Initial thoughts on Epic Mickey and it’s twisted take on Disney’s world.
I generally see Disney games as nothing more than cheap lazy efforts to make mounds of cash. That’s not to say though that there haven’t been good Disney games, as House of illusion remains one of my favourite child-hood games, right up there with sonic. But Epic Mickey looks to have the potential to go further and create a truly exciting and original game. What intrigues me is the concept art which was released a little while ago, showing a somewhat dark and twisted side of Disney. The environments and characters look like a cross between something from Dead Space, Bioshock, Warhammer 40K and steam punk imagery in general. Overall, something very un-cudly and un-Disney. Check out more here + here.
The story sounds pretty dark too, with the game’s antagonist being the first character Walt Disney created (Oswald the rabbit) who seeks to blot the world of Disney with black ink. The protagonist will be Mickey mouse, sporting a new retro look apparently. Read more about the story from eurogamer.
I see one potential problem though, and it’s partially why I’ve held off finishing this post…
It’s a Wii exclusive (this was a rumour, but is now confirmed). This means less characters on screen, less detail, no HD and stupid remote waving actions. Although, I also can’t help but use the stereotype that the Wii is for kids and old(er) people, which means can it really be as dark and twisted as it could be? If Disney were just interested in making money (and they are), why would they create something which wouldn’t appeal to the vast majority of Wii owners. Wouldn’t it make more sense to create ‘Mickey and Donald at the Olympics’? One reason why it’s no doubt on the Wii is the key game play mechanic of painting of the black ink in the twisted world, which lends it’s self perfectly to hand gestures with the Wii remote.
After seeing all this gorgeous concept art i can’t help but hope that I’m wrong and that Epic Mickey turns out to be a brilliantly twisted game. But I just wish it was on the 360 + PS3…
Check out more twisted concept art below!
June 1st, 2010 at 11:32 pm
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