Epic Mickey is living up to its name.
Epic Mickey’s initial concept art blew minds.
I originally dismissed them the first time I saw them, because there’s no way Disney would allow a mechanical Country Bear scorpion killing machine to be seen in a finished product, right? Then the first real in-game screenshots of the game said came out, and answered that question with “pretty much.”
Neon colors looked a lot more family friendly than the dark and morbid pictures that caused the hype for the game in the first place. Just when I had chalked the game up to being another example of concept art being cooler than the finished product, E3 unveiled Epic Mickey’s true face.
Now I am a believer. Epic Mickey blew me away at E3.
The demo of the game started in a relatively small area, but what immediately struck me was the lack of squeaky clean modern Disney feel. The skipper from Peter Pan was in the middle of the map crying. Pirates were standing around and looking grumpy, and the level was really dark. I played around with the painting and erasing of objects and characters and did a bit of exploring before jumping into the Steamboat Willie side scroll level, which act in this game as go-betweens the main maps.
I was pleasantly surprised by the demo’s tone and the way it allowed me to play morality in setting where I wasn’t expecting it. The highly anticipated Game Informer cover story of Epic Mickey had shown a very different build, one that strayed far away from the morbid concept art and closer to your typical child’s licensed game. Epic Mickey wasn’t that. It was a whole different beast.
Coming back from the convention we bumped into one of the game’s animators (whose name I forgot to wrote down). He explained that the hype murdering screenshots from a few months ago were from a build of the game without proper lighting and texturing. If you see the visuals now, you’ll notice that the lighting is eerie. It looked and felt like Disney World after closing time. The tone felt even darker than Disney’s previous “what the fuck” game, Kingdom Hearts. That’s saying a lot considering the game’s enemies were called “Heartless” and “Nobodies.” While Kingdom Hearts plays with dark themes, Epic Mickey goes about it in a very subtle fashion.
On the surface everything is happy-go-lucky, but you can be morally bad; erasing parts of the game world and pulling pranks on the world’s citizens. It’s a throwback to the old school Mickey who would grab a cows’ udders and play them like a ukelele for no apparent reason. He’s been watered down over the years to a universally appeasing character, so the mischief adds a certain charm to the character that’s been missing for a while. The game appears to be putting Mickey down his old self’s path. Mickey might be an immature little prick sometimes, but in the end, he always comes through.
I don’t see this game getting worse than a E10 rating. As eerie as it is there’s nothing in it that to you can point out and put on the little white box next to the rating. Playing it invokes the same kind of childhood mix of fear and wonder that come with all things classic Disney. There’s areas you can walk into where the background is flat and painted like old Disney animation, and there’s something strangely off-putting about it. Is it the dark colors or is perhaps the way the music drops when you enter a room? It all creates a mystical atmosphere that’s missing from both movies and games these days, and it’s the kind of stuff that’s timeless and appeals to both adults and kids.
I doubt it’s gonna match the overall “fucked up” quality that intrigued so many in the first place, but I think Disney Interactive has found a median that gets the same point across in a way that’s more accessible. If this game continues at it’s current rate it could be enjoyed by kids and adults equally, with all the Disney traits of magic and fear and mystery that I think Walt would approve of.
It’s nice being able to say that about Disney stuff again.
***Remember the time: Jaleel’s workin day and night to bring you the off the wall Combo Breaker every Friday. It would be dangerous to miss out this time around. You’ve got to be there.***
About the Author
Jaleel is an editor on The DamnLag and author of "Combo Breaker". A video game journalist since 2004, he's had to churn out every cliche article imaginable. Combo Breaker is his initiative to inject real, investigative journalism into the industry. Just don't ever tell him he's wrong (he probably wouldn't believe you anyway).
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