How do we know? We recently met Spector and had the Epic Mickey demoed at the game's world premiere press conference. Here, in words, pictures and video,is what we found out.
1, The plot is genius
Blending real-world Disney history with the parallel reality of the cartoons, Epic Mickey’s story concept is one of the most exciting we’ve seen in a very long time. And if you’re an animation nerd, it will make you haemorrhage joy from your eyes.
Starting with Walt Disney’s notorious inability to throw away any idea, sketch, or even contract, the game assumes that he created a world for his forgotten characters, so that they would have a sanctuary to enjoy once their fame had faded. Pulled into this world by antagonistic means, Mickey rapidly finds that things aren’t right. Built from decaying Disney iconography, theCartoon Wasteland asit's knownis in a bad state and getting worse, and for reasons currently undisclosed, he is responsible. And if he’s going to succeed in fixing things, he’s going to have to heal a very old family rift with a brother he never even knew he had. But more of that a few paragraphs down...
2, The world is what you make it
Literally. Mickey’s central powers revolve around paint and paint thinner. Painting is a constructive ability, while paint thinner, taking a cue from Who Framed Roger Rabbit, is a destructive force, able to wipe out character and landscape alike. Find a broken bridge? Just paint it back in. Can’t pass an obstacle? Splash it with paint thinner to get rid of it. But from the game footage we’ve seen, this won’t be a simplistic, scripted mechanic.
Both paint and thinner come from a limited resource pool, meaning that you can use as much or as little as you like while navigating a certain area. You can paint all of that bridge back in for total safety if you like, but you’ll do it at the expense of a lot of paint. You can conserve if you just recreate a few platforms, but you’ll have to be careful that you construct a path navigable enough to get across alive.
