Disney Epic Mickey Rebrushed PS5 Review. In the pantheon of iconic fictional characters, Mickey Mouse deserves to stand proud with the all-time greats. Still, I was a bit dismayed to learn that, after going to Disney World Florida recently in the company of two seven-year-olds, he’s apparently not quite as popular with the youngsters as he once was. When I pointed out a restaurant to the lads where you could meet Mickey for a photo, one of them replied “we don’t know who that is.” I was dumbstruck. What kid doesn’t know Mickey Mouse? A sign of the times, perhaps, but I was a bit crestfallen to say the least.
Anyway, being of a certain age, I grew up with not only the Mickey Mouse cartoons, but also his plethora of frankly brilliant video game outings. From the classic Castle of Illusions to the criminally underrated Mickey Mania, Disney’s lovable mascot has starred in some outright bangers in his time.
Disney Epic Mickey, originally released on Wii in 2010, is a bit of a forgotten gem in the mouse’s illustrious career, remade here for modern platforms by Purple Lamp Studios. Is it worth diving back in after all this time?
Epic Mickey PS5 Review
I Am Lord Of The Wasteland
While Epic Mickey definitely offers a darker tone that what you’d expect from the character, you’re not going to find our hero a dishevelled, baggy-eyed mess in a shop doorway lamenting his drug addiction. No, what the game instead offers is a look at Disney’s forgotten works, presented in a realm known as the Wasteland; a collection of locations designed by sorcerer Yen Sid as safe haven for ‘forgotten things,’ overseen by Disney’s Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, the precursor to Mickey Mouse.
Unfortunately, our plucky hero discovers Sid’s workshop, and messes with the intricate Wasteland diagram using the sorcerer’s paintbrush to transform it into a depressing, rundown and partially animated nightmare plagued by the Blot. To escape, Mickey seeks Oswald’s help, armed with Sid’s paintbrush to fend off his inky foes.
The locations themselves are absolutely brimming with personality and charm. From the bustling shops of Mean Street, the cosy homes of Ostown, to swashbuckling-themed VentureLand, Epic Mickey is ripe with unique environments that beg to be explored and ensures the action remains fresh throughout. Many are based on existing Disney theme parks and attractions, so fans are sure to spot the similarities (my personal favourite being a nod to the Haunted Mansion in the spooky Lonesome Manor).
Oh, and that’s not forgetting the numerous characters you’ll bump into along the way. Apart from Oswald, you’ll come across the Mad Doctor, Pete, Clarabelle Cow, Captain Hook, Horace Horsecollar and many more. The narrative is punctuated by gorgeously-animated cutscenes, and while there’s no voice acting, they still work to great effect.
Let Your Paintbrush Be Your Guide
Mickey’s paintbrush is seamlessly woven into pretty much everything you do in the Wasteland, be it navigation, puzzle solving, and combat. Enemies can be scrubbed with thinner or made docile using paint, while environments are punctuated with bits of scenery that you can paint into reality allowing you to interact with them, or vanish with thinner to see what’s behind or beneath them. Apart from that, it just feels good repainting everything and bringing life and vibrancy back to these downtrodden locations.
Fortunately, this mechanic doesn’t come off as a cheap gimmick. It feels natural and meaningful; using paint to create a series of reachable platforms or thinning a doorway to uncover hidden pickups becomes second nature, with L2 and R2 serving as thinner and paint, respectively. Some of the more intricate puzzles require a lot of environmental manipulation based on these abilities, which injects some welcome creativity into the proceedings.
Combat wise Mickey has a rudimentary spin attack, but using your paint and thinner is where it’s at. Thinning the flock removes baddies from the equation in exchange for E-tickets but if you splash them with enough paint, they’ll become passive and help you in combat (but no goodies in return).
There’s a little more nuance when it comes to robotic foes, who must be hit with thinner before clobbering them with your spin in their weak point, but it’s pretty simple stuff. More interesting are the bosses, who require a wrinkle of strategy to bring down and give you the choice of defeating them outright with thinner or turning them with paint.
It’s here that Epic Mickey’s moral compass is seamlessly interwoven into these mechanics. If you turn a boss to your side, your efforts will be thanked and your reward will change; eliminate them entirely, and a darker path will open instead.
