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Review - Epic Mickey
Jul. 8th, 2011 04:12 pmWith currently no other video games to play while I wait for Skyward Sword (thanks for not releasing Xenoblade, Nintendo of America...), I decided to try out Epic Mickey.
Oh boy, where do I start?
The ideas behind the game are amazing. The paint/thinner mechanic is really cool, and I love how the choices you make impact the game. For example, NPCs like you if you do good deeds, and some "good" quests make life easier later on. And I love Oswald! He's pretty awesome.
That being said...there are also a lot of flaws that, added together, make Epic Mickey a frustrating rather than enjoyable experience.
1) The color scheme. While I get that Wasteland is supposed to be a "dark" world, the fact that I can't see where I'm going sometimes is really, really frustrating for a platformer. I can't count the number of times I missed a jump because I had trouble seeing the ground/platform.
2) The camera is annoying. It would have been less annoying if I had the option to invert the camera axes, but there isn't any such option.
3) The 2D platforming stages outstay their welcome. Sure, they're okay the first time around, but going from Mean Street to Ventureland/OsTown/Bog Easy becomes a hassle when I have to replay the respective 2D stages to travel back and forth each time.
4) The various Beetleworx enemies are a pain. I like to think that I usually don't suck at combat in video games, but I have serious issues defeating these guys.
Oh boy, where do I start?
The ideas behind the game are amazing. The paint/thinner mechanic is really cool, and I love how the choices you make impact the game. For example, NPCs like you if you do good deeds, and some "good" quests make life easier later on. And I love Oswald! He's pretty awesome.
That being said...there are also a lot of flaws that, added together, make Epic Mickey a frustrating rather than enjoyable experience.
1) The color scheme. While I get that Wasteland is supposed to be a "dark" world, the fact that I can't see where I'm going sometimes is really, really frustrating for a platformer. I can't count the number of times I missed a jump because I had trouble seeing the ground/platform.
2) The camera is annoying. It would have been less annoying if I had the option to invert the camera axes, but there isn't any such option.
3) The 2D platforming stages outstay their welcome. Sure, they're okay the first time around, but going from Mean Street to Ventureland/OsTown/Bog Easy becomes a hassle when I have to replay the respective 2D stages to travel back and forth each time.
4) The various Beetleworx enemies are a pain. I like to think that I usually don't suck at combat in video games, but I have serious issues defeating these guys.
5) There are a few bizarre design choices, like the Mad Doctor boss. In order to continue the "good" path, which is what I'm following, I'm supposed to do some stuff with a TV and an anvil. The problem is...I ran out of anvils before I got to the boss. I could try to defeat the boss the "bad" way, as much as I'm not fond of the idea, but it requires killing Beetleworx--and, as I've just said, I have a ton of trouble defeating them.
6) I don't like how a lot of stuff is missable if you're not using a guide. I get that a lot of the areas are meant to be played through linearly, but the game shouldn't penalize completionist players by locking them out of the area once they're done. I mean, Zelda dungeons are also meant to be played through only once (apparently Skyward Sword is changing the formula, though), but you could also revisit the dungeons and temples to collect things you missed, like the Golden Skultulas in OoT.
Yeah...unfortunately Epic Mickey just gets too frustrating after a while. Now I'm back to twiddling my thumbs while waiting for Skyward Sword and cursing NoA for not bringing Xenoblade over.
On a totally unrelated note, I have my eye on Darksiders II, which looks pretty interesting. Usually I'm not a fan of beat-'em-ups, even if they've been stuck in a blender with Zelda gameplay, but the idea of a customizable fighting style is pretty intriguing. Also, it looks like it features a more fantasy-ish world than the Zombiepocalypse world of the first one. So yeah.
