Brainy Gamer

If you frequent this space, you already know Epic Mickey piqued my interest well before its release last week. Warren Spector's creative involvement and passionate evangelism for the game made me curious to play it, and I was especially keen to investigate a genre mash-up of Zelda, Mario, and early Disney animation.

Well, I finished the game and began to write an essay on it. 300 words in, it occurred to me that I could use a little help. The question of what to make of Epic Mickey turns out to be more complicated than I anticipated.

Usually, I play a game, post my thoughts, and invite comments. A conversation often ensues, and my thinking is nearly always affected by that exchange.

This time, I'd like to switch it around. I want to invite your comments on Epic Mickey, and I want those comments to help inform my own thoughts on the game.

Why? Sometimes I play a game, see a film, or read a book and simply don't feel prepared to form a judgement about it. Sometimes my first impulse is to talk about it with someone else, not because I haven't formed any impressions, but because I'm unsure how firmly attached I am to those impressions. Sometimes it's helpful to reserve judgment and reflect on my experience in context with other people's views. It's something I routinely ask my students to do; but something, I confess, I rarely do myself. 

So, if you've played Epic Mickey and have an opinion or two you'd like to share, I welcome them here. In the meantime, I'll finish a second playthrough, and later this week I'll return with my own post on the game, inevitably informed by your observations here.

As always, thanks for reading and, especially, for contributing to the conversation.