When Disney first announced that it was working with renowned PC game developer Warren Spector’s Junction Point Studios on a new Wii game featuring Mickey Mouse, gamers were predictably surprised by the apparent contradictions of such a pairing.

Regardless, Disney Epic Mickey looks to successfully combine the mature, intricate story and mechanics of Spector’s Deus Ex series, with the charm and tradition of 80 years of the Walt Disney Company.

Incorporating aspects of the Disney animated canon, theme park attractions and live-action titles to generate a twisted, forgotten world called the Wasteland. Populated by the discarded characters of Disney’s history, Mickey Mouse accidentally enters the Wasteland and inadvertently antagonizes an old enemy, the Phantom Blot, that threatens to consume the entire world. Mickey flees, leaving Walt Disney’s first forgotten hero, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, to lead the citizens of the Wasteland in what Spector called “The Blot Wars,” which rage for years until Mickey returns to repair what he had mistakenly set loose.

Combining a unique creation and destruction mechanic, featured prominently in last year’s Red Faction: Guerilla, Disney Epic Mickey allows the player to destroy and remake the world at will to solve puzzles and combat enemies. Using a brush that projects both paint and paint thinner, Mickey can travel through various hub worlds accepting quests from the numerous NPCs that populate the Wasteland. Enemies are encountered in separate combat zones, which feature 3D platforming as well as both melee and ranged combat. Mickey reaches these combat zones by traversing self-contained, 2D side-scrolling levels based on classic Disney cartoons.

Combining Spector’s mature storytelling and the majesty of the Disney universe, Disney Epic Mickey is sure to attract an interested crowd when it launches later this year, exclusively on Nintendo Wii.

Art installation at Epic Mickey booth (Photo by Kenny Redublo)

Art installation at Epic Mickey booth. (Photo by Kenny Redublo)

Drawing Mickey Mouse for Epic Mickey. (Photo by Kenny Redublo)