You knew it was coming…
Disney Infinity is a series that should be awesome. A virtual toy box of beloved characters tossed into a game that should at least be competent enough to be fun. I gave the original the old college try, and was sorely disappointed at its lack of said fun. Still, there was a lot of promise, and I was sure that a sequel would fix all the problems; and featuring Marvel characters how could it possibly be bad? Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes – 2.0 Edition (that is a long name) doesn’t improve upon its predecessor. Instead, it narrows the field with a shorter campaign out of the box, as well as not fixing a lot of the problems presented by the first game.
The starter kit comes with one playset, The Avengers, and three figures. I did like that I could play co-op out of the box this time around, as all the figures work with the playset. The problem with the out-of-the-box set is that it is as short as one of the three campaigns included with the first game. This means I felt like I was getting a third of the content for the same price. The adventure is also a lot more linear than the first game. Barreling down narrow corridors beating down enemies with limited combos and stiff controls is not the most exciting interpretation of being a superhero.
Be sure to bring your friends.
Platforms: XB1, PS4, Wii U, 360, PS3, Wii
MSPR: $74.99 (starter kit) $39.99 (play sets) $14.99 (figures)
This page will make your wallet cry.
Multiplayer: Local (2) and online, 2-4 players.
Leveling up characters is the same as before. Collecting XP from fallen enemies unlocks new combos and special moves that spice up the combat. Only after progressing several levels did the game play liven up enough to be interesting.
The story also felt flat after the first few missions. The adventure starts off lively and charming, but quickly falls into boredom and tedious fetch quests long before it is over.
I also had a chance to play both of the playsets available at launch. Spider-Man suffers almost the exact same issues, with an interesting opening featuring everyone’s favorite weirdo Mysterio, but quickly falls into tedium. Missions involving collecting batteries seem to be a theme in Disney Infinity 2.0.
The Guardians of the Galaxy pack should be the saving grace, but sadly it is also plagued with battery-fetch missions and a substandard storyline.
All of this makes me really disappointed, because the amount of characters available at launch is outstanding. There are at least five per play set, and they are spaced out among well-known faces, and some obscure personas. They were also really fun to play once I got them leveled up. The Venom and Hulk toys in particular are large and high-quality. The presentation of the toys themselves is excellent.
My four-year old son was obsessed with Spider-Man, and wanted to jump around the Toy Box constantly with everyone’s favorite web-slinger. He was super excited to see all the characters and watch them appear in the game, but even after 30 minutes or so of messing around, he lost interest in the game as well, though he still wants to play with the figures.
The Toy Box mode is once again the piece that remains the most interesting. The simple addition of doors allowed me to link together up to five play sets, opening up a plethora of possibilities. I truly cannot wait to see what creations people come up with once the game launches.
I could also generate generic-themed worlds and just toy around with the various characters, and even level them up with enemies tossed in.
The thing that holds all this back is that in order to unlock items for the Toy Box, players must slog through the main game to gather items. Power Discs also return, as well as being compatible with the original game’s discs. It is also worth noting that in order to use any Guardians of the Galaxy or Spider-Man pieces, I had to own those play sets. That is pretty much par for the course though.
Quickest licensed turnaround ever.
The Toy Box is likely where the best parts of this game will come from. Being able to use all figures, old and new, as well as creating more interesting scenarios to play will go further than the core game ever could. I almost feel like Avalanche should remove the core games and focus entirely on the Toy Box mode; it is clearly where the heart and soul of the game lies. Plus, it would remove forcing us to play through the linear core games to unlock the good stuff.
Being on the new consoles hasn’t changed much for the visuals. They are still simple and colorful. This looks and feels almost like a slightly higher-resolution version of the first game; which is fine, because the art style is decent, and I actually enjoy the simplistic look.
Disney Infinity remains a series with a host of potential that never seems to get fleshed out. The Toy Box once again reigns as the sole reason to purchase the game, and it doesn’t come cheap. Disney knows what they are doing though, adding in Marvel only makes kids scream for the figures even more than before. My guess is next year we finally see the Star Wars equivalent, I just hope the core game can improve before that happens.
Review copy of game, play sets, and figures provided by publisher.
