When people think of Disney, 999 times out of a 1000, Mickey Mouse is the first thing to come to mind. While some people may be the oddball who thinks of Goofy, Donald or even the lovable Stitch, Mickey is the icon of the company.

And even though he is Walt Disney’s most famous creation dating back to 1928, he is not the first. One of Walt’s earlier creations, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, is brought back to center stage alongside Mickey Mouse in Mickey’s first true solo adventure in years on any platform, and his first on the Wii.

Disney Epic Mickey was created by industry legend, Warren Spector. Also the general manager and creative director at Junction Point Studios, Warren is best known for being the director of the 1997 hit Deus Ex. Focusing on a game where “playstyle matters”, Spector spoke about a game that would change the way people feel about Mickey and the way they interacted with him in this world.

Gameplay:

Choice is a big factor in the world of Disney Epic Mickey. First and foremost, people get to choose if they want to play as Mickey “the creator” or Mickey “the destroyer”. Those these aren’t official names for the lovable mouse, that’s how the game’s basic mechanics break down. During gameplay, players are equipped with a magical brush that either shoots out paint or paint thinner. As you’d expect, paint allows Mickey to create objects while thinner destroys them. The paint can also be used in combat to coat enemies until they decide to befriend Mickey while thinner sticks to destroying the pesky ink blot foes.

Mickey will also be able to use these actions to decide how to deal with some of the quests presented to him through the course of the game. Do you help paint someone’s house or just erase them from existence? Ultimately, these choices will determine rewards for completing quests, depending on the method taken, as well as interactions with characters later in the game. The Pete’s aren’t going to be too fond of Mickey if he has thinned their brothers off of Wasteland.

Taking place following the events of the Tron: Betrayal graphic novel and before those of the newly released Tron: Legacy, Tron: Evolution adds another chapter to the Tron saga. Tron: Evolution does so by taking elements from other well established franchises and puts them together in a package that while not completely enthralling to play through looks and sounds amazing and gives fans of the Tron franchise added life to some of their favorite characters.

Gameplay:

The core gameplay of Tron: Evolution consists of four basic parts. Platforming, hand to hand combat, light cycles and light tanks. The game actually goes out of its way to keep all four parts separated from each other in single player mode. The platforming is heavily parkour style roaming throughout the city. This includes lots of wall running and launching players over chasms similar to that of the 2008 Prince of Persia. Unlike Prince of Persia, the controls are just loose enough that often the Monitor doesn’t make the jump exactly the right way which leads to repeated deaths overcoming the same simple obstacle. This leads to what should be simple sections to become frustrating.

Combat is a beast all of its own. While there is occassionally a section of platforming where one opponent appears, they are easily dispatched. Most combat takes place in closed off arenas where the Monitor must take on a few waves of enemies, attempting to derezz them using his light disc or capoeira inspired hand to hand combat. For the most part, hand to hand combat doesn’t come in to play as players spend much of their time deflecting their opponents’ light discs from all angles or avoiding unblockable attacks.

Players are granted a series of differently powered discs as they upgrade (level up) which can be used to exploit various weaknesses of different opponents. This comes to be one of the biggest weaknesses of Tron: Evolution as the art style, while beautiful, doesn’t aid in telling apart different opponents. Most look identical and as a result, in the heat of battle, it is nearly impossible to tell them apart and plan an strategy to exploit their very specific weaknesses other than repeated deaths of trial and error.

The Light Cycles and Light Tank sections of single player feel more like added fan service than an integral part of the game. The Tank sections are slow moving and lack excitement or opponent AI. The Light Cycle sections feel like mini obstacle races with little to offer in terms of defining moments for the gameplay.