In the glory days of the SNES and Sega Genesis, platformers ruled and Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog were the undisputed champs of the genre. Of the many series that went virtually unnoticed in the shadows of those titans, one of the best was the Illusion series from DIsney. The World of Illusion and Castle of Illusion games featured tight platforming, beautiful visuals and a charming soundtrack. The stories were generally the same and saw players guide Mickey Mouse (and Donald Duck later on) through various stages based on Disney worlds as well as original stages that had been warped by the power of Illusion. The series was high quality but nevertheless it gathered dust in the annals of gaming history. Flashes of the games were seen in the crossover RPG series Kingdom Hearts and action/adventures games from Disney like the mediocre GameCube game Magical Mirror and the recent Epic Mickey series. The first Epic Mickey game (Wii only), while good, fell short of the hype but had enough success to prompt a superior sequel which is available on the original Wii, the Wii U, Xbox360 and PS3. A companion handheld title was released along side it, and it generated a lot of excitement for fans of the Illusion series. Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion did not disappoint. Mickey returns to the Castle of Illusion once more, this time to help Oswald combat an evil witch named Mizrabel who's trapped various denizens from different Disney worlds in the Castle. The game retains the classic platforming but overhauls everything else. The combat gets the most significant upgrade. Mickey's most basic attack is triggered by pressing the jump a second time while Mickey is in midair. This triggers an animation which allows Mickey to do damage by landing on the heads of enemies. However, some enemies are protected from this attack, but Mickey has other weapons at his disposal. Mickey can use his magic brush (the signature weapon of the series) to fire projectiles. These projectiles are limited by gauges (a blue gauge for paint, and green for paint thinner) and always result in an item drop when used to defeat an enemy. The paint shots interrupt enemy actions and always cause enemies to drop hearts, and the paint thinner projectiles do more damage and drop paint refills and pretty much every other type of item in the game. The paint and thinner are also used for puzzles. In many places you'll be required to draw or erase items (using the stylus) in the stage to progress the level. The better you draw or erase something the more paint and thinner you get back when you complete the item. Mickey's other attack option is his special attack in which he briefly turns into a whirling tornado. This attack can stun certainly heavily defended enemies and allows you break certain blocks as well as dealing damage to most enemy types. All these abilities can be upgraded. The game has a hub area called the Fortress. Whenever Mickey rescues another character, they set up a room in the Fortress. Some of the characters will open a shop once their room has been upgraded a time or two. These shops accept e-tickets, which is the game's currency and the most common item in the game. These shops allow you to increase the damage you deal with all your attacks, increase your health and upgrade rooms in the Fortress, among other things. The characters also give Mickey sidequests. These sidequests get a bit repetitive but are extremely worth it. They often give you currency, but far more often they yield some extremely useful upgrades. The Fortress is also where Mickey accesses the game's worlds and the stages contained therein. The stages are extremely well designed and the visuals are gorgeous. The stage design also houses one of the game's few complaints. The difficulty of the stages starts out building gradually and eases the player into each new challenge. The last world, based on the Little Mermaid, spikes drastically in difficulty. Most of it takes place under water, which completely changes the physics, and adjusting to the change is made much more challenging thanks to obstacles like strong currents that send you hurtling into walls of spikes and enemies that move much, much faster than you. It will get very frustrating, but don't let it get you down. All the levels are replayable, even after you beat them, so you can figure out the timing and the attack patterns of enemies. The only other real problem with this game is the length of it. For all the sidequests and other activities mentioned above, the game is still really short, but honestly, the game is just too good for this to be anything more than a minor issue. If you own a 3DS and are a fan of the classic Illusion series or just a fan of good platformers, pick up this game.
