Now as someone who has played a lot of Disney games (mainly the movie licensed ones with the occasional non licensed one that for the most part are just OK), I wasn't expecting much to come out of this franchise to begin with, ever since the first game came out a few years ago because there hasn't been a solid Disney game that can top the likes of Kingdom Hearts (and what I say there is the honest truth). But having played the games (or rather 2 of them at least), they are actually quite good. Not the greatest, just good. But I've gone on for too long, so let's get into this series of games:
Epic Mickey
The game begins with a nostalgic Mickey entering Yen Sid's workshop through a mirror in his house and comes across a world that the great wizard himself, created. There, he finds a magic paintbrush and having fiddled with it for far too long, he causes a creature known as the Shadow Blot (who will be a familiar character to those of you who watched the original short films in Disney's golden age as it were) to enter this world and slowly destroys it with thinner (which is something that is used to erase paint from any object in sight. Mickey then heads back home before Yen Sid can catch him. Many years then pass, and it isn't long before the Blot decides to abduct Mickey into the destroyed and forgotten world that Yen Sid created which is now called the Wasteland. From there, its up to Mickey to free this world from the Blot and his partner in crime, the Mad Doctor who both want Mickey's heart so that they can enter the real world to cause total destruction. But in the process, Mickey must also come face to face with a forgotten Disney character by the name Oswald. The game is a platform game which has the overused mechanic of allowing the player to alter how the game is played, based on the decisions that he/she makes in the game which is formed as a morality system which is used well here and can grant the player with different items, abilities and the chance to avoid certain events in the game (apart from the big ones of course). With the paintbrush, Mickey can use a combination of both paint and thinner to solve puzzles and to help him defeat his enemies. He can also make stuff appear from sketches which has some side effects that will really help him out later on. As with most games, the game has in-game credits that come in the form of E-Tickets which as you'll expect, will allow the player to buy stuff that will help in completing quests and anything else that comes to mind. Final thing before I give my overall opinion on the game, between levels, Mickey enters a projector which goes into a 2D reel of one of the many early short films made by Disney which goes into the form of a 2D side scroller which Mickey must use to get to the projector in order to enter the world he wants to go to. Overall, this is a great game with some great potential and is one that gamers young and old, will love, especially with it paying tribute to the early works of Disney. Only criticisms that I have, are that the camera doesn't work as well as it should, there's very limited voice acting in the game and its some what similar to Super Mario Sunshine but is more darker than that game, which makes it stand out. Otherwise, its a great game nevertheless. 9/10
Power of Two
Many years have passed since the events of the first game and the Mad Doctor has resurfaced and has apparently, changed his ways and wants to help restore Wasteland and to defend it from a violent species known as the Blotworx who is on it's way to attack Wasteland. A distress call is then sent to Mickey in the real (or rather cartoon) world, which he responds to by picking up his brush and venturing into the world once more. He teams up with Oswald and a few other friends, as he helps repair Wasteland from constant earthquakes, while also investigating the Mad Doctor. The game has the same gameplay and mechanics as before, but it now throws Oswald into the mix, to have the game, be more co-operative than before. Oswald can produce electricity which he can use on his enemies to give Mickey a chance to defeat them, as well as for solving puzzles as well, which goes alongside Mickey and his abilities from before. Overall, the game is less action packed than before with a shorter story and less of a villain to deal with. One thing I have noticed, is that there is more voice acting this time, which is a great addition to the game as well as some musical numbers which as any Disney fan would know, a Disney project like this cannot be complete without it. The criticism I have is that not many of the issues from before are fixed and it doesn't really add anything new to the table and is not the greatest of sequels that I have come across, but it's still good (you will however, need to do the majority of the game with 2 players because even the simplest of tasks for an AI character, cannot be done correctly. 7/10
Power of Illusion (Footage Review)
Not much to say about this, other than it's a direct sequel to EM2 where Mickey is forced to return to Wasteland again to go inside a castle which has somehow appeared and has to rescue Minnie from the many illusions that await inside (the majority of which is apparently based on various Disney films like Aladdin, Peter Pan, Little Mermaid and the Lion King). As I haven't played it, it's doesn't look like a very good game based on what I've seen in terms of graphics and its also very short too. Despite that I haven't played it, it's not the best of the series so far. 7/10
So overall, the games are great in their own way and pays tribute to the many Disney short films out there, very well and I enjoyed it. 8/10
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