Disney Infinity is a game that is better looked at as a service than simply a game. Instead of getting a defined, complete game, Disney Infinity presents a play space to the user and sets them loose to play. If they want more content, they just purchase the physical and digital add-ons. This formula is certainly not new. Skylanders and Amiibos have been tackling different approaches to the same concept for some time now. The difference with Disney Infinity is that instead of interacting with other games or coming packaged as a defined experience, they also let players craft their own journey. Disney Infinity 3.0 brings several new Disney properties into the game including Star Wars and Inside Out. The first two editions have started a solid foundation with a lot of content, can the third continue the success?

When you first start the game, you’re flawlessly taken through a fantastic tutorial and showpiece for what Disney Infinity is all about. It is quite a highlight for the start of your journey within Disney Infinity. After this, you’re brought into the Disney Infinity hub where you’ll get access to everything the game has to offer as well as learn how to use it. The gameplay is quite simplistic and is broken into a couple different genres. There is action, platforming, racing, as well as a couple others. Each of your characters has a skill tree which can be leveled up for additional powers and moves. The two Jedi in the main 3.0 starter pack have trees dedicated to defense, special powers, and damage. While this system adds some depth to the game, the gameplay remains quite basic. Fighting is boiled down to just a couple different moves. Platforming is as simple as timed jumps. Racing offers some different pathways down tracks but is nothing new. The power of all of this is that it is approachable for everyone in the family to play while being engaging enough that it is enjoyable for most.

Included in the base bundle for Disney Infinity 3.0 is the Twilight of the Republic Playset. This Playset is a mishmash of different story elements and characters from the Star Wars prequel trilogy. You’ll face Darth Maul as teenager Anakin, chase down an assassin in the Coruscant speeder chase, and fight through a droid factory. Just as if you had a young child retell the movies a week or month after watching, a lot of elements are jumbled. The gameplay is much more entertaining though. The game is broken into several open areas to explore that are filled with different quests and collectables. For those who want to rush through the Playset, it won’t take too long. For those that want to collect all the extras and partake in the multitude of quests, there is some meat here. The one disclaimer is that the game is built for all. The quests are typically fetch quests or kill everything. The collectables are well done and fall all along the difficulty spectrum. My favorite types of collectable are the ones that are within visual sight but without an obvious path to them and there are plenty of those here. Overall, this Playset is an enjoyable romp into the Star Wars universe but its simplicity and ease may not satisfy the older crowd.

The second half of Disney Infinity is creating your own experiences within the Toy Box. In this mode, you can craft your own worlds with their own unique stories. The editor, when you start, is quite a lot to take in right away. You’ll have to decide what type of game it is going to be, how the levels are going to be laid out, what the story is going to be, and what characters will be in it. Fortunately, the game and the community does a good job of showing you how to get started and making really cool levels. If you don’t have the time or inclination for crafting, you can download approved content created by others. Then, if you get the itch to jump into the Play Box, you can even edit the levels you download. This is perhaps the best feature because it will show you how others have built levels so you can start making yours better. Overall, this is a feature that will extend enjoyment of this game for a long time.

The execution of this all isn’t done flawlessly though. The main issue is tied to one of the games core strengths, simplicity. The gameplay is incredibly simple and the controls for piloting in space feel so simplified that they are a distraction. The camera feels like a physical entity because it often hits geometry in the world causing it to judder weirdly. The Play Box, while powerful, can only create simple worlds. While browsing the shared levels, it’s often difficult to tell which characters are required. It’s disappointing to download a highly rated level and be told that you don’t have the right character. The other issue is that the designed worlds have an issue with ending. Some are quite well designed and once you finish them, you’re still stuck in the world wondering if you finished it or if you need to do something to trigger the next section. In summation, these qualms are somewhat minor but will ultimately hurt the longevity of the game, especially for the older demographic.

The graphics are what brings a game to life and Disney Infinity does a good job here. While it’s somewhat simplistic, the cartoon styled graphics suit the game and its variety of different genres well. When you jump from Mikey Mouse to Tron, it all feels perfectly fine. When Anakin Skywalker is racing Ironman, it feels similarly normal. The mismatched universes feel quite at home in Disney Infinity. On the backside, the worlds do feel quite simple in design but they always seem to have quite a bit of life to them. The textures sometime feel too simplistic and some of the sky boxes are reduced to simple paintings. Overall, the impressive aspect of the graphics is that they picked the perfect style to meld all the Disney brands together. The downside is that it is somewhat technically simplistic.

With the addition of Star Wars to the Disney Infinity family, this means that the familiar and iconic sounds of this franchise will be brought into the game. With this challenge, the game succeeds and fails. It succeeds in the fact that the voice acting and sound effects are quite reminiscent of their movie counterparts. It fails with the music. The music is straight from the Star Wars sound track and on its own, is amazing. The downfall is that it feels like the game is literally playing the soundtrack from a CD and it’s going from track to track, no matter what is unfolding on the screen. Overall, the core sound design is decently done and Jar Jar Binks is just as lovable as before but the usage of the music is quite disappointing.

The introduction when you first start Disney Infinity 3.0 shows a potential that is only realized with time and money but if you stick to the core bundle, what you get is not all that bad. The Playset Twilight of the Republic is an enjoyable romp through elements of the Star Wars prequel films. The Toy Box is powerful but has a high learning curve. Disney Infinity 3.0 gives as much as you put in. While this franchise is obviously skewed towards a kids-friendly, family approach but its charm may appeal to some traditional gamers. Ultimately, if you have kids, the payoff for this journey is probably worth it. The Play Sets are highly polished and cooperative experiences. The Toy Box has the ability to spark creative freedom. If you’re a parent, it’s a way to connect with your child through Disney properties you both love.

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