The excitement over this new “Epic Mickey” game project continues to grow along with my disbelief that people are excited about a new video game featuring Mickey Mouse. I still think that putting “epic” in front of “Mickey” has a lot to do with it. No one would care if the project was titled “Mickey Mouse vs Toon Godzilla.” Well, no one but me.
Gameinformer.com beta (I can’t think that “beta” is anything other than a marketing gimmick. Whoever is paying them for those Ninja Gaiden ads must have already bug tested the early alpha version) has exclusive information on Mickey Mouse’s next interactive adventure. Their “Inside the Game: Epic Mickey” piece has five pages of concept art and info on the title.
I especially enjoyed the concept art of the new Mickey Mouse. It looks like they took present day Mickey and made him reverse all the shiny plastic surgery he had done over the years. What’s left is a classic-looking Mickey that players can physically shape by the way they play the game. The Scrapper, Wastelander, and Hero all share a similar appearence, but each is slightly different based on game choices. For example, The Scrapper scurries around on all four with an angry facial expression. I guess this is how your character looks if you force Minnie to sign a prenup.
I hope Epic Mickey has more going for it than just a stylized refresh of cartoon characters. It needs to have some solid gameplay underneath to be successful. I’m too old to be interested in something just because it contains Mickey Mouse. I got over that shit months ago.
