Fun Family Gaming: Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two

by Shellie Driscoll

There is a great new video game that came out in November from Disney!  It’s called Disney “Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two,” and it’s available on all gaming platforms.  Disney invited the WellConnectedMom to Disneyland to learn more about this fun game back in October.  See Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two Exclusive Press Event at Disney to learn more about the game and see an exclusive behind-the-scene tour of Walt Disney’s apartment.

Epic Mickey: the Power of Two is not  another one of those blow it up, shoot-em up type games that are out there.  This game is everything you would expect from Disney.  It requires puzzle-solving skills and the use of imagination.  Kids will love playing Mickey Mouse and adults will enjoy recognizing areas from the real Disneyland amusement park throughout the game.  This is the sequel to Disney “Epic Mickey” that came out in 2010 for the Wii.

Mickey Mouse is back in the all new Disney “Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two” game.  This time however, Mickey has a partner to help him throughout the adventure, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.  Oswald was one of Walt Disney’s first cartoon characters that he created in 1927.  Mickey Mouse and Oswald return to Wasteland, an alternate world filled with 80 years of forgotten Disney characters and theme park attractions.  Mickey Mouse uses his paintbrush to wield magical paint and thinner while Oswald uses electricity from his remote to re-shape the world around them.  This new co-op play further enhances the idea of “Playstyle Matters”- a concept designed by Warren Spector, the Founder/Creative VP at Junction Point Studios and the creative mind behind the video game.  Essentially, it allows the player to create consequences for their actions that will ultimately effect the outcome of the game.  Kind of like those “choose your own adventure” books you read as a kid.

Warren and his team have made some exciting changes in this game but I think one of the most notable ones is the fact that they have done something that no other video game has done before.  Disney “Epic Mickey 2” is the first video game that can be described as a “musical”.  Literally, there are areas in the game where characters express themselves and advance the plot of the story by breaking out into song.  All of the songs are Disney-inspired original music, of course!  Players are also able to “conduct” their own unique soundtrack based on changes that they make during the game.  I love the fact that Warren wanted to incorporate his love for theatre into the game.

Another wonderful change is that all of the characters speak and/or sing, whereas in the previous game, no one spoke.  Everyone knows what Mickey sounds like so it is nice to hear his voice during the game.  There were also 1,000 changes made to the camera system so that you never have to touch the manual camera controls when you are on the main story path.  In Disney “Epic Mickey” players had some real problems with the camera controls and it became very frustrating, so Warren wanted to make sure that those problems were resolved.

Warren and his team also made changes to “persistence” within the game.  That means that whatever changes you make to an area will remain that way unless you decide to change it back.  In Disney “Epic Mickey” this was not the case and again, players would get frustrated.  In the new game your choices really do make a difference.

The really cool thing about playing Oswald is that he can fly, his remote uses electricity, which can be a very powerful tool in helping Mickey and he can even remove his limbs, just like the cartoon character of the 1920’s could do.

The graphics are stunning to look at and many of the places Mickey goes to look very similiar to places within the real Disneyland.  For example, there is a place called Ventureland which was modeled after Adventureland.  A new level called Disney Gulch is based on Frontierland and Mean Street was inspired by Main Street.  Rainbow Caverns and Rainbow Falls are also new areas in the game.  Inside the caverns, Mickey and Oswald must navigate through the cave to find Rainbow Falls, which looks like a Mount Rushmore of Snow White’s dwarves.  This area shows off a new feature that is found all across Wasteland: ink wells.  Basically, there are two types of ink wells.  One ink well will make Mickey and Oswald invisible and the other has indelible ink which covers them in a hard gold shell and allows them to walk in places that would normally stop them dead in their tracks.

Gamers that have played the previous version of this game will recognize some familiar enemies but there are several new ones as well.  Warren shared that during a visit to the Tiki Room at Disneyland his team got the idea for animatronic characters so they created an entire class of robotic enemies that Mickey and Oswald could interact with.  You can actually befriend every enemy in the game if you want to instead of defeating them.  You would expect Mickey to do that but it’s entirely up to you.

I really liked the 2D platforming levels that are between each section that look like an old black and white Disney cartoon!  So cool!

For those of you that play on the Wii there are two really cool nun chucks that you can purchase to further enhance your gameplay experience.  The first controller looks like the paint brush that Mickey uses to wield his paint and thinner.  They had this available for the first game but they improved on it by putting the Epic Mickey 2 logo on it and allowing the brush tip to turn from blue to green depending on whether Mickey uses paint or thinner.

The second is a nunchuck based on Oswald’d remote device.  It’s a silver box with a glowing red bulb on the end.  I think younger players will especially enjoy using these made for the game nun chucks but you can still play the game without them.

I have played this game for several hours (not all at once) and it is a lot of fun!  However, I have gotten stuck a couple of times in an area because I can’t figure out what I’m supposed to do to move on to the next level but I usually end up figuring it out after a while.

Here is a picture of my husband and son playing the game!  They love it!

Disney “Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two” was released for the Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PC, and Mac and a new Wii U version.  Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two is a great gift idea!  The Disney “Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two” is available at Amazon.com for $29.99 plus free Super Saver shipping.

*  I was given a copy of Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two in order to write my review.  All opinions are my own.