Summary
Epic Mickey: Rebrushedcaught almost everyone off guard when it was casually announced in February’s Nintendo Direct. Though the 2010 Wii original has its (very devoted) fans, and its pedigree speaks for itself - having been developed by Deus Ex’s Warren Spector - most folks assumed this darker take on the Mouse House would remain a curiosity of the past.
Lo and behold: Purple Lamp Studios, the wizards behind Battle for Bikini Bottom Rehydrated, are hard at work on a ground-up remake. This modern take on the beloved platformer promises better graphics, an all-new engine, fresh movement options, and more. But what aspects do we think need tweaking themost, to finally realise Spector’s epic vision?
This article willcontain some minor spoilers for the plot of the original Epic Mickey,which we’re presuming is going to migrate to the remake largely unchanged. If you’re holding out for Rebrushed to experience this unique adventure for the first time, be warned!
10Projector Skipping
They’re Only Fun The First Time
Being that they’re all cartoon characters, the residents of Wasteland get around via a network of projector screens. These are all themed after some Disney short or movie, including Mickey and the Beanstalk, Fantasia, Thru The Mirror, Sleeping Beauty, and even some of Oswald’s old films. Cute indeed – but it creates some gameplay tedium.
In order to get anywhere (anywhere!) within the game, you’ll need to go through the corresponding 2D projector stage. Especially egregious is going between Mean Street and the other four main hubs, which you’ll often be doing for sidequests. On the Wii, they were likely being used as buffers for loading; but Rebrushed is an ideal opportunity to offer the option to skip ‘em.
9Better Framerate
The Mouse Deserves Fluidity
The original Epic Mickey was a Wii exclusive, which in hardware terms meant it had about two GameCube processors to rub together. Hardly a winning combo for the kind of sweeping vistas Spector had in mind; and while the OG was very technically accomplished for its 480p console, its framerate left a lot to be desired.
Any more than a handful of enemies on screen would tank the performance – the bulk of the third act, which sees the true Phantom Blot unleash hordes of Blotlings upon Wasteland, was spent at sub 20fps. Rebrushed is coming to every modern platform under the sun, so if we don’t get buttery-smooth 30 or 60, we’ll be a tad peeved.
8Better Combat And Bosses
Ink-redible Battles
Combat was not one of Epic Mickey’s strong points. For all the marketing bluster about your playstyle mattering, most enemy encounters boil down to two options: paint it, or thin it. If it’s a robotic Beetleworx, you might have to melee it after said painting or thinning, but it still doesn’t get much deeper than that.
The bosses fare a little better, but they can be obtuse. The fight against the Small World clocktower is a highlight, whereas the Mad Doctor’s is a grueling exercise in trial and error. Hopefully, Rebrushed’s new movement tech will sand off these rough edges, allowing the spectacle of the fights to shine.
7More Varied Quest Types
Fetch Quests Ain’t It, Chief
Wasteland is a Disnerd’s dream to poke around in. It’s a twisted, decaying clone of a real-world Disney park, complete with barely-functioning attractions and overpriced merchandise. Which is why it’s a shame that your only real incentive to wander the map are a series of uninspired (and often mandatory) fetch quests.
Why is Mickey’s progress repeatedly gated by Power Spark requirements? Why must we perform such thrilling tasks as retrieving Horace Horsecollar’s lost books for him? And why, pray tell, are theresixindividually numbered bunny-wrangling missions for Pete? Rebrushed has a prime chance to streamline the game’s flow.
6Permanent Painting And Thinning
Beauty’s Only Thin Deep
This is an example of an improvement made in the (otherwise terrible) sequel, Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two, that would be nice to see applied retroactively to the original. Whenever you would destroy or restore parts of Wasteland, all it took was for you to exit and re-enter the area, and all your hard work would be undone, making your actions feel non-committal.
Epic Mickey 2, meanwhile, saved every pixel of painting or thinning you recklessly engaged in; and NPCs would even comment on the state of whatever town or mountain you’d opted to desecrate. If playstyle truly matters, Rebrushed should follow suit and make your remodelling stick.
5More Impactful Choices
Junction Points, If You Will
On a similar note, the game’s ‘morality’ system could stand to be made clearer. Spector heavily emphasised this aspect of Epic Mickey during development, but in the final product it very rarely feels like you’re having any impact, save for a few miffed comments from Oswald if you’re a prat.
As an example, here’s the game’s first diverging path. A caged Gremlin sits perched on a catapult in Dark Beauty Castle. Do you save the Gremlin, or snag some E-tickets?
Well, E-tickets are all over the place, but there’s only one Gremlin and it locks you out of later rewards if you sacrifice him, so why would you pick the cash?
These toothless cold feet characterise the whole experience. Choosing to break or patch a pipe which ultimately leads you to the same destination doesn’t inspire much rumination. Youcankill or redeem the bosses, but all this does is change one segment of the game’s ending. Rebrushed should offer some new choices with meat on their bones.
4Better Graphics
It’s A Gorgeous World, After All
This is one that’s practically a given, since Rebrushed is running on the Unreal Engine: nicer visuals. As mentioned, being stuck on the standard-definition Wii system severely constrained how outlandish the designers could get with Wasteland’s look, but no longer, courtesy of Purple Lamp.
Based on the trailers and screenshots we’ve seen, the forgotten world now positively pops with unsettlingly lurid colours and dark hues in all the right places. Mickey himself animates with a grace that makes his Wii counterpart look primitive, and even the Spatters are getting dressed up for the occasion. Just imagine the final Blot assault in crisp 4k!
3Full Voice Acting
Let These Legends Speak!
The original Epic Mickey had its characters speak in what Warren Spector described as ‘bark-talk’; pantomime grunting and gesturing motions not unlikethose found in a Lego game. Granted, there were subtitles during cutscenes, but it does take something away from the gravitas of the story when Oswald’s pouring his heart out to Mickey and all we hear is “hmm, errgh, hrrmmph.”
At present, it’s up in the air whether Rebrushed is springing for full voice acting, but the cast are legends in their own right: Bret Iwan, Cary Elwes, and Frank Welker being among them. Bringing them back to properly speak the lines would be the final missing piece of the puzzle.
2Better Objective Guidance
Some Form Of A Quest Menu And Not Just More Chatter From Gus
Another major sticking point is that it isn’t always apparent where to go or what to do. Sure, there’s a quest menu, but it’s vague and doesn’t offer moment-to-moment guidance, only the broad strokes. If you put the game down for a while and pick it back up, it’s likely you’ll have forgotten what task you were working on.
Lonesome Manor is a big culprit here. Every floor - the library, the stretching room, the Mad Doctor’s attic, and so on - has a completely different objective, which is only spoken once by Gus on arrival, and never repeated. Good luck trying to match all the paintings, or find the missing hatchet, with no clues or reminders. Rebrushed ought to remedy this.
1Fix The Camera
The Worst Part Of The Original Game
A magical and gripping adventure Epic Mickey may be, but its camera is anything but. Fans and critics alike were unanimous on the game’s launch: the thing barely works. Disappearing below the ground before swerving up from underneath Mickey; getting snagged on incidental pieces of scenery; and causing death after death because it decided you’d rather see a nice tree than the next ledge.
It’s far more of a nemesis than the Blot ever is during the campaign, and it has many devilish tricks up its sleeve. While Purple Lamp have not directly addressed it (and cameras are notoriously difficult to wranglein 3D platformers at the best of times) it would be nice to see such a major bugbear of the classic version squashed.
