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alfredofroylan on 30 October 2009
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2 pages of quite positive impressions.

We got to see a few examples of the different directions the game takes depending on your chosen play style during a demonstration set in the Epic Mickey's Gremlin Village level. Disney fans might know the Gremlins as an early collaboration with Roald Dahl and the village itself is heavily influenced - from music cues to the endless procession of boats gliding through the skies - by Disney's A Small World attraction, albeit in a much darker form than you've seen it before. It's a theme than runs throughout the game, with Spector insisting that everything in the world has its roots in something Disney. Lonesome Manor, for instance, is based loosely on Disneyland's Haunted Mansion, while one area of the Cartoon Wasteland takes inspiration from the 1933 Mickey Mouse short, The Mad Doctor.

Thankfully, we're promised plenty of unique abilities to take down opponents though, with our demo showing off the TV and a handy stopwatch. The latter slows down the action and is handy in battle or even against environmental hazards. Indeed, abilities have numerous uses and the game has been designed so you can conjure up your own creative solutions to problems.

Although we only saw a relatively brief selection of in-game footage at Epic Mickey's official launch, it's already looking impressive from a visual perspective. Lighting effects are yet to be implemented, but Epic Mickey's twisted take on familiar Disney fare shines thanks to creative art direction and beautiful animation work. Junction Point might playing it coy when it comes to some of the game's grander innovations but, based on initial impressions, Epic Mickey's already shaping up to be a frankly fascinating endeavour. There's some big talk around the game's core concepts for sure but it looks like Mickey Mouse is in very good hands.