'Epic Mickey Rebrushed' Spoiler-Free Review

Video Games

Oct 5

Epic Mickey Rebrushed is a remake of the Wii classic Epic Mickey, released in 2010. The game brings Mickey Mouse into a Wasteland of forgotten Disney characters designed to mirror the real-life Disneyland. In the game, Mickey primarily relies on using paint to befriend enemies or thinner to defeat enemies. This mechanic is used on the environment as well, as Mickey can thin out brightly colored sections to reveal hidden secrets or repaint thinned-out toons to restore functionality. The story will change slightly depending on whether Mickey takes the good paint path or the less good thinner path, and NPCs will respond differently based on how much good or bad he’s done.

The updated controls make painting and thinning a breeze. In the original release, the cursor was dependent on the Wii’s motion sensor. With current hardware, it stays in the middle of the screen, and players can just rotate the camera to find their target. With the new graphics, players can literally watch the paint dry as it drops down a freshly painted toon. As Mickey relies on paint or thinner, he will acquire guardians made of either type, and when unleashed, they will attack the nearest enemy with paint or thinner. They are most useful when dealing with large crowds of enemies.

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Mickey has some new moves for the remake as well. He can now sprint, dash, and ground pound, which are all useful for combat. Mickey’s spin attack returns from the original game and is indispensable not only for combat but also for platforming. In the wider areas, Mickey will have to make his way up to higher ground or across gaps, and the spin attack adds a much-needed boost to his double jump. Mickey traverses side-scrolling areas based on classic cartoons like Steamboat Willie and Mickey and the Beanstalk to move between areas in Wasteland. The game plays great and feels fun and fresh even 14 years later. There is one noticeable bug here, as the game will suddenly freeze for a few seconds before continuing as normal. This doesn’t happen very often, but it’s enough to interrupt a playthrough. From what I can tell, the game still recognizes button input during these moments and will catch up with your actions.

Mickey Mouse — Image Source: Nintendo Everything

One of Rebrushed’s strongest aspects is the wealth of Disney characters that it brings back to the spotlight, starting with the famous Oswald. Oswald runs Wasteland and is jealous of Mickey Mouse for replacing him as Walt’s star, so Yen Sid creates a home for everyone who’s been forgotten. But Mickey starts meddling in Yen Sid’s workshop and unleashes the Shadow Blot by spilling paint and thinner. The blot then kidnaps Mickey and brings him to Wasteland where the adventure begins.

At the start of his journey, Mickey meets Gus, a gremlin who serves as a guide through the whole journey. As a vehicle for bringing forgotten characters and concepts to life, the game brings that same spirit into collectibles. Along the way, Mickey will find chests containing gold, silver, or bronze pins, pieces of concept art, money, and caged gremlins that he can free with a spin attack. It requires at least two playthroughs to collect everything, as the first choice Mickey makes is whether to open a chest or free a gremlin.

The amount of collectibles lends itself to replayability, and it’s a sheer delight to traverse a distorted Disneyland. One area that stands out is Mean Street, based on Main Street USA. Even the forgotten Casey of Casey’s Emporium runs a shop there. The remake added a new feature at the cinema where Mickey can replay side-scrolling levels to find collectibles he’s missed. Most areas, though, are locked for good once Mickey leaves. The game features a ton of side quests and helpfully divides them into epic quests that advance the main story, active quests that can still be completed, and failed quests so you can observe your progress.

The developers decided to include a feature from Epic Mickey 2 in Rebrushed. The pre-order came with three already unlocked costumes that Mickey can switch between at will, and the other two can be unlocked by collecting reels in the side-scrolling levels and bringing them to the Cinema on Mean Street. Overall, the game is fairly balanced, and it never gets boring, hopping around broken Disney rides or meeting obscure characters. The side quests often amount to simple fetch quests with a platforming twist. The inability to revisit past locations means a guide is absolutely necessary for 100% completion, which would require playing through the game at least twice.

The controls are intuitive and easy to learn, but the freezing issue mentioned above happens often enough to frustrate players. The paint and thinning mechanic was improved by having the game automatically restore a third of either liquid when you run out, so you don’t have to find a breakable you haven’t broken. For a game initially developed in 2010, it feels right at home on the PlayStation 4. Despite some minor glitches, the game runs well, and having to play through it twice or even three times is more of a treat than a chore. Rebrushed is available on all current-gen consoles and Steam. It includes a demo for players to try before they purchase.

Ranking: 8/10

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