Disney Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion is a great platformer with inventive level design and a colourful cast of classic Disney characters.
Drawing also plays a key part in rescuing Disney's finest. Tucked into hard-to-reach areas are select Disney characters, who are often hidden behind walls of spikes, enemies, or blocks that you must erase. Some characters have to be drawn into the game, many of whom go on to give you a helping hand throughout the level by killing enemies or revealing stashes of health. Stumbling upon a young Simba or drawing in a lost Ariel always raises a smile, thanks to some neat dialogue and the colorful animation. Even finding bad guys like Captain Hook and Jafar is a pleasure, and the ensuing boss fights mix multiple drawing and platforming elements for some tense, strategic fights.
Succeed in finding lost toons, and your newfound friends are sent to The Fortress, a sanctuary at the edge of the castle. There you can speak to any characters you've rescued, who are located in their own themed rooms, which match the films they were featured in. Those rooms can be upgraded by completing side quests, such as finding objects hidden in levels you might have already visited, or by completing simple fetch quests by speaking to other characters within the fortress, and these actions lead to even more side quests and rewards. These aren't complex missions, but they encourage you to revisit past areas and explore hidden rooms.
Some characters, such as Scrooge McDuck, even set up shops within The Fortress. There you can buy upgrades for Mickey using money you've gathered from fallen enemies. There are boosts that make paint last longer, cause more damage, and give Mickey extra health. You can also equip sketches to slots that let you draw in characters using your supply of paint. Depending on which sketch you choose, a character might wipe out all the enemies onscreen or give your jumps an extra boost. It's a simple form of character progression, but it works wonderfully with the classic platforming action and gives you a real advantage during harder sections of the game.
And boy are there some hard sections. This is not a fast-paced platformer in the vein of Super Meat Boy and the like, but that doesn't make it any less of a challenge. Trying to navigate your way past enemies such as fast-moving sharks, unruly henchmen that throw watermelons, and fire-breathing specters, all while being surrounded by spikes and chasms, is challenging--even more so in the underwater levels where Mickey takes on a much more floaty feel. There are points where you might get angry, perhaps even a tiny bit frustrated, but the platforming is such an enjoyable experience, and the levels are so visually inviting, that you power on regardless.
Power of Illusion comes together brilliantly; the modern additions to the classic action are intelligent ones that invite you to explore, to replay, and to enjoy every last bit of this great platformer. And it helps to have some of the best, most well-known Disney characters around too. Who doesn't want to help out an angry Donald Duck, or rescue princesses, or get three wishes from Genie himself? Unlike its latest console cousins, Disney Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion is an unqualified success--a deep, challenging, and thoroughly enjoyable platformer that's the best thing to happen to Mickey in years.
Writer, riff maker, purveyor of fine foods. Mark currently spends his days trying to overcome his small (large) obsession with high-top trainers and mobile games. He's known to respond well to Long Island Iced Tea, falafels, and karaoke, but not necessarily in that order.
Up till now I didn't even bother checking it out as the console versions got such bad reviews. But then I read something about Castle of Illusion and I knew I'm so gonna get this game. Those early nineties Disney platformers were great. To me this is simply Castle of Illusion 4 (Game Gear had three Illusion titles preceding thise one).
Even game informer gave this a poor review and they love everything, what are you on the take?
I personally can't wait to get this game, Difficulty isn't gonna scare me away especially after playing games like Super Meat Boy and Ninja Gaiden (NES and Xbox 360 games), and i quite liked the MegaDrive Games, Castle and World of Illusion, oh and Mickey's Magical Quest on the SNES :)
1 Like They had me at "Illusion". I used to beat the Illusion games on my Genesis for fun back in the day, and playing the latter games co-op with my brothers was fantastic. This game hasn't disappointed.
I tried out the demo and I have to say it seems like an 8 game to me.A great throwback to not only the classic Mickey Mouse games, but also to the days when Disney didn't completely suck, what with the boatloads of classic characters all over the place that modern Disney almost pretends were never created.It will definitely be worth a purchase when the price drops a little.
1 Like just looking at the screen shots reminds me of my child hood and the glory days of games im going to pick this game up
2 Like The game is reminiscent of the glory days of Sega Genesis/Mega Drive and Super Nintendo platforming games. Castle of Illusion, World of Illusions, and Mickey's Magical Quest were inspirations for this game.
5 Like The Bad - Later levels might be too challenging for some.
C'mon , really? I think that should be a plus!
2 Like @megatronx2my thoughts exactly, and one reason I might actually decide to pick this one up, good to have some challenging gameplay in a new game for once :)
1 Like Guys, please play the demo first. The game is terrible, repetitive, boring, slow and short.
2 Like GameSpot is being generous with its reviews today. Kingdom Hearts is the better adventure/platformer though, and it's certainly lengthier and has more replay value.
This looks very similar to the old Mickey platformers on SNES, oh nostalgia, if only this were ported to vita or something.
1 Like You know what's sad? My mom ended up buying this game before I did. I should have got this instead of Power of Two. >.<
Recently, I've been getting slightly confused by Gamespot's review scores. They don't seem to correlate with the consensus. I'll take on board what they're saying but maybe with a pinch of salt.
2 Like "Later levels might be too challenging for some."
I'm sorry, but after reading this and your all stars review, it sounds like you just want your games to be cakewalk.
1 Like @Hayasmez Game difficulty is subjective, but some objetive reference may still be useful.
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@Gelugon_baat @Hayasmez yeah I played all stars on max difficulty with raiden, I played it once in the shop and once for the open beta before and I beat the story mode only losing once and I found it easy, and I chained together my combos really well, not the game's fault they didn't try hard enough to get good at all before they made the review
1 Like Mark didn't appear to mark it down for the short length of the game. Either that means he didn't finish it, or it means he actually spent some time trying to discover everything and doing the optional quests (which I believe lengthens the game a goodly amount) rather than just rushing through it.
1 Like "Later levels might be too challenging for some."
That is NOT a bad thing.
Still it's good to hear that this is a more solid game than Epic Mickey 2 on the Wii.
2 Like @mav_destroyer Notice how it's the only bad thing he listed. Yeah, it might seem reaching, but some gamers just aren't as good as others, so for less skilled gamers, really hard levels are deterrents that keep them from finishing the game, which is a bad thing.
1 Like @JustPlainLucas Gamespot has a 'good' emblem for challenging games and a 'bad' emblem if a game is too easy. Being challenging or difficult is not a bad point in a game, however if it's just frustrating and full of cheap deaths then that's another story.
Yeah, difficult games aren't for everyone, but if difficulty was a bad factor in games then titles like Demons' Souls would be flops going by that logic.
Isn't this game supposed to be like two hours long? To me, that seems like a major drawback for a non-budget retail title, no matter how pretty it is.
3 Like I'm honestly quite surprised with this score. GameSpot's been quite tough on games lately.
2 Like Copy paste "The Bad Later levels might be too challenging for some." Too bad for them! XD
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Power of Illusion pays homage to the illusion and magical quest games, but fails to live up to their standards.
The disappointing length and difficulty frustrations shouldn't deter you from returning to the world of Illusion.
