Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes offers one of the most robust overhauls of an existing video game that I’ve seen during my twenty-plus years with the hobby, but not everything in the latest starter pack for Disney’s toy-to-life platform will have you singing the praises of Disney Infinity 2.0 Edition.
For all of the improvements that have been made to the series’ Toy Box mode – the sandbox-ish offering that keeps many hooked on Disney Infinity – I was disappointed by the lack of quality pre-built content included with the Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes Starter Pack. Especially after last year’s beginner boxes offered 15-20 hours of enjoyable Disney Infinity content.
That said, I’m also having a hard time finding the words to describe the greatness of Toy Box 2.0 and/or the entertainment potential to be found in the latest collection of Disney Infinity content creation tools.
Early Toy Box 2.0 creations from highly-regarded Disney Infinity map makers have already shown it’s possible to build your own fighting game, platformer, isometric action-RPG, tower-defense games and loads more. And, seeing as the latest generation of gamers was practically raised by Minecraft, the gaming public probably couldn’t ask for a better way to interact with its favorite Marvel characters.
Of course, I suppose it’s probably silly of me to assume that everyone reading a Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes review is already well-versed in Disney Interactive’s popular toy-to-life platform and/or the content introduced before this month’s Marvel invasion.
Disney Infinity is The Walt Disney Company’s latest attempt at changing public perceptions of what movie tie-ins are and/or can be. Despite recently introducing a plethora of Marvel personalities, the platform was originally launched with a wide variety of characters and Play Sets inspired by popular Disney franchises like Monsters University, Pirates of the Caribbean and Toy Story.
As for gameplay, Disney Infinity content is split into two distinct flavors: Play Sets and Toy Box creations.
The former describes pre-built content from Avalanche Software, and don’t allow any degree of overlap between the various Disney properties, while the latter is a sandbox where players can mix and match personalities and set pieces from any/every IP in the Disney Infinity catalog. As far as presentation, the game does its best to make players feel as though they’re really controlling toys that have come to life, to the point that the game’s “death” animations resemble a toy crumbling into several pieces.
All of that more or less remains the same in Disney Infinity 2.0 Edition. Longtime fans will be happy to hear that Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes maintains the series’ visual style and the characters onscreen still looks astoundingly like moving versions of the very toys sitting next to your Disney Infinity portal.
The only difference is that the franchise now includes a number of prominent characters from the Marvel Universe, and a host of gameplay changes to complement the new characters from Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes. Many of those changes are also retroactive and might increase your desire to finish leveling all of the figures in your Disney Infinity collection.
Even better, the jump to PS4 and Xbox One has given Avalanche the extra horsepower needed to keep the game’s frame rate from taking noticeable dips during both local cooperative and online multiplayer sessions. And better performance is only the beginning of the improvements introduced in Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes.
The combat mechanics in Disney Infinity have undergone a significant overhaul in the twelve months since Disney Interactive’s toy-to-life game first hit the market. Combat controls remain more or less unchanged, save for the addition of a Super button, but those hoping to see the game get a bit more complex should be pleased with the changes implemented in Disney Infinity 2.0.
Each playable character in the Disney Infinity universe now has their very own Skill Tree, complete with melee and ranged attack boosts, extended attack combos and (in the case of 2.0 Edition figures) unique Super moves that can be unlocked after leveling up a couple of times. The skill trees give Infinity owners a fair amount of control over how their favorite characters play, particularly if you choose to throw most or all of your points into a particular branch of the tree.
A significantly more diverse line-up of enemies also await Disney Infinity players in this new wave of adventures; both in the now increasingly-populated Toy Box and the various Disney Infinity Play Sets that can be purchased.
Obviously, there was a bit of variety in the first wave of Disney Infinity content, but enemies very rarely showed any ability to adapt to players’ combat strategies. In Disney Infinity 2.0 Edition, or at the very least Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes, enemies also have both ranged and melee attacks at their disposal, though each does seem to prefer one over the other.
Many of the changes introduced in Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes expand upon features that appeared in the previous version of Disney Infinity, and continue to improve what was already an incredibly promising franchise. “Different” doesn’t always mean “better “, though.
Like last year’s Disney Infinity starter set, the Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes beginner’s set includes three different gameplay scenarios for players to tackle. Unfortunately, only one of the three offers real story progression or anything resembling the sort of pre-built content that fans have come to expect from a Disney Infinity Play Set.
All of this is especially disappointing when you consider the fact that Avalanche used the same world map for both the Avengers and Spider-man Play Sets, theoretically giving each team more time to spend on developing new missions for the Disney Infinity community.
Instead, what you’ll find is just enough content to kill about four hours, and it won’t even take you that long if you’ve got a partner helping you out. Sure, the new Crossover Coin collectibles allow you to play a couple of extra missions with Rocket Raccoon and Nova, but even these minor add-ons only give you about 20 more minutes of content per character. And accessing each requires Disney Infinity players to shell out another $28 (plus tax) for the aforementioned figures.
The Crossover Coins themselves are a neat idea, given the Marvel Universe’s long history of guest appearances and occasional team-ups, but feel a bit too exploitative in their current state. I’m all for increasing the amount of content that comes with the purchase of a new Disney Infinity figure, but I’d rather Avalanche and Disney Interactive not use it as an excuse to offer less content in new Play Sets.
