Oh Epic Mickey. What a strange (up and down) journey you have been.
This will probably be a long ass post, just summing up what I thought/felt about this game.
When I first saw the leaked early concept art, my hype went through the roof. I was absolutely smitten with the idea of a dark, twisted steam punk mickey mouse game. Everything about the art looked so damn awesome and unbelievable.
Well as everyone knows as soon as we got the first GI issue reveal, I along with countless others were pretty let down. But I hoped that it was still very early and by the next time it came around it would be better. The next time I saw it (the build with the ink dripping off of mickey) I was hyped again. The game looked great, although it still didn't (and would never) live up to the original concept art (yeah yeah I know concept art is just that - concepts). As the months went on I remained very excited about Epic Mickey and the twisted worlds and forgotten characters it would hold. Then the reviews and impressions started coming in.
I couldn't believe what I was reading. People were saying it was uncontrollable, terrible, clumsy, unpolished mess of a game. People weren't finishing it even and above all else people weren't having fun. Some people said it was a love it or hate it game, some reviews were mixed but overall my hype plummeted again. I figured eh what the hell, I've made it this far, maybe with my super lowered expectations it will blow me away or something.
Cue to me putting the disk in and starting to play. OMG what a slow intro. URRRGHH this is a horrible 2 hour tutorial! Jesus get me out of this castle ect. ect. It seemed like everyone was right. I was just hoping around in one of the its a small world places, no clue what I was doing, or where I was going/supposed to do, the whole first couple hours of the game was a complete mess.
By the time I FINALLY got to mean street I had already encountered what I thought to be several HORRIBLE design decisions. Wait...I can't go BACK through the projectors? I was just exploring why am I punished and failing missions or w/e because I was curious what was behind that wall?
So Mean Street starts to feel finally more like a game. Shops, quests ect. Okay So I talk to a bunch of (almost identical) NPC's, make it to Ostown, and climb up Mickey Junk. Okay so its a little bit better, but I'm still getting frustrated at it, but it was starting to feel a bit like Banjo-Kazooie which I loved so I hung with it.
After I get a million more boring bullshit fetch quests for flowers and ice cream and all sorts of cliche horrible back and forth mind numbing journeys I eventually make it to what was, for me the lowest point in the game - Tomorrow land or world or whatever.
I couldn't believe that all the promise this game had and I'm stuck playing one of the most by the numbers C-list video games ever. I was ready to give up, I hated Tomorrow land that much. It was just every crappy decision the game made up to that point finally hit me and I was so disappointed. At this point I just realized that no matter what, this game couldn't possibly be even a 1/4 of the game I was hoping it could be. There was no way when all was said and done that it could possibly get higher than a 2 out of 5 on my scale. BUT I trudged on.
Then just when I finally was ready to give up, I hit the jungle/venture land and the game just CLICKS. I am starting to have fun. From then on the game becomes much more fun and much less of a chore. Sure there are bits and pieces that are still janky, but I finally accept it for what it is, and better yet, the game just began to gel.
When I finally get to the end game I finally see the "EPIC" in epic mickey come out. Man that was BAD ASS! Such an enjoyable way to finish off one hell of a roller coaster of a game.
The good:
+Honestly, I think this game would have gotten a and extra 2/2.5 points (out of 5) from me JUST for the concept, the art (OMG THE ART) the atmosphere and the absouletly charming story and the locales. I LOVE unlocking and looking through the art. It's just THAT good.
+The soundtrack (I'm still humming that main theme)
+The retro/forgotten characters/worlds ect.
+The Last few EPIC hours
+The painting/thinning mechanic when done right can be awesome
+The potential. Seriously if there is any game that could improve and become A+ level with a sequel its this game.
The Bad:
-The first 35% of the game is a total chore and a absolute drag. It ends up getting better, so I'm glad I stuck with it, but my god what a awful beginning.
-The transition levels. Yes they are cute the first time you go through them but OH MY GOD if I have to do ventureland or Ostown's transition level ever again I am going to pull my hair out.
-All the STUPID fetch quests. I understand you like zelda games Mr. Spector, but holy shit comon. Find a different way to pad your game, or at least make the quests more interesting. Or at least reward me with something more than "glowing spark thing you already have an overabundance of"
-Combat is an absolute CHORE. It was fun to paint my enemies once or twice, after that I just spin jumped them into thinner/a pit or ran by them. Dont even get me started on how annoying the beetleworx were..
-The fact that what you paint/thin isn't persistent. Did you thin all of mean street? Well it dosnt matter, it'll be back to normal next time you jump through the projector!
-The fact that you cant return to some areas/fail quests/miss items for being curious. For a game thats all about creativity and curiosity, they sure have a funny way of rewarding you. "Oh hey you found a door! To bad if you were in the middle of something, we are forcing you to move forward without letting finish anything or have a chance to go back!" I HATE when games don't let you experience everything because they force you to move on. HORRIBLE
-The autosave. Seriously? Yeah sure auto save thats fine thank you, but let me manually save too! I messed up and accidentally thinned the boss when I wanted to paint...lemme just retry and do it the way I want to-NOPE AUTO SAVE NO REDO ENJOY. Dumb.
-I applaud the painting/thinning mechanic for what it is, but I needs to be used in much better ways/more to paint/thin
-The general lack of polish. Seriously? It feels as though this game has been in development forever, by a man with a excellent (so I hear, never played his games) history of amazing games, and probably limitless resources and they pump out relatively mediocre platforming, spotty controls and a shoddy camera? ...the fuck?
-The recycling of NCP's. Seriously? You get unprecedented access into the vaults of Disney history seeing things most people will never have/have had a chance to see and the best you come up with to populate your "world of forgotten characters" is a sepia toned cow, horse and dog?....WHAT THE HELL. I was explaining the game to my parents (the fact that it takes place in a world of forgotten characters) and they set an old book about donald ducks history or something and in the back there was a list of OLD ass cartoon characters I have never even heard of. They told me to look it over and see if any of those faces popped up. But none did. Instead it was just sepia toned dog again. Spector said they made so many of the characters so similar because it was supposed to be a funny sorta joke (all the same/repeat characters were each from a different frame/cel of the cartoon) but they admitted it turned out to not be as clever as they hoped and came across as repetitious. Go figure.
The Bottom Line
Overall I ended up enjoying Epic Mickey, but it was a roller coaster of hate and then enjoyment for most of it. There was no way it was ever going to live up to the original leaked concept art, but for something that seemed like it was in the cooking pot for so long and the way Spector seemed to pour his heart out about it and into it, It seems to have missed the mark due mostly to poor design and a seemingly rushed product. Technically it misses the mark in a few different spots. But for for art, the story, the atmosphere, the concept and the creativity, Epic Mickey really is unmatched.
This game BEGS for a sequel. One that has enough time to correct all the flaws and turn it into the franchise it can be.
I guess I would have to give it a 3/3.5 out of 5
/rant
