AQWBlaZer91's First Impressions: Disney Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion Nintendo 3DS EShop Demo

Game Title: Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion

Platform: Nintendo 3DS

Genre: Platformer

Developer: DreamRift

Publisher: Disney Interactive Studios

Demo Released: 6th December 2012 (Europe)

Date of Full Game Release: November 18th 2012 (North America), November 22nd 2012 (Australia), November 23rd 2012 (Europe)

Age Rating: PEGI: 7+, ESRB: E, PG

Disney's Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion throws Disney well loved mascot back to the days of the NES, Master System, Mega Drive and SNES days where Mickey was a side scroller. Mickey takes his trusty paintbrush with him to another adventure that expends through the Disney license.

The demo lasts for 2 different stages before the game ends at the first boss. You can play the demo for about 10 uses before you either download the full game on Nintendo Eshop or at retail stores.

Power of Illusion is set 2 years after the second Epic Mickey installment on consoles where the evil witch Mizrabel and her Castle of Illusion becomes transported to Wasteland and is imprisoning several Toons. Mickey has to save all the Toons including Minnie Mouse inside the castle which include memorable cameos like Scorge McDuck from Duck Tales, Beast from Beauty and the Beast, Jafar from Aladdin, Peter Pan and many others. Some may not recognize Mickey but however the writing for each character is great in-spite of the lack of voice acting aside from a few quotes.

Power of Illusion is a side scrolling platform that old school gamers will feel refreshed about if anyone played the old Illusion titles on the Sega Master System, Mega Drive and the Game Gear. As you play through the tutorial stage you learn to play the game. You control Mickey with the D-Pad or the Circle Pad and using the B Button to Jump. You'll need to use Mickey's bounce attack to jump on enemies to avoid taking damage. You can also use a jump as soon as you land on an enemy at the right to gain a great boost of jump power to go up to harder to reach platforms.

Aside from the old school platforming you do have that paintbrush which is used for painting objects or erasing objects. You do this by switching between the top screen or bottom screen using the X Button. On the top screen it shows the gameplay while the map and drawing are displayed on the bottom screen. When you see an object on the touch screen that looks like you can draw it, you can touch it's icon and you activate a mini game where you have to draw on the lines using your stylus. You are ranked depending on how well you draw the object. You draw objects like cannons blocks or bridges which can help you across. You use the Eraser Paintbrush to Erase objects in your path to make exploring easier. You'll obtain sketches which have certain abilities like summoning a big spike ball, making you float in the air and so on. The paintbrush can also be used as a weapon for shooting paint at a distance or by using a tornado attack to break obstacles.

After completing each stage you can visit the fortress where the captors you rescue transport to. With each different Disney character you rescue, the fortress gets bigger allowing you to interact with the characters and improve their rooms. As their rooms improve the fortress can gain enough power to remove the Illusions which will reveal a boss encounter or open a shop where you can purchase upgrades such as Life, Jumping or Paintbrush powers. You can accept different sidequests which allows you to earn rewards upon completing each task allowing you to replay each different that each is set in. Some of which can be done by talking to NPC's.

The game does have some tricky platforms and I'm expecting some cheap deaths in the full game but however for my first impressions on the gameplay, I have to say that this game does follow a lot more closer to it's 16 bit Sega days then past Epic Mickey games.

Power of Illusion for the 3DS can almost look like a GBA game with it's 2D'ish visuals and spirtework but however it still looks impressive and the 3D effect is actually pretty during the cutscenes. The soundtrack featuring orchestral and upbeat tracks bring up the nostalgic Disney feel that the company is known for. There is no voicework aside from the quotes from the characters in the Disney Universe as already mentioned and they're expressions during the cutscenes are decent enough to be believable.

Disney's Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion would have looked like a game designed for the Gameboy Advance by it's graphics but the soundtrack and 3D effect still make the game suitable for the new 3DS system. For any gamer who's daring to step back in time to when Mickey accomplished his side scrolling days will have a great reason to return to that old castle again. For me, I enjoyed the demo and I'll look forward to returning to the old side scrolling days for what Disney did back then.

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Anthony Hayball (AQWBlaZer91)

Game On!