The house of mouse is back with another tale for their main and most underused character. Epic Mickey 2 picks up right where Epic Mickey left off. I won’t spoil exactly where or how, but you get back in the action. Epic Mickey 2 is a platformer with a unique painting/paint thinning element. When you play as Mickey, you have a paint brush which lets you paint the world to solve puzzles, create items, and make friends. You also have the power of paint thinner. This allows you to destroy the paint world in order to solve puzzles, destroy items, and kill friends.
The action is very tight and platforming is a standard affair. This generation hasn’t seen too many great platformers so its nice to see someone still making quality games in the genre. The biggest new addition to the sequel is drop in, drop out co-op. A second player can join in at any time as Oswalt. That old rabbit from disney’s past. He has a remote that lets him zap people. He is primarily a support character.
Also new to the sequel is voice acting. Everyone in the world is voiced, even on the Wii! And if you do play on the Wii, you can get special nunchuck controllers that are themed for the game. There is a wand that has a glowing brush head which changes colors based on whether you’re using paint or thinner. There is also a wii remote themed for Oswald. I found these to be not so great though. The Oswald remote doesn’t have a real joystick, but slide pads similar to the 3DS. The movement of the stick wasn’t very smooth and would occasinally get stuck if you press to hard. There was no word on if this or the brush would come with the game or not. If they did, I’m sure your kids would love them, otherwise, they aren’t really necessary.
The game is coming to virtually every platform (Wii, PS3, Xbox, PC, MAC, 3DS) and the differences are straight forward. Better control and graphics with the Xbox and PS3. And the Wii and PS3 with move, offer motion controls.
If you enjoyed the first game at all, Epic Mickey 2 doesn’t look like it will disappoint. It will be out September 18th.