Epic Mickey - a twisted/steampunk take on Disney coming to Wii
- Thread starter CommodoreKong
- Start date
@Owain Taggart. I played the Need for Speed: HP demo on the PS3 and thought it was really cool. I'm just not sure about the Wii verison though. I haven't heard anything good or bad about it for Wii, so I'm just basing this on past experiance with EA titles and with other multiplatform games. The Wii usually gets the worst verison with multiplatform games. That said, some of the exclusives its gotten, like Goldeneye, have been awesome. And hopefully Epic Mickey will be the same. OF course, I could be totally wrong and the Need for Speed for the Wii could be cool. Maybe someone will put up a review of it soon...
@Aragorn. Awesome!
Btw, if anyone is interested, Epic Mickey has a facebook page and they've been posting trailers, pictures, etc there. The page is: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/DisneyEpicMickey
@Aragorn. Awesome!
Btw, if anyone is interested, Epic Mickey has a facebook page and they've been posting trailers, pictures, etc there. The page is: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/DisneyEpicMickey
Yeah, I realize that. I actually have NFS Carbon for the Wii, and you know what? I love how it controls using the wiimote and nunchuk. I have it set so that the wiimote is my gas, and it tends to be very accurate, and I find I have quite a degree of control that I haven't seen anywhere else, even on other versions on other consoles. I actually found the drifting super easy using this control method. So, I'm hoping the controls are similar. The Wii is another platform sorely in need of good racing games. There are loads out there that are just crappy. Goldeneye is another good one I've been thinking about getting though. So many choices. I have to leave ideas for Christmas
Yeah, I realize that. I actually have NFS Carbon for the Wii, and you know what? I love how it controls using the wiimote and nunchuk. I have it set so that the wiimote is my gas, and it tends to be very accurate, and I find I have quite a degree of control that I haven't seen anywhere else, even on other versions on other consoles. I actually found the drifting super easy using this control method. So, I'm hoping the controls are similar. The Wii is another platform sorely in need of good racing games. There are loads out there that are just crappy. Goldeneye is another good one I've been thinking about getting though. So many choices. I have to leave ideas for Christmas
Cool. I'll have to try Carbon one of these days. I agree there are not too many good racing games on the Wii. I did like Mario Kart Wii, but thats not a regular racing game.
Goldeneye ie excellent. Though I did not care for the Wii remote controls on it. The Gamecube controller works so well on it. I bet the Classic controller does too!
I agree. Lots of great choices on the Wii. Especially this holiday season. This is the best season for the Wii so far. Lots of great games coming out. And next year: a new Zelda!
But anyway, I'm getting Epic Mickey for Christmas. Someone else in the family is getting Donkey Kong Country Returns for Christmas.
I haven't even finished Twilight Princess yet and they're coming out with a new one soon? I've seen some of the previews for it, and I'm not totally convinced on the new control method. Some of it seems very distracting when you have to be accurate in how you swing. Seems like I would find it very frustrating. So, I hope they have a Twilight Princess style control system for those who don't want to be intimidated by having to be accurate. That's a downside to me.
I like the fact that Goldeneye has a classic controller bundled with it in one of the packages. They made a good move with that one.
I like the fact that Goldeneye has a classic controller bundled with it in one of the packages. They made a good move with that one.
True, but I only just got it last year. I think you might also be counting the time it was on the Gamecube before the Wii.
So has anyone picked up the game? I would be interested a review from you guys, I trust your opinions. I'll probably be getting a copy for Christmas and I'm wondering what to expect.
There's a few reviews up for the game on Metacritic. The professional reviews are very positive, but the reader reviews are a bit more mixed.
http://www.metacritic.com/game/wii/disney-epic-mickey
http://www.metacritic.com/game/wii/disney-epic-mickey
The big complaint seems to be that the camera controls are pretty terrible... and that it assumes kids are playing the game.
Yeah so far that and the first hour or two is a very boring tutorial (once you get to Mean Street the game really picks up) are the only two problems I have so far. It also feels a bit more like an N64 platformer then a modern platformer which some people may not like but I don't mind.
I am severely disappointed with the visual look of the game. When I first saw the concept art for the game I was hyped. But now it just looks like every other disney game. sigh
It's a very good game. The complaints about its camera are overstated - the style of camera it uses employs automated splines to swing the camera to certain positions in areas to give a specific view in an attempt at clarity; rather than just following Mickey from behind his back. There are moments when the camera goes too far or lags behind, but it's really not bad.
Also, I am not sure I'd agree it's "for kids". The tone of the story is actually rather neutral and has some good humor to it. The in-game story scenes are actually some very nice, highly stylized 2D animation that doesn't pander to kids with an overly cute presentation. It harks back to classic animation styles such as Max Flescher's work. There /are/ probably a few too many tutorial reminders early on and the beginning of the game is slow. However it is a very long game with a lot of content. There is a whole lot of game to go once the training wheels are off.
