After two years and dozens upon dozens of figures, Disney Infinity has firmly entrenched itself in the toys to life genre. What started out as a showcase of Disney properties in 2013 quickly blossomed into a polished action experience in 2014’s Disney Infinity 2.0 edition that saw the roster expand with the likes of the Avengers, Spider-Man and his amazing friends, new Disney Originals and a pair of denizens from the grids of Tron.

Disney infinity (10)

This year, the Disney empire strikes back with the long-awaited Star Wars addition to Infinity. 3.0 features Jedi, Sith and rebels galore as the galaxy expands. Just like in previous editions, there’s a deep rabbit hole to consider before taking the plunge, as Disney Infinity 3.0 features numerous other characters, expansions and power discs.

A more elegant game, for a more civilised age

Disney infinity (2)

The starter pack will open the game world up for newcomers, giving you everything that you need to get started: two characters (Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano), a playset and the portal necessary to bring your characters into the game world. It’s a bit smaller than previous offerings with one less character available than in other starter packs, but the content is more or less as massive as ever.

Twilight of the Republic is a brief sojourn across the Star Wars galaxy before the fall of the Jedi, but a journey that is packed with more content than 2.0’s New York City or 1.0’s Pirates of the Caribbean seas.

Disney infinity (9)

Four planets are open to visit during the 4-5 hour campaign, that includes the battlefields of Geonosis, the capital city of Coruscant, the plains of Naboo and the deserts of Tattooine.

Just like in previous instalments, there’s a wealth of simple yet variable activities to take part in, that range from simple battles quests through to pod-racing and fetch quests.

Never tell me the odds!

Disney infinity (7)

You’re free to explore all of this at your own pace, as well as use any and all Star Wars characters that you may have collected so far. You’ll still need to collect challenge coins to unlock them for play, but unlike last year’s attempt at cross-play with heroes, you’ll only need to find one coin instead of ten this time.

The coins themselves are easy enough to spot, with the majority of them collected within an hour or two. The big difference in an otherwise familiar franchise this year comes from the retuned combat. Young ones can still easily win a fight by spamming an attack, but the Ninja Theory influence is once again clearly visible here.

Disney infinity (1)

Air-juggles, deep combos and a certain sense of spatial awareness all play a key part, with each Jedi and rogue feeling distinct enough with their own attacks and signature moves.

Sale at the Maul, everything half-off

Disney infinity (8)

Kanan Jarrus mixes lightsaber combos with a volley of blaster bolts as a finisher, Sabine can dart around the battlefield laying traps and Darth Maul can delay attacks to power them up for more vicious spins of his lightsaber staff that deal extra damage. It may not be evident at first, but there clearly has been a lot of fine-tuning behind the scenes to create a combat system that blends the Force, blasters and lightsabers together into one cohesive system.

Combined with a pair of challenging boss encounters, the core gameplay of Disney Infinity has managed to maintain an upward trajectory as the Force flows through players. But it’s the attention to detail where the Star Wars content truly shines. Shots from a blaster sound exactly the way they should straight out of a movie. Ezra Bridger has his trademark scars after the final duel with the Inquisitor.

Clone War and Rebels TV series voice actors help bring to life the cast, while the various planets and locations ooze small details that’ll satisfy any Star Wars fan with an eye for such content. Developer Avalanche clearly had access to a lot of archived and current Star Wars content, and they made the most out of it.

Disney infinity (6)

Players can now also sample some combat in the skies above the planets of Star Wars. Space has opened up, giving players the chance to jump into dogfights and complete other challenges. It’s a light and simple addition, but one that definitely does add value to the single-player.

But it’s the toybox where the bulk of the value lies in Disney Infinity. The 2.0 edition of Infinity made massive strides to turn the creation tool into a friendlier and more family-orientated tool, something that is once again apparent in 3.0. The Toy Box Hub is now an even bigger archive of helpful tools and tutorials, with players able to explore specific sections of the Toybox.

Disney infinity (5)

It’s a fun series of tutorials designed to help you grow your skills in creating your own levels, with new tools having been added as well.

Han Yolo

Disney infinity (1)

Players can now script paths for their Toybox denizens with Creativitoys, configure their environment better, create music and take part in creations from all around the world. If there’s one criticism to make however, it’s that Disney Infinity is sorely in need of a better user interface, with the current setup being a clanky mess of slow menus.

There’s Flynn’s Arcade straight out of Tron, which showcases the best community games of the week, as well as Toy Box TV, a web series of useful lessons and tools. But the other big addition to the Toybox this year comes in the form of sidekicks and farms.

Disney infinity (4)

Sidekicks are now fully-customisable characters with their own attributes and skills. But to grow those skills, you’ll need to spend some time on your farm.

What you farm is in turn used to grow your sidekick, with the various food options being…odd, to say the least. Still, it’s worth the effort, as a sidekick with some time, efforts and vegetables invested in them can be a boon in combat, helping you out of a tight jam. Farms can be placed in any Toybox, with various crops yielding various rewards for your sidekick.

Disney infinity (3)

While there are more figures and Toybox Takeover expansions to purchase, the core Disney Infinity experience is as strong as ever. If you’ve invested in previous editions, the payoff is rewarding as you bring all your favourite figures back into the new Toybox. The balance of content leans far more on the Toybox this year however, so your taste may vary depending on your fondness for creating your own content.

Disney infinity (2)

Still, there’s a wealth of content available, with a thriving online community that has a support base that few other games can boast about.

