Warren Spector Talks to ONM about Epic Mickey

Back in the Day, Mickey was seen as the most recognisable fictional character in the world, he even had some great video games to his name. Now, he's but a mere shadow of his former self, and Mario is far more known around the world, and Hannah Montana being a more popular Disney Character. A preview by Official Nintendo Magazine comments on Warren Spector being confident that his new Wii game will turn the fortunes of the mouse around. He also tells us more about the game mechanics, and influences he got from other games.

On Influences:

I enter it kind of out of frustration from the games I'm playing and a desire to take things that don't belong together and mash them together to see what happens. Much of what's driven this project is that as much as I'm enjoying the Zelda and Mario games, from a design standpoint they really haven't moved very far in the last 20 years. They're much prettier now, and that's kind of it. The other games that were most inspirational are the Ratchet & Clank games. They really float my boat. They're interesting combinations of story, exploration, action, platforming and all that kind of stuff.

So I started thinking 'what would happen if I took the exploration and tool use of a Zelda game, and the platforming of a Mario game and brought in some of the character customisation and story and role playing elements of, say, a Deus Ex, and mashed them all together?

On Gameplay:

There will be an action-adventure feel to this game, but depending on how you choose to interact with the world and the characters, as well as how you choose to solve the game's problems, you really can make it feel more like Mario than Zelda. Or you can play it in a way that it'll feel more like Zelda than Mario. What per cent of your game has exploration or what per cent has puzzle solving or platforming? I can't answer questions like that. I want it to be up to the player.

In terms of what missions everyone does and problems we ask the player to solve, that is going to be pretty linear. The thing that isn't linear is how you go about solving those problems.

I want every player to get to the end of the game and describe an experience that is unique. The arc of the story belongs to me and I think we're going to tell a great story, but how you get to the end of that story, who's there with you and who likes you and who doesn't, that's all up to you.

We want to make the best game in the world and that's our goal. The opportunity to mess around with one of the most recognisable icons on the planet doesn't come along every day, so you gotta embrace and honour it

You can read more from ONM about the game here.

What do you make of Spector's influences? And how do you think the game will turn out?