BinaryMessiah Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed Review

Disney has a long and dark history with video game studios and the entire industry in general. Many developers and studios want more creative freedom with the property, and Disney constantly holds their hand and shoots down great ideas. Warren Specter, the creator of Deus Ex and the infamous flop Tabula Rasa, aimed to explore a new genre of games and create a dark Disney fantasy game. However, the Wii version he produced was a disjointed mess. The game's ambition exceeded the capabilities of the console it was designed for, yet its release came too late for the company. Disney wasn't pleased with the poor sales of the game and weak reception. The biggest issue that Epic Mickey faced was the terrible camera, and this game needs constant camera work to play correctly. Epic Mickey is a strange game still. It takes some time to fully understand the game. It doesn't play like a typical platformer and aims to be something else. I wanted to immediately explore, collect, and paint, but the game doesn't let you do much of this early on. The game takes place in the Fantasia universe of Mickey, where he serves as The Apprentice to the Sorcerer. The Sorcerer created a world, and Mickey got curious one night and dumped a bunch of thinner inside and went and hid. As time passed, the consequences eventually caught up with him, and now Mickey finds himself inside this world, armed with the magic paintbrush. There's a light and dark theme that has you using Paint or Thin enemies and bosses to get a different ending. When you defeat each boss, this will also determine which side receives more tank upgrades. Once you get past the prologue, the game opens up a tiny bit. There is a main hub town that requires Sparks to open new portals to one of the five worlds. Players can find Sparks in the world or through the completion of both side and main quests. This is where the game gets a little frustrating, as side quests are missable. Each world features a primary hub area, but once you complete that world, you can no longer access the subsequent areas. I found it annoying not knowing that part of a quest was here, and once I finished, I was told the quest can no longer be completed. Most quests are tedious fetch quests, and obtaining a Platinum trophy doesn't necessitate collecting every item. I found this very odd as well, as it feels there's no point to 100% the game. You only need to finish maybe 70% of the side content to get every achievement or trophy. Navigating through the cramped levels feels strange. Areas with outlines require painting, and areas with brighter and vivid colors can be thinned. To create platforms, locate hidden chests containing pins, and navigate the area, you must undertake this task. Certain side quests require painting specific objects, a fun but underutilized mechanic. Early on in the game, I didn't use the brush all that much. Many things appeared to require painting, yet there was no justification for it. I noticed numerous buildings and objects with missing parts, but where was the enjoyable "Paint everything for a special item" quest? Maybe for a cool outfit? Due to its sparseness and the ability to avoid most enemies, combat is incredibly easy in this game. Depending on the ending you want, you can paint enemies to make them fight for you or thin enemies to make them disappear. If you paint enough, you can send sprites out to "possess" enemies to fight for you, but I never used this feature. The game solely presents challenges in the form of boss fights and animatronics, which necessitate thinning before a physical attack. You can save caged Gremlins to simplify certain aspects of the game, like stopping enemy generators, but the game's simplicity makes this unnecessary. I found most of the enemies to be annoying and a hindrance to platforming, especially since many would respawn later. Another puzzling gameplay element were the E-Tickets. These were completely useless. Every so often someone will offer to make something easier to allow you to purchase a spark or something similar for e-tickets. You can purchase items from shops like hearts, tanks, and permanent upgrades, but the availability of these items is limited. Most of the E-Tickets are for concept art, and I always had more E-Tickets than I could ever want. They are scattered throughout the game and have the ability to reappear. At the start of the game, I devoted a significant amount of time to collecting every single one in sight, only to discover that they would reappear upon my return or even upon my death. I would have liked to spend more tickets on outfits or customization options like paint color or brush type. For the most part, Mickey's momentum and physics feel good. He's a bit floaty, especially in the 2D levels, but it works. Mickey can do a jump and slam move, a spin move, and a triple jump. The more advanced platforming sections present the biggest challenge in the game, but they also offer the most enjoyment. You can complete the 2D levels, which are transition levels, in around 30 seconds. Each level features concept art and two film reels. You use these to unlock items at the cinema, with approximately 64 available throughout the entire game. However, you only need half of these for the achievement, and permanent upgrades aren't really necessary. Halfway through the game, you receive various items such as a TV to distract enemies, a clock to slow down time, and an anvil to crush enemies, among others. I never used these except on rare occasions, as combat is mostly avoidable. With the exception of a few puzzles and boss fights, I rarely used these. The visuals are fantastic, with some of the darkest for a Disney title to date. There are numerous melancholic landscapes in black and white, blending dark hues with sporadic bursts of brightness. Everything appears perilous and gloomy, yet it maintains a striking beauty. Unfortunately, most of the game's content is forgotten much like its characters. Platforming takes precedence over combat, painting, and a cohesive level design. Only boss fights and a few puzzles provide occasional challenges. Navigating levels is a bit of a nightmare due to their haphazard design and layout. Purple Lamp did a great job fixing what they had to work with from the original game, but it needs more, and I doubt we will ever get it. The story isn't even enough to bring the game up a notch or two, as it's elementary and childish, which is in stark contrast to the tone of the entire game. It feels like a Saturday morning cartoon story that would put a toddler to sleep, which is a crying shame. Overall, it's well worth a playthrough for platformer and Disney fans. If you hated the original, this might just be enough to change your mind.