I’ve been looking forward to playing Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two ever since it was announced. With its addition of 2-player mode (including a playable Oswald the Lucky Rabbit), references and connections from Disney’s past, and a hopefully-improved camera control, this game had my hopes set very high.

I had the opportunity to play a review copy of the game (provided by Disney) for the Nintendo Wii over the last couple of days, and it’s an excellent step up from the original Epic Mickey game, and has been quite enjoyable for me to play. Depending on what kind of player you are, you may like it even better than I did.

What works well for me:

• Oswald the Lucky Rabbit – Bringing in Oswald as a playable character is wonderful, especially when he’s actually being played by another person. When he’s computer controlled he doesn’t do much–at least in what I’ve played so far–but when playing with a partner it’s fantastic. Oswald has a couple of fun and useful abilities, and using those is often a delight. Mickey and Oswald team up well, too, including doing some things that neither could accomplish on their own. The fact that they actually need each other makes me smile. From a player’s standpoint, it’s also much more fun to be able to play with someone than for that person to just have to sit and watch you play, then start their own game while you sit and watch.

• The visuals – The original game had some haunting, sometimes even a little creepy, visual representations in Wasteland. The darkness lent itself well to that game, but the sequel has a different tone, with brighter and more detailed visuals to match. The details in the backgrounds are amazing, and I’ve already caught myself wandering to areas, rather than focusing on the task at hand, just so I can explore and admire them. It’s in these backgrounds, props, etc. that you’ll find most of the references to past attractions, characters, and even animated features and shorts. One of my favorite parts of the game so far has been a door (pictured above) where Mickey and Oswald have to pull wooden levers to move carvings of Snow White and Prince Charming together, almost to “true love’s kiss”, in order to open the door.

• The music – I had become accustomed to the haunting score in the first game, even enjoying it, and that’s much less noticeable this time. In its place, though, is more musical numbers, almost like you would find in a movie or theater production, albeit much shorter. The Mad Doctor seems to do most of the singing, but there was one moment when Oswald responded to something the Doctor sang, and he wouldn’t respond until Oswald sang the question. The insistence of the Doctor and Oswald’s obviously reluctant acceptance of it actually made me laugh out loud. (As a side note, the fact that the characters all speak now not only adds to the musical element, it also makes them much more interesting and fun to watch and interact with.)

• A bit more “hand-holding” – In the first Epic Mickey game, there were several times where I couldn’t figure out what to do or where to go and had to just wander around an area hoping I might get lucky or notice something I’d overlooked the last 12 times I walked by that spot. In Epic Mickey 2, Gus (your gremlin friend from the first game) offers much more advice and direction. There’s still some trial-and-error, but it’s much easier to progress in the game than before.

• More “saves” – There is now a “save icon” that shows up on-screen and saves your progress as you go. This happens much more often, seemingly every three or four minutes–as opposed to before, when you had to actually complete a section or level before the game saved your progress. That made for some longer-than-desired gaming sessions for me, since once I’d made good progress in an area I didn’t want to lose it, but may have to keep going for another half-hour to get to the next save point. In this game, it’s much easier to take breaks, since it saves so often.

What may work better for others:

• A bit too much “hand-holding” may be just what kids need – I’m not what anyone would call a “hard-core gamer”, and while I like that there is more direction  and help, sometimes there’s just too much for my preference. Once Gus has said, “You need to get these pumps in the chargers” 10 or 12 times, I’ve pretty much got the idea–especially since he doesn’t tell you how to do it. Still, for relatively young players this could be a benefit, and it does help to get the reminders from time to time.

• The camera is better, but still somewhat hard to control – Camera control has definitely improved since the first incarnation of the game, but for someone like me who isn’t very experienced at some of the finer points of camera control it can get a little frustrating at times. However, I have yet to encounter an instance where it can’t eventually be moved into the position you need it, which is very different from its predecessor.

• Screen size for two-player mode – When both players are active, the game screen splits, with Mickey on the left and Oswald on the right. During the 2-D scenes when moving between worlds, they are stacked, with Mickey on top and Oswald on the bottom. We have a 40″ TV, and there are times with each of these where it can be difficult to see what’s happening on the screen. I don’t think there’s much the designers could do about this, and if you have a larger TV (48″ would be fine, I think), it shouldn’t be a problem.

There are a couple of other things I would like to see (maybe in an “Epic Mickey 3”?) but these are perhaps more “wish-list items” and preferences than anything else. For example, I wish we could switch back and forth between playing as Mickey or Oswald on the fly. There are times where one is much more useful than the other, and if that one happens to be Oswald but you’re playing by yourself, you’re pretty much out of luck.

That said, Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two is a solid improvement over the original–which I already enjoyed–and is definitely really fun to play. It’s easy to loose track of time and suddenly realize a couple of hours have gone by. If you have young children who get frustrated easily (or if you’re an adult who gets frustrated easily) this may tax your patience a bit, but in my opinion it’s worth it to hear the characters talk, to see (and hear) the hidden details and references, and maybe even develop your own gaming skills through the many directions provided throughout the game.

Epic Mickey 2 is available in stores and online now for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, Wii U and PC/MAC.

For more information, go to www.facebook.com/DisneyEpicMickey or follow the game on Twitter at #savewasteland .