Entry 130: "Epic Mickey 2" Pt. 2 End

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

Entry 129: "Epic Mickey 2" Pt. 1

I am sure Disney can get their name in that title a few more times.

Dear Internet,

                It is time to tackle "Epic Mickey 2" after having finished the first one.  Unlike the original which was only developed for the Wii after having both a PS3 and Xbox 360 version being scrapped, the sequel was released for all major consoles.  Since the initial release of version on the Wii, Wii U, PS3, and Xbox 360, "Epic Mickey 2" has since been released on the Playstation Vita and just ported for the PC this month.  In fact, by sheer coincidence today is the day that "Epic Mickey 2" is being released exclusively on Nintendo consoles in Japan.  The version that I am playing for this review is one for the Wii U.  This means that I will have to address the gamepad control being used in the game at one point or another.

                The game follows pretty much right where the first game left off.  The denizens of the Wasteland have found peace through the eradication of the Shadow Blot.  Everything seems on the up and up until an earthquake rocks their peaceful lives.  During the confusion, the Mad Doctor appears and claims that he has turned over a new leaf.  He claims, through the power of song, that he wants to redeem himself for his misdeeds and wishes to help solve the riddle as to why earthquakes are occurring.  Oswald the Lucky Rabbit believes the Mad Doctor to be genuine while Gus the gremlin and Ortensia the cat do not believe his words.  Gus and Ortensia call for help to Mickey in hopes that he can come back to the Wasteland and aid the forgotten cartoons.  Mickey hears them and figures out a way to return to the Wasteland to help.  Together with Oswald at his side, the mouse sets off on an adventure to prevent the Wasteland from crumbling apart again.

                The game's world is vastly different from that of the original.  It is not because the game has only new locations.  Mean Street makes a reappearance, even if it is split into two parts.  The world was made from scratch.  The locations that repeat only resembles their earlier appearance in key similarities like location to one another or visual identifiers like shop signs.  What is most notable about how different the world is stems from the game's art direction.  In the first game, the tone was very dark and filled with doom.  I sometimes had difficulty navigating around because the game used so many dark colors and I had difficulty distinguishing where the ground stopped and the pit began.  In the sequel, there are colors galore.  I can easily distinguish one object from another.  But the differences go deeper than a palette swap or a higher screen resolution.

                "Epic Mickey 2" still retains a number of the disturbing elements from the first game, but it handles it differently from the first game.  The first game had the mountains of Disney and Mickey merchandise garbage towering away with rivers of thinner running through them.  The sequel does the same while using a broader array of colors to prevent it from delving too deeply into resembling a nightmare.  There are disembodied toy heads, but they retain their paint as if they were manufactured yesterday.  The effect is that the game is holding back some of the dismal themes in the first game.  This is not a bad thing, per say.  If you look hard enough, you can still see certain elements of the terrain that will make your skin crawl.  The game is thus more kid-friendly, but it makes up in other ways.

Still creepy, just now with more color.

                I am happy to see that the game has reworked inter-leveling traveling.  The 2D levels based on old cartoons are still there.  However, the player can take one of two different routes through each 2D level.  This means that the player can end up completely missing a collectable if they take the wrong route.  With how often the game will probably make the player re-travel through these levels, it makes for a more enjoyable experience since there are multiple ways of traveling.  On top of that are new 2D levels not based on old cartoons.  These are underground, highly explorable levels with many nooks and crannies filled with hidden collectables for the player to find.  Of course, the player can just made a dash straight through them, but they would end up missing a lot of helpful equipment and unique puzzles.  

                Another notable change is that the game is completely filled with voice acting.  Every character talks in this game.  On one hand, it feels refreshing because it allows the story to be better expressed.  On the other hand, even the side characters get voiced.  This would not be a problem if it were not for two specific things.  First, it makes going through menial dialog a chore, especially when you realize that the character has nothing useful to share.  Thankfully, the player can skip to the next line without having to wait for the first line to finish.  Second, the voice acting can be grating.  The actors that handle the main characters are skilled veterans.  The game uses the same actors that Disney employs for any of their most notable characters.  The side characters however feel like they are being handled by any collection of average Joe's from the street.  Some of the dialog is painfully slow and stretched out.  It is obvious that they are reading from a script or worse yet reading it for the first time.  Then there are the Gremlins, who all seem to have a collection of overly exaggerated foreign accents with no explanation as to why they are talking like that.  Some of these Gremlins are making their second appearance in this game, but they were never shown to have these foreign verbal mannerisms before.  These accents feel forced and unnecessary.  If it is done for comedic effect, it failed to make me laugh.

                I will start tomorrow speaking about the gameplay.

Yours in digital,

BeepBoop