I have now bought it and have played it for a few hours. Good game. The ONM review and score is actually pretty much spot on. The negative issues are there and are niggly but (thusfar anyway) DON'T detract at all from the overall game. Great environments to manouvere around and play within. The side characters are great as well. I like the gameplay mechanic - paint and thinning. Its also quite a deep game. Recommended.

Yeah I'd say an 8.5 is probably what I'd rank it right now. Surprisingly, combat--which was my only quibble with the game at the beginning--is actually now one of my favorite parts of the experience. I actually think a lock on system would sort of render it pointless now; part of the fun comes from having to skillfully aim at your opponents with the pointer. There's some added depth beyond pointing and pressing B that also makes it more fun.

Unfortunately, I have a new issue to replace the old one: pacing. I love the hub worlds (Mean Street and OsTown are artfully designed and fun to explore) but there's some sidequests the game makes you do to progress that aren't much fun. Not terrible, just kind of dull. Lots of, "Go get this thing for me! I think I left it over there!" stuff.Thankfully the level design in the action and side-scrolling zones just keeps getting better and better, so the payoff is worth it. Also, most of the time there are either clever ways to avoid the sidequests or ways to complete them more easily. Sometimes that involves paying somebody tickets, but other times it's just a matter of taking some time to explore and finding a more clever solution. This is also where some of the more interesting morality complexes come in. So while the pacing sometimes lags, it's fairly rare that you'll be tasked with something completely uninteresting, and even then it's definitely not detrimental to the over-all experience.

I still haven't encountered any noteworthy camera problems. The D-pad (which controls the camera) is located right next to the A button (which is used for jumping) so it's actually quite simple to maneuver it and jump at the same time (which I actually haven't had to do very often).

Great game. Buy it.

Yeah, I'm used to using the camera that way from other games eg. like Mini Ninjas for example. You can also use "c". If you get into adjusting the camera too much, it works against you anyway.

Ouch, some reviewer at Gamespot didn't wake up on the right side of the bed.
http://www.gamespot.com/wii/adventure/disneyepicmickey/review...

These kinds of reviews only disenchant me about the review system more. Then again, most of the Gamespot folks don't treat this guy seriously anyway. I would rather read reviews from you two than "professional" reviewers.

I never hear Gamestop, they only make awful reviews.

Boy have you seen my silver shield? I am a professional reviewer, son!
Just kidding. Yeah I read that review and I honestly don't know what he was on about half the time. One of his biggest complaints was that the game didn't give the player "clear direction". One of my main complaints with the game is I think there's too much direction. You always know exactly what to do next in that game, and sometimes I wish they'd kind of let the player figure it out. The only times the game doesn't give clear direction is when it wants the player to make a personal decision about how to solve the challenge. But that's the whole point of the game! Play-style matters!

Also, he says "tedium and monotony ruins the game." Oh the irony of that sentence.

Got this for Chanukah. But I'm having a problem. I'm not that far into the game yet. I'm standing in front of the ticket booth and it's not letting me move or do ANYTHING. It's been like that for more than 5 minutes. Am I missing something or is this a glitch?

EDIT: Never mind I just quit and now it's fine. I'll post some impressions later. :3

Well, I've now put about 2 hours into the game, and I am loving it so far! The camera is meh but it's not THAT bad... and I didn't even grow up in the N64 era! I'm interested to see how my decisions affect things.

That Clock Towers 2D stage was absolutely brilliant. The level design in this game makes up for the merely decent control/camera/etc. IMO.

Also, my Mom picked this up at Toys R Us yesterday and said that while she was there EVERYONE was picking up this game, which bodes well for its chances of selling well.

I really want to get it, it looks and sound like the type of game I will just LOVE!!!! Sadly im a little bit short in money (and time), so I will probably pick it next year

I'm really enjoying Epic Mickey, with this and Sonic Colours I'm also reminded how much I liked to play Castle of Illusion and Sonic on the Megadrive.

There is a definite retro sensibility about both the gameplay and the wealth of references to past Disney movies and cartoons. I think its a great game.

Gamespot gave it a 6 only. Harsh! They can be strict though. Personally I find Gamespot an OK review site MOST of the time. Not sure about this revw though. Their Super Scribblenauts DS revw was poor too.

Gamespot is where I usually go for reviews. They haven't completely swayed me away from the game, but I will borrow it first before buying. I think it's cause gamespot seemed to give the game the most hype, and it didn't live up to their expectations.

Alright. Got it today and already played it for several hours.

Im having a mixed feelings on this, but its still bit towards positive. There's bit of problems with the gameplay, like with camera and the quests I've had so far are pretty much just fetching things. There hasnt been any huge "Good or evil" decision yet, but I've heard they'll come eventually. So far I've been doing mostly good stuff, but sometimes I just splatter around tinner for the heck of it.

However, its been using its Disney license well. The story opens slowly and its starting to get interesting with all these characters (Wow! Its the Mad Doctor!). I like the animation style they use in cutscenes. The game also makes me want to look up who these guys are.

Yeah the fetch questing is still my only complaint about this game. It really throws off the pace. The level design, however, just keeps getting better! I just beat Tomorrow City, which is seriously cool, and the boss fight found there is one of the best I've played all year. Just got to Ventureland. I was excited to see all the forgotten Pirates from Peter Pan (I sure hadn't forgotten them. Smee is still one of my favorite Disney characters!) but unfortunately it looks like I'll have to do some fetch questing.

So far: 8.5/10. A great game that suffers from a few pacing issues.

Epic Mickey definitely seems like a game I should pick up cheap. The gameplay isn't as good as I'd hoped, but the style and story are superb, judging from the videos I watched.

How do you know the gameplay isn't as good as you'd hoped if you haven't played it? It's definitely surpassed my expectations in the gameplay department.

The gameplay doesn't work the way I expected it to, that's all. It wasn't what I was hoping, and instead it's the kind of game I know I rarely enjoy. Simple as that. I didn't really follow the game since I wanted the reviews to help me decide before I wrote it off or got too excited, so I wasn't really aware of the actual content of the game beforehand.

When are we gonna get an actual NL review on this game? I was gonna pick it up using Toys R Us' "buy one get one half off" deal, but the guy said he just sold out of it 2 hours earlier. So with my Donkey Kong I got COD Black Ops instead. I hope I don't end up regretting that decision since I already have Goldeneye. :S

It looks like DEM is selling well then

Hey you know how every review has complained about the lack of a lock-on system? There totally is one!
HOLD C TO LOCK ON TO AN ENEMY!
I demand a re-review!