The most disappointing thing is that I recognize that this game is supposed to be scary ("dark hues... twisted, angular structures... Frankenstein-like enemies... Yeah, that's scary"), but I definitely don't feel scared. It's kind of like comparing the effect of Luigi's Mansion to that of Dead Space.
The concept art for this game conjured up a much more authentic sense of awe and apprehension.
More specifically, Mickey looks scary. The old style of Disney characters with their zombie eyes have a very unnerving effect, a fact that underground comix, like say Mickey Rat, often took and take advantage of. As for the environment, no, it looks like crap, but the dark tones emphasize Mick's creepier design and would be enough to give my childhood self the willies.
I can't say it looks good, but at least the effort is there.
Looking at this new Epic Mickey stuff feels kinda like the N64 days of looking at early screenshots of a game that end up looking almost nothing like the finished product. Even without the old concept art in mind it looks and feels that way. They've still got a year of development time, don't they? I won't hold my breath but I'd imagine things will be a bit cleaner by then.
For everyone disappointed that it doesn't look like the steampunk stuff from before, the concept art to go with this particular preview is a new land from those previously shown, so it's not that they necessarily abandoned the concepts. Either way, I still think this this looks more interesting than any of the upcoming Kingdom Hearts stuff.
This is certainly disappointing. Reeks of corporate intervention, like Spector really doesn't really mean what he's saying. No-one is fucking with Mickey here; he was a stinker way back when. And it's not like you cannot make him the goody-two-shoes that he later became. Did they mention this fact to this "biker", I wonder.
Am I the only one who thought this never looked very good? The concept art was pretty compelling and expressed some good potential, but everything we've seen of the actual game itself is extremely unimpressive. The first screenshots shown from last year were so bad, in fact, that they put the game on media blackout until this E3 a couple weeks ago. And what I saw from the show looks even more discouraging. The video gameplay demonstration showed Mickey interacting with the world with his magic paintbrush or whatever that's supposed to be this revolutionary piece of game design, allowing you to supposedly paint or un-paint whatever you choose to. However, all I saw in the demo was Micky auto-aiming at a bunch of obviously predefined objects and points that could be interacted with by simply toggling them on or off with his paint or erase. It looked ridiculously primitive and everything else about the game reeks of N64-era platformer sensibilities.
My prediction is the game ends up being mediocre at best and is remembered as merely another roadbump in Mickey's gradual descent into irrelevance.
I thought I loved that game! Then I went back to play it recently and found out what a terrible mess the gameplay actually was. The awful collision detection, combined with the massive screen filling enemy sprites, made it incredibly difficult to hit, dodge, or jump on anything. It looks great, of course, and it's a wonderful concept for a game, but it certainly doesn't hold up as well as World of Illusion does.
I want to love Epic Mickey too, but there seems to be a tremendous disparity between the game Spector talks about and the game they are actually showing people. I hope it all actually comes together, but it's a little unnerving that there is still so much telling and so little showing at such a late stage.
I'm pretty annoyed at the way Warren talks about this game. Don't get me wrong, I like what I've seen of it, but the way the guy speaks about it you'd think it was a different game entirely.
Basically it's a Mickey game with obscure Disney characters that plays like Mario 64 with the ability to melt the scenery. Pretty spiffy, but it's definitely not as revolutionary as he's trying to make it sound.
Segaholic2 wrote:Am I the only one who thought this never looked very good? The concept art was pretty compelling and expressed some good potential, but everything we've seen of the actual game itself is extremely unimpressive.
Not at all. I'm still surprised it garnered such buzz at E3. I mean best in show? Really?
I think I'm still hopeful for this game because of Spector's enthusiasm for it and the impressive artwork, both which are beside the game itself. The mechanics looked okay. The short E3 demo left me feeling neither disappointed nor excited. I think it could either be a merely enjoyable experience or it could live up to its hype. I don't think it's going to be bad.
Instead, bad behaviors like theft and erasure (i.e. cartoon murder) will result in a smudgy look.
It sounds like they aren't taking out the good/evil choices, but instead making evil Micky look smudgy rather than dark and menacing.
Yeah, I know. I was just looking forward to making Mickey resemble himself from Runaway Brain. I'll admit the "smudgey" approach could be just as visceral, but I doubt it.
Though at least 90% of the world knows who Mickey is and that his first released short was Steamboat Willie, I bet at least 90% of the people who know Mickey is has never watched Steamboat Willie.
His most famous and most watched short is probably the Sorcerer's Apprentice. I also feel Apprentice is one of the peaks in his career. Good Mickey cartoons I'd recommend watching are the Cactus Kid, the Band Concert (his first color cartoon and one of his finest), and the Mad Doctor (who appears in this game) was really good up until the copout ending. Steamboat WIllie's pretty nice I guess. I also love the ones where Mickey and Minnie go do stuff with Clarabelle Cow and Horace Horsecollar, mainly the Beach Party and Camping Out.
A lot of the B/W Mickey cartoons are actually really boring, as he repeatedly did a lot of song and dance routines in a lot of shorts. Steamboat WIllie was also a song and dance routine, but that was fine because that was the first song and dance routine and thus wasn't overdone at that point. They're only fun when Mickey is conducting, which is when Mickey's darker side comes out as he always inevitably gets mad at someone for messing up. When it comes to music, you don't fuck with Mickey, he might point a gun at your head (he seriously did once).
I dunno, the game gives me N64-era platformer vibes, and in a good way. I'd be lying if I said it was best-of-show material, but I've always been kind of interested in even the toned-down version of the game.
...but a version that wasn't toned down would've been something amazing, no question about that.
Steamboat Willie wasn't the first Mickey Mouse short!
Castle of Illusion is good, then? I always thought it looked kind of weird and clunky compared to World, so I never gave it a chance... have I made a terrible mistake?
Esrever wrote:Steamboat Willie wasn't the first Mickey Mouse short!
Yea, I believe Plane Crazy was made and released first as a silent cartoon before they later "remade" it by adding synchronized sound. I don't think it really had a very good reception so I guess the bigwigs decided his birth would be the cartoon that pushed him into stardom, Steamboat Willie, the first Mickey cartoon with synchronized sound. I guess in a way, Mickey wasn't born until he developed a trait that set him apart from the competition (which would be, again, synchronized sound).
Just seconding Castle of Illusion's betterness than World. It really was a top-notch game. Capcom's SNES Mickey (Magical Quest, I think?) is the only other one that I thought was really good.
I really liked the Master System version of Castle of Illusion when I was a kid. Not sure I want to go back and potentially ruin my memories of it. Was it any good or did I just have bad taste?
