the change of pace of being sucked into "magic projectors" now and then. 
 

The "Character Progression"?                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

 What can I say? It's few and far between. I mean there's almost no character progression really. No new equipment, no new abilities, squat. At some very select points, you can decide to  increase your paint or thinner supplies, but that's it. By the end of the game, you feel a lot like you did at the beginning, and while looking back and seeing how it  only hindered  the much more competent story.
 

Is the player's Alignment even really a factor?

 I'm pretty sure someone promised me this feature and that it was at the "very" least going to be worthwhile in terms of  going through the game's entirety?Warren?  So while it is true that you're given the option to choose how to handle certain situations,  it essentially only turns out to be just that a choice with little to no impact in game aside from earning a few trinkets and some unique dialog sequences throughout, but that about wraps it up entirely.  It mostly can be accredited to in my opinion to the "heavily" linear aspects of the gameplay, to overall having very little room for player control in general on any given situation you may encounter. So by having just strictly an A or B decisions occur all the time, it definitely leaves things to being desired and subsequently falls flat. But really? I mean something that isn't even drastic enough to make you want to play through the game again, they probably could have just spent the time else where improve some other mechanics if they were going to implement this so second-rately .

The Verdict

" Disney Epic Mickey" is visually and fictionally creative, but in other aspects definitely lacks in execution. It sadly has so much going for it, but by lacking the proper execution to craft any sort of befitting "player experience " outside of what's delivered very effectively in the story it otherwise falls flat of being the potential "Mario Killer" it was once coined with being.  If you are a truly hardcore Disney fan, and you're willing to overlook the technical issues the game has, you'll really ended up probably enjoying it quite a bit. But on the other hand for just plain casual gamers and hardcore ones alike, that probably aren't overall invested in the fiction are probably better off picking up one of Nintendo's very competent platforms such as,  "Donkey Kong Country Returns" or the older " Super Mario Galaxy 2" rather then just running out and buying this game, instead think about at least renting it because really as a recent Wii owner myself I'm finding out you definitely can't be too picky.