Epic Mickey 2 Changed from Epic Mickey

4 min read

Deviation Actions

Ultra-Shounen-Kai-Z's avatar
Published:
974 Views
Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two may star the same familiar faces, Mickey the Mouse and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, but the sequel will be quite different from the first game. Thanks to the Disney Epic Mickey 2 panel at Comic-Con 2012, moderated by G4 alumni Adam Sessler, we now know six ways Epic Mickey 2 will be different. Judging by the line to get into the panel, I'd say plenty of gamers enjoyed Disney Epic Mickey for the Wii exactly as it was, but Warren Spector and the rest of his team both at Junction Point, and at Disney, wanted to continue pushing the boundaries of the ways gamers think. Keep reading to find out how they plan on doing that.

Choice and Paths

Persistence will be a major theme in Disney Epic Mickey 2. If you make a change to a map it will remain there when you come back. Warren Spector added, "Everything you do really, really, really, really makes a difference." Enemies can become friends, quests can be ignored, you can paint or paint-thin: choices are everywhere and each choice affects the next one.  One play through is expected to take 10-15 hours, but since the path you choose relies on an accumulation of choices, Warren thinks it will take three play-throughs, six with co-op, to see it all.

Co-Op

Warren Spector has wanted to work on a co-op game for years but was admittedly terrified to do so. Pushing his fear aside, Warren made sure Disney Epic Mickey 2 featured co-op with Disney's two long lost brothers, Mickey and Oswald.
Mickey will play as he did in the previous title, but Oswald will have a whole new set of skills for you to play with. The Lucky Rabbit is an AI controlled character in single player, but he'll become your co-op body whenever a second player wants to drop in. He can reprogram animatronics, he can fly, and he can remove his limbs. You might think Junction Point is crazy to think of such kooky moves for Oslwad, but as Warren confirmed, all of these skills were shown in the Walt Disney's original Oswald cartoon from over 80 years ago.

Musicals

We knew Warren planned on bringing musical numbers to the game but we hadn't really seen how he planned on implementing it. At the Comic-Con panel he revealed, for the first time, the opening of the game. This sequence briefly recaps the events of the first title before introducing how this one starts. Without giving away too much to those who want to be surprised, a certain familiar mad scientist returns to the Wasteland, but this time a different tune is in his heart, really. He's seen the error of his ways and has decided to be a hero.  "Help me, help you, find a hero with a heart," he sings. "A second chance is what we all deserve."

Peter David, the graphic novel writer, noted that Mad Scientist will always be a song, even in the graphic novel.

Every Piece of Dialogue is Spoken

In Disney Epic Mickey there was no spoken dialogue. Warren thought that since the game was about silent film star wouldn't it be interesting to keep everyone silent. He's changed his mind this time around. Every single character will speak. Every line of dialogue will be spoken. We got to hear some of the voices and I can tell quality voice actors were used, like Frank Welker.

Enemies

This is actually a feature that surprised me. Every enemy in Disney Epic Mickey 2 can be defeated or befriended. It's a weird concept for a video game, but it makes sense for Disney. Conversations, side-quests and reprogramming (Oswald's skill) will help gamers wins enemies over, if they want.

Camera

Possibly the most significant complaint about Disney Epic Mickey was the wonky camera controls. Warren and his time acknowledged their fault and have been working on creating the best possible camera for DE2. Spector promises that if you're playing on the Wii, you'll never have to adjust the camera controls. If you decide to play the game in the Xbox 360 or the PS3, your camera will be tied to your aiming mechanism.

Disney Epic Mickey 2 will be released on November 18th. The graphic novel by Peter David will be out by then.
© 2012 - 2024 Ultra-Shounen-Kai-Z
Comments3
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In