The visuals are some of the best stuff on the Wii hands down. Some folks are real let down that it doesn't use the dark steampunk style of early concept art. But there are many areas and several styles of art. Some areas are dark and gritty, and some are creepy and dilapidated. It runs at 30 frames per second and there's a bit of stutter here and there, but it never really slows down much or for more than a second. There are a lot of lighting and visual effects, and very nice painted-art style shaders on Mickey and other characters.
The character animation is very high grade. Rubbery, fluid, cinematic. What makes the whole game a lot of fun is that they nailed movement on Mickey; he is super smooth, responsive, especially his jumping and double jumping. His animations give him an excellent sense of weight and reaction to the environment. The painting effect is very nice and fluid and gloppy.
There are more platforming sequences than it may look like from some screen shots, and the paint mechanic is worked into many of them. Early on for example, you've got to deal with freezing rotating platforms by dissolving their gears or by restoring them at the right time. The painting and dissolving concept is simple, but it gives a feeling that you are doing things to the game world rather than merely wandering through it. It feels like Mickey's actions matter.
The story to the game is really very good, but more to the point, it's intriguing. The whole business with Oswald the Rabbit, the lost Disney character, is handled with surprising depth further into the game and it is clear Oswald is a co-star with equal weight to Mickey.
The decision-making concept in the game factors more into replayability and variety more than dramatically huge differences in the plot. A nice touch IMHO is that the many (MANY) quests you can take on for characters in the game world can be failed permanently; in my view, this encourages replay down through the months or years, to try and make that "perfect game" where you don't let anyone down.
Finally, the composition of the music is very high quality and makes excellent use of the Disney library of musical cues the developers were given access too.
For my money, it's one of the richest games on the Wii; it is not an innovative platforming tour-de-force like Super Mario Galaxy. It relies on older, bread and butter concepts that remain solid but are executed with some depth. It comes across to me as a comfort food game; not particularly innovative in most areas, but executed at a high level of quality and having no rough edges. It's also a style of platformer that we ironically haven't seen a lot of in recent years. It reminds me of games like Banjo Kazooie on the N64 (just a lot better) or Rayman 2 on the Dreamcast, if anyone remembers that.
Also, I am not sure I'd agree it's "for kids". The tone of the story is actually rather neutral and has some good humor to it. The in-game story scenes are actually some very nice, highly stylized 2D animation that doesn't pander to kids with an overly cute presentation. It harks back to classic animation styles such as Max Flescher's work. There /are/ probably a few too many tutorial reminders early on and the beginning of the game is slow. However it is a very long game with a lot of content. There is a whole lot of game to go once the training wheels are off.
The visuals are some of the best stuff on the Wii hands down. Some folks are real let down that it doesn't use the dark steampunk style of early concept art. But there are many areas and several styles of art. Some areas are dark and gritty, and some are creepy and dilapidated. It runs at 30 frames per second and there's a bit of stutter here and there, but it never really slows down much or for more than a second. There are a lot of lighting and visual effects, and very nice painted-art style shaders on Mickey and other characters.
The character animation is very high grade. Rubbery, fluid, cinematic. What makes the whole game a lot of fun is that they nailed movement on Mickey; he is super smooth, responsive, especially his jumping and double jumping. His animations give him an excellent sense of weight and reaction to the environment. The painting effect is very nice and fluid and gloppy.
There are more platforming sequences than it may look like from some screen shots, and the paint mechanic is worked into many of them. Early on for example, you've got to deal with freezing rotating platforms by dissolving their gears or by restoring them at the right time. The painting and dissolving concept is simple, but it gives a feeling that you are doing things to the game world rather than merely wandering through it. It feels like Mickey's actions matter.
The story to the game is really very good, but more to the point, it's intriguing. The whole business with Oswald the Rabbit, the lost Disney character, is handled with surprising depth further into the game and it is clear Oswald is a co-star with equal weight to Mickey.
The decision-making concept in the game factors more into replayability and variety more than dramatically huge differences in the plot. A nice touch IMHO is that the many (MANY) quests you can take on for characters in the game world can be failed permanently; in my view, this encourages replay down through the months or years, to try and make that "perfect game" where you don't let anyone down.
Finally, the composition of the music is very high quality and makes excellent use of the Disney library of musical cues the developers were given access too.
For my money, it's one of the richest games on the Wii; it is not an innovative platforming tour-de-force like Super Mario Galaxy. It relies on older, bread and butter concepts that remain solid but are executed with some depth. It comes across to me as a comfort food game; not particularly innovative in most areas, but executed at a high level of quality and having no rough edges. It's also a style of platformer that we ironically haven't seen a lot of in recent years. It reminds me of games like Banjo Kazooie on the N64 (just a lot better) or Rayman 2 on the Dreamcast, if anyone remembers that.