Disney Infinity Video Game Review
Disney Infinity is Disney’s foray into the toys-to-life genre. Inspired by the Toy Box mode of Toy Story 3, Disney Infinity allows you to bring your favorite Disney characters together for grand adventures.
Toy Box
Disney Infinity has two main game modes. The first is the Toy Box. The Toy Box lets you select a prebuilt world, or make your own from scratch. Once there, you can create anything using the toys you unlock. Populate the world with enemies and townspeople from your favorite Disney movies. Place set pieces like Cinderella’s castle or the Cave of Wonders (Aladin). Ride vehicles and mounts from the Incredicar to a recognizer to Silver (the Lone Ranger’s horse). Ever wanted to have Captain Jack Sparrow ride Bullseye while wielding Syndrom’s zero-point energy gauntlet and sporting Buzz Lightyears’ jetpack? Me too!
In addition to the Toy Box worlds, you can also play Adventures. Adventures range from tutorials to learn how the creator works to races, combat arenas, and collection challenges.
The final aspect of the Toy Box is the Hall of Heroes. It starts out as a big, empty room, but as you collect and upgrade your characters, it changes. Impressive columns, decorative banners, and scenic gardens begin to fill the area, as well as statues of your heroes. If you can collect all 29 characters, there is a special surprise (hint: Star Wars fans will love it).
Some of the characters (Jack Skellington, Phineas, Agent P, Anna, Elsa, Rapunzel, Wreck-It Ralph, Vanellope von Schweetz, and Sorcerer’s Apprentice Mickey) are only playable in the Toy Box.
Play Sets
Disney Infinity’s second game mode, it’s story mode as it were, is Play Sets. The six Play Sets are unlocked by placing the corresponding toy on the Disney Infinity Base. Play sets can only be played by the characters of that franchise and feature a series of missions and cutscenes to tell a light story. They also have a host of unlockable toys you can carry over to the Toy Box.
In the Incredibles Play Set, Syndrome has united other supervillains to wreak havoc in Metroville, and it’s up the Mr. Incredible, Mrs. Incredible, Dash, Violet, and Syndrome(?) to stop him. The Incredibles must develop their secret base, locate missing supers, and defeat the villains and army of omnidroids.
The Pirates Play Set allows you sail the seas with Captain Jack Sparrow, Hector Barbosa and Davy Jones as they fight cursed pirates and collect the pieces of an ancient artifact that will let them defeat the kraken. This Play Set features unique ship gameplay, where you can take on a fleet of enemy vessel with your own customizable ship.
The Monsters University Play Set features Mike Wazowski, Sulley, and Randy as they compete against rival school, Fear Tech. They play pranks (toilet papering statues, scaring students, and paintballing) while trying to keep their own campus clean.
The Cars Play Set takes place in Radiator Springs, where Lightning McQueen, Mater, Holley Shiftwell, and Francesco Bernoulli help Luigi prepare for the town’s first International Race Invitational. This Play Set is different from the others since it’s all vehicular gameplay (obviously). Get ready for a lot of racing, and maybe a little tractor tipping.
In the Lone Ranger Play Set (based on the criminally underrated movie), you help the Lone Ranger and Tonto defend the town of Colby from Butch Cavendish and his gang. You use the train to deliver supplies to the various settlements, and even gain the ability to fly as a crow.
The final Play Set is Toy Story in Space. It is the most drastic departure from the source material as Woody, Buzz, and Jessie work with Star Command to help colonize an alien plant. They help build the settlement, discover the strange powers of goo, and take on the Evil Emperor Zurg.
My Thoughts
Disney Infinity is a pretty fun game. While the gameplay is simple, a lot of the characters play the same, and most of the missions are simple fetch quests or beat ’em up tasks, it was still addicting. Collecting all of my favorite Disney characters and unlocking all sorts of new toys for them to play with was fun. I didn’t really enjoy the editor side of the game, but loved the Play Sets (even if there were waaaay too many races and collectible challenges).
Like all toys-to-life games, it can get pricey if you want to collect all 29 characters, and the need to buy power discs to unlock all the toys and customization options (even my OCD didn’t compel me to go that far) was frustrating, but there’s plenty of fun to be had even with just the starter set (Sulley, Mr. Incredible, Jack Sparrow, and all three of their respective playsets). Don’t expect anything too deep, just the simple joy of seeing Disney in an imaginative new way.
My Rating 3/5
