Review TheKentuckian 3/5 · May 8, 2026
House of Mouse
I remember Epic Mickey being advertised for the Wii pretty heavily back in the day. It wasn't a game that I had any real interest in, but the remastered version was available as a free PS Plus game, so I decided to give it a try.
While Epic Mickey sounds like it might be some type of RPG, it's actually …
I remember Epic Mickey being advertised for the Wii pretty heavily back in the day. It wasn't a game that I had any real interest in, but the remastered version was available as a free PS Plus game, so I decided to give it a try.
While Epic Mickey sounds like it might be some type of RPG, it's actually a platformer with hints of collectathon in there. Your main way of interacting with levels is jumping across platforms and climbing the scenery. The controls are responsive and the levels are set up where there's a lot of jumps that you just make, in a fun challenging way. The game is mostly 3D platforming with 2D sections that serve as transition zones. It all reminded me the most of Crash Bandicoot, you even have a spin attack. I swear Mickey's jump sound also sounds like Crash's from later games. The other big gameplay element is the paint mechanic. It works like a spray gun that lets you either paint objects into the world or use paint thinner to remove them. This usually manifests as having to paint in a new platform to jump on or using thinner to remove a wall blocking your path. It doesn't feel like this element is really used to it's fullest extent. There's some times where you have to solve puzzles involving paint or having to paint new platforms under a time limit, but it felt like it was mostly used for finding secret areas.
On top of platforming, there is combat in this game. It's very basic and honestly by the end of the game, I tried to avoid it as much as possible. Your spin attack doesn't do much but push enemies around, the main way to defeat enemies is with your paint powers. There's inkling enemies that you can either melt with thinner or turn into allies with paint. The robots are the worst enemies. Those you have to melt their paint armor off and then hit their power core with a spin, sometimes it takes 3 or 4 attempts before they are defeated. They aren't fun to fight, just tedious. Luckily, there's very few fights that are required, and those that are usually don't have you fighting hordes of enemies. The boss fights are a different story. They aren't as bad because they usually involve some form of puzzle element to them.
There's also a lot of collectibles in this game. The only ones that seem to actually matter are the film reels. These can be turned in for rewards like extra health, costumes, or, my favorite, watchable vintage cartoons. There's only three total cartoons and they were neat to watch and see where Disney started, but I wish they gave us more cartoons, make them a feature of the game, not an extra. The other collectibles are bronze, silver, and gold pins. They are all around, but I found no use for them besides being a scoring system. Maybe if you collect them all it unlocks something special, but they mostly seem there for the sake of having a collectible.
There's a lot of things in Epic Mickey that do date it to the early 2010s. One of those things is a morality system. Depending on how much you help people and how you defeat bosses shifts Mickey's morality. This mainly means using paint to beat a boss is good, using thinner is bad. The game mentions there's a morality system, but it's a lot more subtle than the systems in games like Mass Effect or InFamous. There's no morality bar or notifications, the only real thing that you could use to track your morality is your paint vs thinner capacity. Beating bosses the nice way increases your paint reserves, and thinner is the opposite.
Another thing that dates this game to the 2010s is, like everything at the time, this is a dark and gritty re-imagining of Mickey Mouse. Now this is still Disney, so it's not like they're going to turn him into Max Payne, but it means the world you explore is drab, dark, and downtrodden. The premise of the world is the wizard from Fantasia has created a mock Disney World where the forgotten characters of the early 1900s era of Disney can go to live. Mickey accidentally spills paint thinner on the world, releasing a phantom ink blot that ravages the world. He gets pulled into the world and ends up saving it as he tries to escape. It was interesting to see an apocalyptic version of Disney World, even if it is a bit early 2010s cliche. I didn't realize it was Disney World until halfway through the first level I realized I was in a wrecked version of the Small World ride. The other places you get to explore are Adventureland, Tomorrowland, Toon Town, and the Haunted Mansion, with Main Street USA being your hub world. The levels are these fun mix of lived in places and theme park rides, like the People Mover is an important part of the Tomorrowland level.
Along with a dark remake of Disney World, the game is also a love letter to the early Disney era. You come across characters like Horace Horsecollar and Clarabell, two characters I did know. There's also Gremlins, which serve as the world's handymen. I didn't know the Disney gremlins, I just remember the ones from the Bugs Bunny cartoons. Another big player in the story is Oswald Rabbit, who seems to be sort of the proto-Mickey Mouse of Disney's history. All of these characters are in black and white, fitting since they appeared in the black and white cartoons. The newest characters you interact with are the pirates from Peter Pan, the only characters in color. The Peter Pan stuff did seem out of place among the other older characters. On one hand, it was nice to see more characters I recognize like Mr. Smee and Hook, but on the other hand it does detract from the game's mission statement of highlighting Disney's early catalog. Still, I think having a few more familiar faces would've been nice, they could've stuck to the pre-Renaissance stuff, maybe Fox Robin Hood or the Jungle Book.
Like the old silent animations, there's no dialogue in this game. Everything is handled with text boxes, which again, does invoke old film, but also makes the game feel cheap. The music is a mix of tunes that sound like they accompany a silent film while others are dark, moody ambient tracks. Nothing that really stands out, but helps the atmosphere of the game. There's also a lot of backtracking in this game that feels like it's padding it's runtime. You get these side missions where you travel back to older levels to fetch items or talk to someone. To travel to these areas you go through an old film strip based on a classic Disney cartoon, these are the 2D sections. While I really only knew Steamboat Willie, it is neat to play through these little levels, the first time. You have to go through them every time to travel to a previous world. There's no true fast travel system, but you can pay some coins to skip them. Instead of the Disney World setting, I think it would've suited the theme better to have the main levels be based on the classic cartoons, so a whole Steamboat Willie world type of deal.
As I played through the game, I was never super invested in what was going on, but I still stuck around to beat it. I think it's because, while simple, the platforming gameplay was engaging enough. It was a good game to just play when I felt like doing something more interactive than watching TV. I did try to determine who this game was made for. Like it's not a super dark story and the game never gets challenging, just tedious, so I would imagine it's meant for kids, but it does tackle some themes about relevancy and love that seem like they would go over a little kids head, but be more appropriate for older kids maybe.
All in all, I didn't mind Epic Mickey. I think the paint mechanic is underused, but the general platforming is solid. The story isn't something I'll probably remember in a month, but it was neat to see Disney pay homage to it's early history. I got this game for free, and I'd recommend it for free or a deep, deep price. I don't know who I'd recommend this game for. There's not enough Disney history for a history nerd and the gameplay isn't revolutionary. I guess it would be a fun game to play with your kids.
