This month, Disney Interactive released the anticipated “Disney Infinity 3.0”–the latest iteration of the popular hybrid toy/video game, along with two “Star Wars” playsets, “Twilight of the Republic,” and “Rise Against the Empire.”

I have previously looked at some of the specific changes made for this version both at E3 [/blogs/lauragilbreath/2015/06/e3_2015_a_disturbance_in_the_f.html] and SDCC [/blogs/lauragilbreath/2015/07/san_diego_comiccon_2015_disney.html] but this is the first time I’ve gotten a chance to play through on a console at home since version 1.0.

On comparing the two versions, I can say that 3.0 is roughly a thousand times more entertaining than 1.0, with the caveat that I have 1.0 on the Wii, which did not have access to the Disney Infinity internet features, and 3.0 on the PS4…which is a little like using a Tesla and a VW bug to compare driving experiences.

Looking just at the two “Star Wars” playsets, there’s an enormous jump in the quality of storytelling that goes on, with the games doing a surprisingly good job following the timelines of their individual trilogies. In general, a cinematic cutscene sets up where you are in the plot, after which your chosen character is free to wander about exploring and taking on missions. The missions are color-coded with some being integral to advancing the game and others intended to accumulate skills and experience.

When you start off in a given playset, there are only so many characters you can utilize in it…but as the game progresses, you can find “champion coins” which allow you to unlock a variety of different (but related) playable characters. Ultimately, finding all of them would allow you to play all the Star Wars characters in any of the Star Wars playsets.

This becomes important as the game progresses, because when your character “dies,” unless you want to revert back to the last checkpoint, you need to switch them out with a different character while the dead one rests (“I’m getting better!”) The problem I have, possibly because of the new and more challenging combat styles, or because I might not have mad combat skilz, is that I typically start dying during the big Boss fights–but once I die with the character I’ve been using awhile, I now have to switch it out with a new low-level character who then dies even faster. The end of the fight typically becomes a mad rush with me throwing every conceivable character I’ve unlocked at the antagonist hoping they get in a couple of good hits before he casually wipes them out and I go looking for another figure to put on the base. My best advice would be to either not be the flail at combat that I am, or make sure you have a decent assortment of figures to fall back on.

And after all, why wouldn’t you get as many figures as you could? They are arguably the best part of the whole affair, with a distinctive art style and an impressive level of detail. Even if you don’t have any intention of playing the game at all, it’s hard to think any Disney fan wouldn’t be tempted to start collecting their favorite characters. Each successive version of the game allows you to use the earlier version characters in the Toy Box, but is not compatible with earlier version playsets–so if you want to keep playing those, you’ll have to hold onto your earlier versions and platforms.

Recently, Disney Infinity released images of some figures for their third “Star Wars” playset, “The Force Awakens:”

To develop your characters, there is a new Skill Tree interface that allows you to level up certain skills and abilities RPG-style. Each character has individual specializations according to their canonical fighting styles, and points can be allocated to develop melee attacks versus ranged or force powers. Some clearly read better than others, however–Leia’s special skill seems to be “call other guys to come fight for her,” which sounds a little weak.

Another aspect of the gameplay is various missions in space, where your character is directed to fight and evade enemy spacecraft.

As it turns out, I’m not that good at hitting other ships, or even dodging stationary objects, but I do have a specific talent for flying around in an inept, random manner that makes it difficult to be hit, and fortunately all three of those abilities turn out to be about the same value, so the Empire can still be defeated.

The playsets probably take around 3-4 hours to complete if you’re reasonably proficient, or 5-10 hours if you’re me. It could also be longer if you stopped to do all the optional missions or racing games, etc. Difficulty settings can be dialed up or down depending on your proficiency level.

Of course the playsets are only a part of the Disney Infinity experience–there is also the Toy Box mode which allows for free-range creative play and greatly broadens the scope of what you can do with your characters. I’ll examine that and the brand new Toy Box Expansion Games next time.

“Disney Infinity 3.0 Edition Video Game and Base are required to play the Toy Box Expansion Games. Toy Box Takeover and Toy Box Speedway will be sold separately at the suggested retail price of $19.99 each.

The Disney Infinity 3.0 Edition Starter Pack, Disney-Pixar Inside Out and Star Warsâ„¢ Rise Against The Empire Play Sets are currently available in major North American retail stores for the PlayStation®4 and PlayStation®3 computer entertainment systems, Xbox One and Xbox 360 and the Wii Uâ„¢ system from Nintendo. Disney Infinity 3.0 Edition is rated E10+ by the ESRB and developed by Avalanche Software in partnership with Ninja Theory, Sumo Digital, Studio Gobo and United Front Games. Additional Disney Infinity 3.0 Edition Play Sets, Power Discs and figures will be available later this year.

All figures and Power Discs from the 1.0 and 2.0 editions of Disney Infinity will be compatible with Disney Infinity 3.0 Edition in the enhanced Toy Box 3.0.”

Post a Comment