Day 31, Game 31 - Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two

I wish I could say I finished out the month on a high note. That is to say, I was hoping to sit back and say, "For my final game of my first month of this year long project, I played a really awesome game."

Unfortunately, I can't say that. All I am left with is the anticipation of writing up a monthly wrap-up of my progress, starting a new month and moving on to the next game tomorrow.

Tonight, I regrettably played Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two for the Wii U. While this game came out for all platforms, I gave the Wii U version a shot, mainly because I am fascinated with how games incorporate the GamePad into the gaming experience.

When the first Epic Mickey came out, I was super-excited to play it. It seemed like an awesome concept, being able to erase and rebuild the entire world with your paintbrush's paint and thinner. And while I did enjoy the first game, it got repetitive, the paint/erase the world function was pretty cookie-cutter and not-so-open-world, and the controls - mainly the camera - sucked horribly. The controls and the awful camera got so frustrating that it just compromised the entire integrity of the game.

So going into this game, despite iffy reviews, I was hoping that they at least solved some of the bigger issues of the first game. Well, they didn't, and actually, I think the problems got worse. Not only does the camera hardly work as it should, but the controls are completely unresponsive at times, and the ability to erase stuff or rebuild stuff is so limited as to what you can actually interact with, it doesn't even seem worth it to have that as part of the game play. And that's sad, because it was that concept that made this game franchise worth talking about in the first place.

I honestly couldn't even get into the story this time around, as I found myself just skipping through cut scenes immediately. That in itself is a chore, as you have to hold the button for 10-15 seconds before it skips over what you are watching. Hey, developers: if you are going to allow players to skip over your cinematics, don't make the process difficult just so they are forced to watch a portion of them.

The best part of Disney is their storytelling. The first game was uber-creative when it came to storyline, but this next chapter of the series just seemed like a rehashing of the first one, or a continuation of it. But for those who didn't/couldn't finish the first one, the game offers little to nothing to entice the newcomers to care about the story. What a shame.

The studio that made this game just closed its doors this week, and while I would never wish ill-will towards hard working people and would never want to see anyone lose their jobs for "business decisions," I wonder if they were better at making games, or at least willing to learn from previous mistakes and fix problems their customers had before, they would have succeeded in the long run. Being stubborn or unwilling to learn in the quickly changing game design industry is something that won't get you anywhere fast. And it usually ends badly, unfortunately.

Such a disappointing gaming experience in a day filled with awesome gaming news. Grand Theft Auto 5 is now being released in September, opening the spring for all the other bad ass games to get the credit they deserve.

Oh, and a little company called Sony announced a huge event to show off the future of the Playstation on Feb. 20. Will that entail a Playstation 4 announcement? One can only hope.

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