Disney goodness

I have heard a lot of good about the Mickey Mouse games for Genesis, but never played them myself. I’m however somewhat of a Disney fan, especially when it comes to their classic characters like Mickey. And unless you are new to this blog you will know that I have a passion for 2D platformers. So I was excited to pick up my copy of Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion.

It turned out to be a slow methodical platformer, quite different from something like New Super Mario Bros. Something I found calming and almost meditative, perfect for playing while listening to an audio book. A mechanic where Mickey uses his magic paintbrush, and you the player uses your stylus, which includes a lot of erasing or tracing in various shapes contributes to the games relaxed if somewhat sluggish tempo. The game also has a lot of RPG-like elements, Mickey won’t level up but enemies drop money which can be spent to enhance Mickeys various abilities. Upgrades sold to you by none other than Scrooge McDuck, the one Disney character who can always be relied on to try and turn a profit, even when stuck in a magic castle. A design choice which in practice is not all that different from gaining experience points, which would cause the player to level-up, granting the same enhancements that are now purchased from our favorite Duckberg millionaire. The game also offers numerous side quests requiring extensive backtracking, the side quests are more or less optional, but a good idea if you are interested in all the before mentioned upgrades. These side quests mostly involve rescuing or doing favors for well-known Disney Characters, all of them involve some cute and silly dialog which can be considered pure fan service for us Disney fans.

So as I have hopefully made clear, this is not really your traditional platformer, instead it is a platformer which borrows heavily from other genres, but a platformer none the less, and quite a pleasant one.