There's a lot of positive things to say about what Warren Spector has done here with Epic Mickey. The art style is fantastic, making it one of the best-looking games on the Wii and proving once again that processing power isn't everything. The fan-service is immense with nods not just to Mickey himself but to a vast majority of Disney's contribution to animation in general. But while the overall style and fanservice is top notch, the game fails in a couple of key areas that seem like really obvious issues. Firstly, the voicework, or overall lack thereof. With the excpetion of the Narrator, no one really has a voice in Epic Mickey. Now, that is pretty standard for most Wii titles, but given the famous voices that should be involved here, it's pretty inexcusable that they don't talk.
Secondly, many times you are given at best a vague idea of where you are supposed to go or what you are supposed to do, and the system to help you out (little lights called guardians that can point to your next objective) works poorly at best.
But really the biggest issue is the camera. Now a bad camera is almost expected as even with all the advances in technology getting a really solid consistent camera in a 3D game is a near impossibility even in the best of the genre. But this has to be one of the worst cameras I have ever had to deal with, making many battles a guessing game and platforming sections a huge leap of faith for the most part. A camera this bad is pretty inexcusable on what is supposed to be a AAA title right up there with Nintendo's finest efforts.
So is it a bad game not worth your time? It depends. If you are a huge Mickey/Disney fan, it's probably worth it for the presentation and fanservice alone. It presents a ton of value through multiple playthroughs, and there are certainly enough times where everything clicks to show the game's full potential. However, I don't think there is enough here to make it worthwhile for people who are not Disney fans or animation buffs.
Moving on, if anything seemed like a giant cash grab at this point, it would be a Back to the Future title. There hasn't been a new movie in a long time and no attempt to re-make it yet (thank god), but the guys at Telltale games are not ones for quick cash grabs, making the highly amusing Sam & Max titles as well as the latest entries in the Monkey Island series and the Wallace & Gromit games. So when they are the ones making a Back to the Future title, you should know its worth checking out, which they have definitely confirmed with this awesome trailer for the game, due out in the next several weeks:
Supposedly they are also working on a Jurassic Park title, but I don't see nearly as much potential there.
That's pretty much it for today, but I should be back Tuesday with thoughts on Catyclysm, Inception and probably a few other things. In the meantime, here is your TRAILER OF THE WEEK: Your Highness
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