Disney's Epic Mickey is one of those titles that has been anticipated for so long, it inevitably can't surpass it's own expectations. However through eyes willing to accept it for what it is, there is a fairly long and unique journey ahead.

First off, the game's appeal. Classic Mickey Mouse (1920's+) and a modern, dark atmosphere. The direction is as unique as it sounds and is a mesh of wonderful ideas. Epic Mickey is one of those cases where the conceptual artwork alone gathers immense amounts of interest. Mixing such wonderful visuals with both interesting gameplay and a consistent atmosphere is what brings a title like this to life. Epic Mickey is spot on in most areas, yet misses the boat in others.

We'll start with the story. Mickey Mouse finds himself in Yen Sid's workshop, a sorcerer who is creating a pen-and-paper world for 'things that have been forgotten.' When the sorcerer leaves his table, Mickey sneaks to take a look. He hears a noise and accidentally spills paint over the carefully crafted world and tries to resolve his problem by covering it up. In doing so he spills a jar of thinner, allowing a shadow blot to pass through who would later torture and destroy the inhabitants. This once lively world soon became a wasteland.

Later Mickey is dragged into the world he destroyed when a blot visits him through his magical mirror. In the wasteland Mickey meets with Oswald, a rabbit whom Mickey Mouse stole his fame from. Oswald was victim to the thinner disaster, along with his love and friends. His hatred for Mickey assisted him in coming up with the idea to capture Mickey's heart. It is up to the player to gain Oswald's trust and put the blot to rest, thus restoring the wasteland to it's former glory.

Players take control of Mickey Mouse, equipped with a brush, paint and thinner. Basic platforming controls and moves are in place, such as a double jump and spin attack. Aiming with the Wiimote, Mickey can paint or thin selected locations or enemies. Thinning an enemy will lay it to rest, while painting it creates a friendship. Based on how the player eliminates bigger enemies, the tube for either the paint or thinner will fill. Enemies can only be neutralized with paint, as spin attacking or jumping on their heads will only daze them. The only other option is knocking them off of an area, which is the most timely solution. Painting an area restores it, thus putting the town back together. It is good practice however to thin first, as there are a ton of sections both in walls and even underground. Once this practice becomes second nature, there is a lot of exploring to do. There are multiple paths and many hidden treasures in the form of collectible pins, artwork, movies, secret quest items and even power ups.

The gameplay at it's core is basic and even a hair outdated as far as platformer mechanics go, though the paint and thin options make for some interesting alternatives in battle and exploration. The camera however is not so interesting, considering there is no lock on button and it struggles to keep up. While annoying, it never prevented me from clearing an area or conquering a battle, so I'd mark it as more of an annoyance than game breaking.

Epic Mickey is unique in that it meshes many genres together. Overall it feels like a platforming adventure title with RPG elements thrown into the mix. It offers unique pacing and a ton of creative areas to explore. How players explore these areas is entirely up to their use of paint and thinner, which offers a unique outlook on something that is otherwise traditional. The game does suffer from an overly used "chore system" in which you are constantly doing minuscule tasks. Sometimes these become repetitive and override the focal point of exploring, thus making forward progression continue at a snails pace. Fixing and cleaning up a world that Mickey has ruined does make perfect sense, though the pacing could have been spread out better. Rarely the game can start to feel repetitive and even generic, but in continuing something much bigger and better always comes out prevalent. In the end the interesting aspects of the gameplay and design outshine the blemishes, though you wish such things didn't exist in an otherwise enjoyable package.

The world is average in size and filled with iconic areas, theme parks, movie references and designs. Though there are occasional uninspiring blot-filled areas, the sweeter of the bunch offer both motivation and satisfaction for continuing forward. Areas like Mickey Junk Mountain make the journey worth it. Picture climbing a mountain filled with forgotten Mickey Mouse memorabilia, such as classic lunch boxes, toys and appliances. There are also towns. Though not huge in size, they offer communities, shops and other areas to explore. There are four in total, all unique in their own way. Mean Street is a dark town with basic amenities. OsTown is a colorful neighborhood in which many of the games heroes live. Ventureland has a tropical vibe and a community made up of Pirates. Lastly Bog Easy stands before a haunted manor, inhabited by both frightened villagers and ghosts who love to prey on their fear. All of the towns have a good amount of NPC's, all ready to hand Mickey side quests in the fashion of a traditional RPG. E-Tickets, the games currency, can be spent in shops located across these areas.

To travel in-between towns and other areas, Mickey uses old film reels. These are some of the more interesting sections of the game, though are extremely short. The reels are made up of 2D side scrolling gameplay without paint or thinner mechanics. Each stage has an optional collectible film to obtain, along with a start and end point. The themes are from classic films such as Steam Boat Willy, Sleeping Beauty and Fantasia. Sadly these sections can not be accessed post game or at any other time, so players will need to play through the game in it's entirety to enjoy them again. Popular warp points, such as towns, reuse a single film every visit. Yet some of the more interesting films are only viewable once, such as the reels towards the end of the game. Overall they offer a nice change of pace and a break from the depressing, destroyed world of the wasteland.

The games visuals are solid and further backed up by a beautiful art direction. The cut scenes are presented in a movie-like manner and are re-watchable at any time via the extras menu. A mixture between classic Disney style and a new, dark art direction lead to some beautiful viewing material. The game isn't exactly consistent in delivering this style through out, though does a wonderful job most of the time. Remixed music and sound effects aid the movie reel stages faithfully, though the rest of the areas have a somewhat generic score.

Overall, Epic Mickey delivers where it counts and falls short only in areas that can easily be overlooked. Though the original conceptual design may have shown something bigger, the world came together with as much creativity and care one could anticipate. The mesh of classic Disney and a dark and dirty atmosphere makes for some of the most interesting set pieces in gaming history.

GameSpot User Review (It's been forever since I've posted something there...)

Although i'm not a major fan of Mickey Mouse, this sounds like a game I might buy if only i had a Wii.

I was looking forward to this game for a long time. Now it's getting extremly mixed reviews, and I'm not sure what it's going to be like. I'm still going to pick up a copy and hope that as you said Yama the good outshines the bad.