Having worked through classic Disney and Pixar content in the first Infinity game, followed by Marvel adventures last year, the third title in this “toys to life” series now brings out the biggest franchise in Disney’s war chest: Star Wars.
As with its predecessors, the new instalment offers a range of play-sets – self-contained mini-games which can be accessed by putting the correct toy on the base. Twilight of the Republic is included in the Starter Pack and offers a Clone Wars era adventure set between Episodes II and III where a droid factory on Geonosis has been mysteriously activated.
The Rise Against the Empire play-set can be purchased separately a month after launch (or straight away in the £99 Special Edition pack) and brings the AT-AT battles, trench runs and speeder-bike missions from Episodes IV-VI. An Episode VII: The Force Awakens play-set will also be available to purchase at a later date.
Happily all the sets offer much more than a Star Wars skin on last year’s game. For a start Disney Infinity 3.0 is graphically superior. Avalanche Software’s engine has been enhanced through collaboration with other triple A developers: Studio Gobo continues its good work with Episode IV-VI content while Heavenly Sword creator Ninja Theory brings combat smarts to bear not only on its Episode I-III play-set but also throughout the game. Racing game specialist Sumo Digital completes the trio with enhanced handling for vehicles and its Toy Box Speed Way kart racer expansion.
The Starter Pack (£45) is a little cheaper this year, although the toy-box mini games are now sold separately (£13.99). It provides the game disc, USB Disney Infinity base peripheral to read figurines into the game, the Twilight of the Republic play-set as well as two toy characters Ahsoka Tano and Anakin Skywalker to get you started.
Those who have a pervious version can download or purchase the game (£25-£30) on its own. Deals at retail pair this with figures and play-sets to offer not only savings but a route to purchase for those not wanting to play the Star Wars Episode I-III content — either waiting for Episode IV-VI and VII or the other play-set content such as Inside Out.
However the purchase is made, placing a Star Wars figurine on the USB Infinity Base and seeing it appear in iconic locations is spine tingling stuff for fans of the films. First encounters with enemy droids show off the enhanced combat. Ninja Theory may have seemed a strange choice, with its history of gory brawling games like Devil May Cry, but this expertise adds more weight and finessed controls to the fighting along with pixel perfect lightsaber duals — complete with the ability to rebound blaster fire back towards enemies.
The on-foot combat is joined by new space based dog-fights, Podracing and light speed interplanetary travel to the likes of Geonosis, Tatooine, Coruscant and Naboo. This breaks up the more familiar fetch quests and brawling battles to add a sense of polish to the experience.
Purchasing additional characters (£12.50-£14.99) expands the range of combatants as well as offering more lives should one of them die (they fall apart with no blood, by the way, so parents worried about bloody onscreen deaths can rest easy). Some care is warranted here, though, as characters from other Star Wars eras require the hidden “Cross-Over” coins to be collected before they can be used in the Starter Pack adventure.
The toy-box game creator mode is free of these limitations, allowing players to combine any Disney Infinity character old and new. This year, a simple set of enhanced tools enable a wide range of home-made adventures to be created and shared online. Long after the several hours of the play-set adventure have been completed there is still plenty of entertainment to be had here.
Beyond the Star Wars content, Disney Infinity 3.0 also has a set of Inside Out figurines and a related play-set adventure. There are also classic Disney characters for films old and new, including Mickey, Minnie, Mulan and Quorra from Tron as well as the much requested Olaf from Frozen. In the future we’ll also have characters from Good Dinosaur, Zootopia and a Marvel Battlegrounds play-set that promises four player co-op in the adventure mode for the first time.
Then there are the two spin off toy-box games that can be purchased separately. Toy Box Takeover (£13.99) offers an action platformer around Syndrome using Merlin’s magic wand to take over the world. Toy Box Speed Way (£13.99), coming later in the year, applies Sumo Digital’s popular Sonic All Star Racing formula to Disney characters and works wonderfully well in split-screen mode.
This adds up to a lot of content in the Starter Pack and a wide range of ways to expand upon this with additional purchases. However, the tiered release and timed exclusives tied to more expensive packs may frustrate families wanting to access Episodes IV-VI from day one. It all means that some research is required if parents are to purchase the right combination of products. Certainly, most families will want to avoid collecting all these figurines and play-sets, which would set them back over £300 – and that’s before more products roll out later in the year.
In terms of play-value, the toys feel less impressive this year compared to the articulated vehicles of genre rival Skylanders Superchargers and the build-able smart bricks of Lego Dimensions. Adult fans of Star Wars will happily swoon over the sculpted recreations of their iconic heroes but these static figures are more likely destined for the collector’s shelf than the toy chest.
Disney Infinity 3.0 does much more than just rely on Star Wars to sell units, though. Enhancements to combat, toy-box tools and vehicle handling combine with the new space dog-fights, racing and more generous cross-over characters to deliver just what fans of the series have been asking for.
It’s not cheap, and will undoubtedly result in ongoing spending as more content is released, but there is a lot of play value here for fans of the films as well as the younger audience.
Disney Interactive; PC/PS3/PS4/Wii U/Xbox 360/Xbox One; £45; Pegi rating: 7+
