It feels like we've been waiting forever for the arrival of Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two. Over the past few months I've been to several preview events for the highly anticipated sequel featuring Mickey Mouse and Oswald, and each time something new is revealed. With the game just about a month away now, you'd think everything that needs to be revealed about Epic Mickey 2, has been done already. Think again.
At New York Comic Con, Junction Point CEO and Epic Mickey creator Warren Spector revealed a whole slew of new features in Epic Mickey 2 ranging from a new level to an entirely new feature.
The first reveal was a new land based on the Disneyland attraction "Mine Train Through Nature's Wonderland", which opened in the 1950s, but is no longer around today (although, Warren Spector did spot bits of the track that are left over). In Epic Mickey 2, you can revisit this Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs-inspired land and its many parts including the Rainbow Caverns and Rainbow Falls.
Rainbow Caverns is split into two areas: the Angel side and the Demon side, which includes a maze filled with cascading fire. To navigate through the maze I had to turn wrenches to alternate the fire.
In both the preview video and hands-on demo I played, the new area looked fantastic. It's not just a resemblance of the ride, but the new land has literally been recreated straight from the ride blueprints. The result is remarkable as the bright colors of the iconic rainbow features accentuate and highlight the various areas of the mine, creating a visually pleasing environment.
That's not all, Spector also revealed a new Costumes feature. With this, you can go to the hat shop on Mean Street and buy parts of costumes, or find them in the world, and be rewarded with them. Spector didn't go into detail about what these costumes do exactly, and I didn't get to try them out in my demo, but you can sort of imagine what they do. In the preview it showed Mickey in a suit of armor. I'm assuming it gives him extra defense. In addition to what I assume will be an added stat bonus, the costumes will change your character's abilities which changes the way you interact with the world, harking back to Junction Point's emphasis on "play style matters"
Speaking of play style matters, there's another feature that changes the way you play Epic Mickey 2: inkwells. These inkwells, which change according to the way your playing, offer you two different inks: invisible ink and indelible ink, each offering a different type of playstyle. If you prefer the less combative playstyle, you can use invisible ink and sneak past enemies. For those of you who like fighting, go with the indelible ink and become invulnerable for a period of time.
Depending on how you play, the inkwells throughout Wasteland – except for the first one that is absolutely needed to solve a puzzle – will change to fit your playstyle. In the demo, I had to go invisible to sneak past a motion detector. Keep in mind, the ink does not last forever and if you run with it, it will wear off.
Also included in Epic Mickey 2 are even more Pins. There's now a shop to keep track of your collection and compare yours with others. The Pins also effect the player's ability, but Spector didn't touch on that just yet. Yet another way your experience with Epic Mickey 2 will differ with others.
But wait, there's more! There's a photo shop on Mean Street where you can buy a camera and record your adventure. Since your experience will likely be different than someone else, you can record your journey and compare it with friends. Like Disneyland and Disney World there are recommended photo opportunities of unique locations as well quests which require you to take pictures.
Finally, since Wasteland is such a fun and unique environment, Epic Mickey 2 has a place called The Observatory. If you can find it, you can look through the telescope and learn some things about the universe.
Keep in mind, all of these new features are in each version of the game. The Wii U version of Epic Mickey 2 has some added differences in terms of how you actually play the game with the GamePad, but as far as features, these are uniform throughout each version.
Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two is due out on November 18, 2012 for Xbox 360, PS3, Nintendo Wii, and the Wii U. But before you think this is all of the features, Warren Spector did hint that there are even more surprises that wait us! During the same event, Spector also revealed some new things about the upcoming 3DS title, Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion; a new level was revealed which you can read about here.
