Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed review — A gorgeous remake of an OK game

I remember being disappointed with Disney Epic Mickey as a kid, but not specifics as to why. I still love the aesthetic and all the Disney references, and it introduced me to some of my favorite old shorts thanks to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Yet I never had any desire to go back to that original Wii release, whether that’s because of the controls or general structure or maybe the morality system that was so popular at the time. However, with Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed, I found myself more than willing to return to the Wasteland and reevaluate this childhood game. This new coat of paint certainly makes the game a much better experience, but having played through it again I can more easily see why I was so lukewarm on the title as a child.

Epic Mickey begins with Mickey Mouse accidentally causing an apocalyptic event in a pocket universe. Just as Yen Sid finishes his work on a world for forgotten cartoon characters to live in, Mickey finds his way to the master’s study through a magic mirror and accidentally spills paint thinner over his creation. Now, years later, Mickey finds himself back in the study and gets sucked into the Wasteland by the monster he unleashed. Using the magic paintbrush he used to start this whole mess, Mickey must find a way to escape the Wasteland, either helping or hurting its inhabitants along the way.

Mickey can use his paintbrush to spray out either paint to fill things in or thinner to… thin them out. The whole game revolves around this dichotomy, with each area having a central problem you can solve with paint or thinner, permanently changing the state of the world. On a smaller scale, Mickey can paint enemies to befriend them or thin them out to destroy them. Using more paint or thinner consecutively will fill up a meter which, once full, will create a single Guardian of that particular aspect which Mickey can then send out as a bigger burst of paint or thinner on a target. It’s an interesting way to encourage players to stick with one or the other and, since being mean in games makes me feel bad, I used paint all the way through.

These choices will affect the story’s ultimate outcome and how characters in the Wasteland treat you. This applies to side quests as well, which is where my first big complaint comes in. Early on, Mickey is tasked with finding all of Robot Goofy’s missing body parts in Tomorrow City. I did my best to seek them out, but only found three out of four by the time I finished the area. I thought that wouldn’t be a problem as I could just go back through, but, unless the story dictates it, there is absolutely no backtracking in Epic Mickey. Miss a collectible or side quest? Sorry, it’s gone until new game plus. Once it happened, I immediately remembered being frustrated by this in the original, and am disappointed it wasn’t changed in this remake.

Rebrushed does add and change quite a few things to make the overall experience flow much better, however. The best of these changes is a sprint button so you’re no longer moseying around at Mickey’s slow default run speed. Mickey also has a dash button for dodging, a ground pound, and unlockable costumes he can change into. Some level design has also been reworked, though it’s been so long since I played the original I couldn’t tell what had changed.

The most noticeable alteration is the visuals. The Wii release was very bright, which went against the darker tone the game was going for. It was also very obviously limited by the console, but now that those restraints have been lifted the visual style can truly shine. Rebrushed is stunning. It’s easy to see a massive amount of work has been put in to fulfill the game’s promise of a darker Disney world, and it pays off. I think Mickey himself looks a bit uncanny in this style, but other characters like Oswald and Clarabelle cow (both of whom I’m still waiting to appear in Kingdom Hearts) look straight out of a modern 3D Disney short. The menus received the same treatment, keeping the paint globs aesthetic and running with it. I do find Mickey’s face in the HUD to be less interesting than the classic drawing of him from the original, but his face’s expression does still change depending on your current health like Banjo-Kazooie which is a cool touch.

The animated cutscenes have all been rerendered in higher quality or redone entirely as is the case with the 3D opening. These 2D scenes are still incredibly charming, taking on a chalk drawing-like look, with tutorials literally being drawn on a chalkboard. I especially love the use of blues and browns to create lighting on monochromatic characters. I wish they had gone back and added voice acting to these, as they feel a bit empty with just grunts, but it’s great to see them in such high quality.

Of course, all the pretty in the world can’t improve gameplay and Epic Mickey is… fine, on that front. The core platforming is fairly bland throughout most of the game. It never offers anything particularly interesting or challenging, despite the pure platforming sections between major areas (all modeled after specific cartoons). Instead, Epic Mickey focuses more on exploration and light puzzle solving, usually with a good and bad aligned solution to every puzzle. The areas are fun to look around, painting in or thinning the scenery depending on your current proclivities, but a lot of areas just feel like filler. For example, the first area in the pirate zone needs you to collect a few objects to progress. To do this, you need to complete a few side quests which all require you to collect a few different things to be rewarded with the main thing. You essentially do this over and over until the game is done.

Sometimes these quests will have you backtrack, but usually you revisit two areas: Mean Street and Os Town. Once you return, there’s nothing new or interesting to do there besides talk to an NPC or purchase items from the shops. The incredible art direction and wonderful work this remake puts in is still let down by lackluster gameplay that all feels very samey. I enjoy the paint and thinner mechanics and the choices the game does allow me to make, but the rest of the game has so very little going on it all blends together.

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