Last Updated: September 14, 2015

Disney Infinity 3.0
A more civilised game for a more elegant franchise, Disney Infinity 3.0 has found its groove this year, with a an improved and flexible Toybox that'll keep the younglings busy for hours.
8.5
Disney Infinity 3.0 was reviewed on PlayStation 4
80 / 100

23 Comments

  1. “everything half-off”
    *Dies*

    Reply

  2. Greylingad[CNFRMD]

    September 14, 2015 at 13:02

    Definitely getting this for when my little ones can start their own gaming journey…

    Reply

    • Dutch Matrix

      September 14, 2015 at 13:33

      Why not just buy them action figures/dolls and let their imagination run wild? Don’t you think that introducing games to them early on will kill their imaginations a bit, specially how video games spoon feed you quite a lot with regards to worlds being built, stories not being made up by the kids themselves as well? (Just asking, not fighting.)

      Reply

      • Greylingad[CNFRMD]

        September 14, 2015 at 13:38

        You’re right, it does, that’s why we read books every night before they go to bed, this would be for when they’re quite a bit older though…

        Reply

    • Brady miaau

      September 14, 2015 at 13:47

      Same plan. At 21.5 months, she is a bit small now.

      And we read to her too. Why can she not start playing interactive stories?

      Reply

      • Greylingad[CNFRMD]

        September 14, 2015 at 13:53

        There’s nothing wrong with introducing them to games etc. they just have to be the right age, also as long as gaming isn’t the only thing they’re doing it’s ok. It should basically be maybe 5 % of their daily activity. the rest should be fun filled and educational….

        Reply

        • Brady miaau

          September 14, 2015 at 13:58

          Fundamentals of project management? I keep asking my little girl about what she is doing. Sometimes it seems to me she lacks a clear scope and a mission statement. I have tried educating her. It seems to be not taking hold. I mean, she just wonders around looking at stuff, exploring. Perhaps that is the scope, but I think a bit tighter focus may help. *edit*, I kid of course, little ones like this love to just wonder around. My wife and I give her all the space she needs, as long as it does not hurt her. It hurts us, of course, the whole “Gentle Parenting” thing.

          I think games can be educational too, just not in the traditional sense. I know a lot about DLL hell, for example, cause of getting PC’s and games going at LAN’s with my friends. Also, ad hoc networking. All to play games. Taught me a lot, as a side effect of wanting to play, that helped me with my current IT knowledge.

          Reply

          • Greylingad[CNFRMD]

            September 14, 2015 at 14:00

            You see, learn why you play! Hehe, I’ll leave the project management for a much later stage though…His coding skills aren’t on par yet…

          • Brady miaau

            September 14, 2015 at 14:06

            Coding is not a requirement for project management.

            On a more serious note, I think children could sometimes benefit somewhat from skills like that, when a bit older. Not for all activities, but just to make them think a little bit deeper about WHY and then about HOW a task must be accomplished. Not always, but I want my child to think about things..

            Yeah, my family already say things like they feel sorry for my little girl.

          • Greylingad[CNFRMD]

            September 14, 2015 at 14:10

            Hahaha! Don’t worry man, I feel the same way, the secret to teaching them skills is to introduce it to them through daily routine activities, something like simply putting their toys away in a specific manner can teach them structure, it’s the little things that count when added up…

  3. Nikola

    September 14, 2015 at 13:13

    This game seems very expensive cool would play it but seems quite pricey!

    Reply

  4. Brady miaau

    September 14, 2015 at 13:26

    So, to confirm.

    I pay, say, R899, and get a 4-5 hours sandbox? Is that it? All else is extra?

    Reply

    • RinceThis

      September 14, 2015 at 13:30

      It’s not like you get games that are cheaper that last 10 times longer *MGSV cough!

      Reply

      • Brady miaau

        September 14, 2015 at 13:47

        Did not get MGSV.

        For me, Force Unleashed. I am crap at platformer type stuff and I breezed through that in about 8 hours. Not that I knew at the time, but the day I got, Friday, I played 90% of the game that night. Felt a bit let down.

        Reply

    • Dutch Matrix

      September 14, 2015 at 13:30

      But it’s Star Wars!

      Reply

      • Brady miaau

        September 14, 2015 at 13:45

        True.

        But…………

        Not a pressing purchase anyway.

        Reply

    • The D

      September 14, 2015 at 13:31

      Around 4-5 hours for the SP, and the sandbox yes. Of which I’ve spent easy triple that in so far.

      Reply

      • RinceThis

        September 14, 2015 at 13:32

        But you’ve spent triple because you keep putting the figures into your mouth and then have to wait for them to dry. Right? 0_O

        Reply

        • Alien Emperor Trevor

          September 14, 2015 at 13:52

          Don’t be silly. He was playing a Mon Cala level & wanted an extra level of authenticity.

          Reply

      • Brady miaau

        September 14, 2015 at 14:01

        BUT, triple just to get achievements OR because it is was super fun to redo the same areas in different ways?

        Reply

        • The D

          September 14, 2015 at 14:03

          I actually downloaded a whole bunch of community creations, made my own stuff and fooled around. I’m easily amused 😀

          Reply

          • Brady miaau

            September 14, 2015 at 14:07

            Wait, ok, that sounds a lot better.

            Community creations, then. Hmm.

  5. JustAnotherGamerGirl

    September 15, 2015 at 14:16

    I don’t understand the toy and games craze. When did it become acceptable to convince gamers that they should buy characters one at a time?

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Check Also

Disney’s Jungle Cruise Review

If you love adventure movies with the same fantasy feel as the Pirates of the Caribbean mo…