Epic Mickey 2 The Adventure of Mickey and Oswald - Review

How many memories of these old cartoons!

Rifiutolandia is a decaying universe in which the "dark side" of the wonderful world of Disney is shown. Several times we will stop to observe the settings that follow the originals but differ in some particular: for example the famous statue of Walt Disney holding Mickey Mouse by the hand, placed at the entrance of every Disney amusement park, is deformed showing a young Walt who gives hand to Oswald.
In this world, Oswald is the star, the dilapidated streets of the initial city are none other than the districts of Disneyland, each quote is purely intentional and throughout the game you can breathe an atmosphere that you had no way to experience since the early days. memorable Kingdom Hearts.

We now come to the painful notes because despite having introduced high definition and having gone into detail with the animations, some movements of the characters are rather woody within a graphic sector that remains very dated.
Instead, the annoying camera problems that plagued the first episode and that, at times, put the player in difficulty seem to have been fully resolved.
In fact, we will have the room totally free and we will be able to move it at any time of the adventure.
In addition to the visual, with the right analogue we will move the faithful viewfinder of the brush that will be used to paint or discolor the game world, unless you are playing on PS3 or Wii: in fact, the use of the Move or the Remote Control will be supported Wii that will allow us to move the brush simply by aiming at the screen.
Unfortunately, this cool feature hasn't been integrated into the Microsoft console, even though it was originally intended for Kinect.
On the technical front we have another innovation brought by the latest born in Nintendo,
the Wii U, with which we will have the opportunity to follow Mickey Mouse on a map that is however sparse and does not even indicate the direction to follow.

Second star right this is… oops, now I'll draw the second star!

After Spector's choice to have the characters of the first chapter express through onomatopoeic sounds, the dialogues finally arrive. Each character will be voiced by the voices of the original cartoons with a 360-degree española localization and an almost always perfect lip sync.
The most famous Disney tunes have been remixed and infused into the atmosphere of the title, such as the theme of the sorcerer's apprentice when Mickey initially starts the work of the magic brooms by mistakenly touching Yen Sid's hat.
The story is told by singing, as per Disney tradition, and it is precisely by singing a rhyming song that we will see the return of the Mad Scientist and his robots in a strangely benevolent guise.

The technical and graphic sector of Epic Mickey 2, while remaining subdued compared to the other titles in circulation, overcomes some of the numerous difficulties present in the first chapter.
The gaming experience has significantly improved but one remains once again in the experiment phase and far from a final product capable of 360 ° attraction.

ONCE THERE WERE A PAINTER AND AN ELECTRICIAN ...

Epic Mickey 2, while remaining a platformer at heart, has a new facade enriched with splashes of other genres that bring the final product closer to a hybrid between action and RPG:
The pins that were collected in the previous chapter are no longer just decorative but give skills and upgrades to the characters, once acquired and equipped in the inventory.
We will then be able to create a range of personal skills to show off according to the situation.
The pins will not be the only way to customize the two protagonists, in fact we will be able to collect costumes that will transform our mouse into a real sorcerer's apprentice or his helper into a worthy knight. There are 6 costumes for each character who, in addition to changing their appearance, will also acquire new abilities.

One of the great novelties of the title, as we had previously mentioned, is the possibility of facing the entire adventure in multiplayer. The first player will control Mickey Mouse, who will use the magic brush with which to paint or bleach the surrounding environment, the second player will instead control Oswald who has a much larger base skill park than that of the mouse.
The rabbit will be able to use its helix ears to glide and throw its arm to catch otherwise unreachable objects.
Thanks to the remote control, which Oswald will find shortly after the start of the game, the rabbit will be able to create electromagnetic shields, stun enemies and recharge some equipment dedicated to him.

Op-Op Oswald Elicottero!

The 2 characters will have to interact with each other several times both to overcome obstacles, Mickey Mouse will be able to use the lucky bunny as a helicopter to reach elevated areas, and to defeat enemies, there are opponents that must be electrified by Oswald in order to lose defenses and then finish. defeated by the bleaching power of the Disney mouse.
The multiplayer experience is functionally managed by the cameras and by the split-screen that separates the 2 players, unfortunately the single-player adventure is weighed down by the poor artificial intelligence of the shoulder that even in the moments in which its intervention is required, for example to open simply a door will find it difficult to perform the action set by the game.

Sorry Mickey now I can not save the world, I have to run that give the reruns of Bugs Bunny on TV!
Mickey Mouse also acquires new powers: during the adventure we will be able to literally dive into orange ink fountains that will make the Disney icon indestructible, for a limited period of time, and bathe in blue ink wells that will give Mickey the gift invisibility. These 2 interesting innovations, however, have been implemented little and rarely inserted throughout the course of history.

In addition to the main adventure, this second episode will also be enriched by the sub-missions of the various characters of the game and by the moral choices so dear to Spector.
The developers have ensured as many as 20 different endings that will only change the video following the fixed ending of the title. The player will have to choose who to help and how to help him even if very rarely and often, he will be dragged by events, without understanding what he is really choosing.
The "moral choices" are in fact presented to the player without showing the latter the alternative: the player will find himself selling items to some shopkeeper without knowing that much more could be obtained by donating them to another character.
In this way the choices are no longer such, it is instead a question of keeping the player in the dark, who will be forced to replay some gameplay phases several times to fully understand it.

COMMENT