Dear Internet,
I was
able to finish off the main story of "Epic Mickey 2" today. If I took the time to complete all the various
side-quests, I might be able to add another five hours on to the play time, but
I will stop playing here. The length of
the game does not surprise me. I knew
that it was shorter than the original by the average play times I have
seen. I did think it was going to last
me a bit longer since I was doing some of the side-quests as I was going along,
but I still finished the main game in 10 hours.
So, I will try to cover everything I can in this last post.
The
gameplay is very similar to the first game.
The paint/thinner mechanic returns, as well as the game's dual morality
system. The controls of course are a bit
different because I am using the Wii U gamepad this time. Instead of pointing the aiming cursor with a
remote, the cursor is controlled with the right control stick. This in turn also moves the game's camera,
which is helpful. Added to the control
scheme is the co-op move button which comes from the biggest change of the
game. Throughout the game, the player is
accompanied by Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.
Oswald can either be played by a second player who can jump in and out
of play seamlessly or the computer controls Oswald. Oswald is controlled with a Wii Remote and
Nunchuck and handles nearly exactly as Mickey did in the first game, short of a
few differences. He has a remote with
him that can shoot electricity or take control of electrical panels. On top of that, he can glide while falling so
he can jump farther than Mickey. Most of
this is moot if you are playing by yourself.
Oswald just becomes a little helper that follows you around. He is there mostly so that someone can jump
in and play at any time.
With this
in mind, I found myself sometimes frustrated with the rabbit because I would
get to a location and have to wait for him to get where I was or wait until the
game spawned him next to me. There are a
number of puzzles that require co-operation between Mickey and Oswald. What this usually means is that both characters
have to pull switches or spin gears at the same time. Think the dual key lock mechanisms you see in
war films before they launch the final big bomb. The AI handles it well enough when Oswald
finally catches up to the player. Other
than that, Oswald does help out in combat by stunning enemies, but I did not
find him all that helpful. The only
thing that did make him greatly helpful was that if the player uses up all
their health points and is not in a toxic pit Oswald can revive the player with
a limited amount of health points. This
is helpful because it prevents the player having to return to the last
checkpoint when dying. Oswald does need
to revive Mickey within a certain amount of time before the game automatically
makes the player return to the last checkpoint, so it is not a full-proof
method.
The game
obviously has a shorter main story as compared to the first one. It does however make up this with the fact
that there are many more side quests to do.
I do not think I even finished a quarter to a third of the quests. "Epic
Mickey 2" has got more things to collect and find than the original. It helps that after finishing the story, the
game does not start over like the first.
Instead, the player is able to wander around and finish the various
quests they had not completed. It trades
off re-playability for a singular long play.
However, this comes with a drawback.
The game for some reason feels smaller than the original. Maybe, it is because the levels feel smaller
than the first game's levels or because they can be played through and explored
quickly. It may be just my imagination, but many of the
game's levels can be visited once and be forgotten since the player can explore
them entirely and quickly.
I
should not make it seem that the game has no good qualities. It did make me laugh quite a number of times
and smile fondly at others. Take the Mad
Doctor for example. In nearly every one
of his appearances, he sings when he talks.
He talks as if the game was a musical, with full rhyme and tempo. It is such a stark contrast to everyone else
that it feels completely out of place, which makes it all that more funny. Then there is the Jimmy Stewart robotic tour
guide. Or how about the goofy way that
Oswald waddles around? Then there are the
good gameplay mechanics. There are
numerous ways that the player can get around the Wasteland provided that they
meet certain requirements. Train
stations, film reels, and balloons all make traveling easier if the player
spends a little amount of time to ease the annoyance. The game thankfully remembers which segments
are painted in or thinned out rather than resetting each time you re-enter the
area. The pause menu is much better than
the first game's, displaying much more information and having a more accurate
map. The environments are designed well
enough to make them fun to explore.
 |
| Who does not like Robo-Stewart? |
Overall,
I found the game to be enjoyable, but it had a lot it could improve upon. The biggest problem is of course its length
being so short, but it was an enjoyable two days. If you play this game with the mind of getting
through it as fast as you can, you will burn out and speed along pretty
quickly. You can try to spend as much
time exploring and looking for all the game's secrets, but I do not know if you
will feel compelled to spend time looking for obscure treasures. "Epic Mickey 2" is mediocre but it
is far from being a bad game. It is just
underwhelming with what is expected for a sequel from the first game.
Yours in digital,
BeepBoop
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