Some quests have multiple outcomes that play into this too. For example, a ghost may want your help in scaring some poor sod in Bog Easy by removing the sanctuary of his house lights, or you can simply restore the resident’s courage instead for a reward. It’s entirely your call. Yes, it’s pretty rudimentary by the standard of today’s massive RPGs, but I felt compelled to do them all the same, mostly because Epic Mickey Rebrushed’s characters are so likeable and I felt compelled to lend them a helping hand.
Depending on your choices, your supply of thinner or paint will grow, giving you a better indication of what side of the fence you are on. Furthermore, thinning objects and enemies or restoring them with paint will charge up to three green and blue sparks, respectively, that float around Mickey and can be lobbed at foes using R1 to help you out in a pinch.
Characters even react to your actions. One townsperson detected some Blot in Mickey, but said he was a good person at heart. Indeed, this matched the fact while I had used thinner at times, I mostly used paint to settle my scores. It’s a satisfying nod to the fact your actions do make a difference.
Beautiful Locations That Pay Tribute To A Bygone Era
Epic Mickey moves at a brisk pace and never ties you to one location for too long. Each main location is peppered with side quests and main missions, and while they typically have you bolting around the area to fetch specific items, they’re varied enough and more than often you are given more than one way to complete a task.
Oh, and a special note about those projectors. These transport our plucky hero to platforming segments based on classic Disney cartoons, and are typically stuffed with collectibles. Iconic efforts such as Clock Cleaners, the Mad Doctor, Steamboat Willie and even some Oswald shorts are brought to life in sumptuous detail, be it the 1920s aesthetic seen in black-and-white cartoons to the colourful animations seen in Lonesome Ghosts.
Epic Mickey also likes to test your platforming skills from time to time, and locations have some impressive verticality to them depending on the situation. The paintbrush also factors into things as you’ll need it to aid in navigating platforming segments, which affords a rewarding change of pace.
Of course, this is a Wii game at heart, and the cracks do some from time to time. I encountered a few troublesome issues where Mickey slid off uneven platforms awkwardly despite being able to climb them, and at times the camera isn’t always that helpful. The most egregious example of this is during a boss fight, where the action shifts to cinematic view that follows Mickey around and your paintbrush target icon is fixed on screen at all times. The camera for the most part follows you around ok, but there were times that my view would be obfuscated by bits of the environment, making crucial jumps incredibly frustrating.
A Magical Platformer Packed With Things To See And Do
The Wasteland is begging to be explored, and each area is packed with collectibles. E-tickets are strewn about all over the place, hidden in destructible objects, handed out as rewards for quests, or just simply picked up as you stroll through the environment. These can buy you refills for your paintbrush, health, sketches (items used to help you out, such as TV sets that power up things or anvils used to drop on foes) and there’s heaps of concept art and cartoons to unlock for your viewing pleasure, and special pins to mark your accomplishments.
Epic Mickey is perfectly fine to just shoot straight through its 12-15 campaign if you fancy it, but I felt compelled to see as much as possible. The diverse locations sparkle with vibrancy and personality in this remake while its various denizens are some of the most likeable in a platform game to date. I mean, who doesn’t want to help poor animatronic Goofy find his missing parts that have been scattered about?
It’s also a testament to how strong the writing is. I wouldn’t usually associate this sort of thing with Mickey and co, but there’s some genuinely heartfelt moments throughout the narrative that lends this magical journey a mature undercurrent.
Purple Lamp Studios also added a bunch of small but welcome extras that improve on the Wii original. Mickey is a bit more spry on his feet now, as he can perform a quick dash to help him out in a pinch, and there’s a new ground pound attack to flesh out his repertoire. Checkpoints are pretty generous too, and the whole experience runs at a buttery-smooth frame rate with no hiccups.
Purple Lamp Studio has done a stellar job at remastering this cult classic. Much of the issues with the original have been dealt with (the camera was notoriously rubbish; far beyond the issues I outlined here), and what’s left is a visually striking package brimming with charm and intrigue. If you’ve not given Epic Mickey a look until now, then the Wasteland is one location you need to visit.
Epic Mickey Rebrushed is due out on September 24, 2024 for PS5, PS4, PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X/S, and Xbox One.
Review code kindly provided by publisher.