I’m also not an especially big fan of the new “Defeated” state that can (and will) befall the various figures in your Disney Infinity collection, either. It’s a mechanic that hovers somewhere between “poorly-implemented attempt at upping the difficulty” and “gross attempt to further boost the profits of a massively successful video game franchise”. To be honest, it really doesn’t even matter which one I’m leading towards because the resulting feelings are still the same. I hate the “Defeated” character state.
Regardless of which Disney Infinity character is currently sitting on my portal, there’s a good chance that I’m currently doing my best to finish leveling up that particular member of my personal roster. Well, if we‘re being honest, I’m probably just trying to get to level 10; the point at which you unlock the gold statue for each Disney Infinity character.
Either way, the leveling process is a multi-hour grind, and one that must be repeated for each character you’d like to see take up permanent residence in your Hall of Heroes or Hall of Superheroes. So why would I want the game to tell me I can’t use that hero for any period of time? Much less when trying to complete content, like the Exploration Survival mode in “Escape from the Kyln”, that offer opportunities for several hours of nearly uninterrupted combat?
The answer: I don’t.
Granted, in many scenarios, players have the ability to restart from a checkpoint, rather than placing a new figure on the Disney Infinity portal. But there were several situations I encountered when I could see a player – especially a younger fan of Disney Infinity – not having enough figures to avoid replaying some portion of whatever content is currently giving them trouble.
That also doesn’t take into account the occasions when load times for your next Disney Infinity character can cause you to fail a mission, or the frustration of being forced to use heroes that you might not be an especially big fan of.
And it’s not the only rough edge in the Disney Infinity 2.0 experience.
While I’d probably agree with the assertion, that Disney Infinity is a property best enjoyed with at least one other person, I’m not sure I’m a fan of the decision to only balance the game for cooperative play. A number of missions in the Avengers playset were clearly designed with two players in mind, and don’t appear to have re-balanced to accommodate those who can’t or don’t want to play with a friend.
I’m also profoundly disappointed by the fact that Disney Infinity 1.0 characters weren’t given their own Super moves; yet another decision that I can’t help but assume was purely profit-driven. Despite giving each their very own skill tree, many of which offer expanded attack combos for the existing characters, the only way you’ll get to see the most powerful attacks in Disney Infinity 2.0 Edition is by spending more money.
Several of the new camera modes also seem to break existing game mechanics; specifically, the ability to manually target enemies with the ranged attacks of your favorite Disney Infinity characters. It’s an issue that appears several times throughout the Avengers Play Set, especially if you’re a fan of Iron Man, and can be especially problematic on missions that require you to guard objects from waves of enemies.
Opinions among the Disney Infinity faithful are likely to be split, when it comes to the 10-12 hours of Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes content included in the Starter Pack, but Toy Box 2.0 should make up for whatever shortcomings you see in Avalanche’s pre-built offerings.
In many ways, Toy Box 2.0 feels like an entirely new experience. Where the Avengers Play Set and pre-built Toy Box Games from the Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes Starter Pack felt like Avalanche meeting the bare minimum expectations to collect a new paycheck, Toy Box 2.0 proves there’s still plenty of passion driving development of the Disney Infinity franchise.
Everything from the game’s logic functions to Toy Box generation has been vastly improved, and those changes are evident from the minute you begin the process of creating a new Toy Box. Disney Infinity now gives players the option of randomly-generating the basic terrain for a wide variety of potential Toy Boxes, including, but not limited to, new cities, mountain villages, race tracks and more. A new portal mechanic will even let you link up to ten Toy Boxes together to create multi-stage missions/games.
We’re not talking about anything on par with Minecraft, Starbound or Terraria. You don’t need to worry about trying to remember where to find specific biomes in your Toy Box, or worry about harvesting non-spark resources to continue building your next Toy Box creation. But Disney Infinity will offer nearly as much freedom to create your very own gaming experiences as those respected sandbox titles, and the game doesn’t even have traditional mod support.
Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes – Final Verdict
If you’ve spent any significant time with Disney Infinity in the last 12-plus months, and still feel a desire to revisit the platform with some regularity, then dropping a few bucks on some new Disney Infinity 2.0 Edition content seems like a no-brainer.
The Avengers Play Set may not be perfect, and the pre-built Toy Box Games included with the Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes Starter Pack may not have been my favorite gaming experiences of all time, but they each still offered several hours worth of entertainment. And I’m already dreading the number of hours I’ll lose to the Disney Infinity community’s Toy Box 2.0 creations.
Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes isn’t the biggest, best or most-challenging game on the market. But, for millions and millions of people around the globe, it doesn’t really need to be. And, judging by the growing collection of Disney Infinity figures on my desk, I’d say it’s safe to count me among that crowd.
Disney Infinity 2.0 Edition remains an incredibly effective way to mesh basic gameplay with the movies and characters that entertained me during my childhood years. The latest iteration of the Disney Infinity franchise also features the best suite of content creation tools that you’ll find in a modern AAA game.
Despite its improvements, Disney Infinity still won’t appeal to everyone. But the bulk of the changes introduced in the Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes Starter Pack should prove popular with the game’s existing community, and any sandbox fans who decide to take the plunge in the coming months.
Score – 4/5
What did you think of Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes? Have a different outlook on the pre-built content that Avalanche included with the Disney Infinity 2.0 Edition starter packs? Already have some ideas for a Toy Box Game that you’re planning to get started on this weekend?
Let us know in the comments section!
