Disney Infinity is a short-lived Toys-To-Life game series that was recently cancelled in in May of 2016. You’ve surely seen them before at your local WalMart or Target, taking up space and generally being overpriced and in many cases, annoying with their variety and cluttered nature, and now is the perfect time to jump in. Why? Because their prices are dropping like rocks.
If you don’t have an interest in playing the games themselves, then don’t go for these huge clearance level discounts, but if you don’t know what the gameplay entails, I can explain. Using a portal pad, a character figure, a copy of one of the games, and a playset figure, you can jump straight into the meat and potatoes of the series.
While it’s been advertised for its allusions to creativity and making everything yourself, Disney Infinity is extremely open to play the way YOU want to play, and the best way to play is with the playset and its multiple worthwhile expansions. These are flatout games in and of themselves with full campaigns and a ton of gameplay variety.
Why Should I Care About Disney Infinity?
The games are simple action platformers with skill trees, leveling up, intense combat, and in most cases, an original story to keep you engaged. The series is as casual or intensive as you want it to be and that’s great. You never have to touch the creation tools to enjoy yourself here.
The first game, focusing on franchises like Monster’s Inc., Pirates of the Caribbean, The Incredibles, Toy Story, and more, leaves you in hub worlds like Ratchet and Clank and playing through story missions (voiced by really good imitations, or in some cases, the original voice actors themselves), which offer a good challenge for old and young alike, with fun platforming, interesting combat, and a very clean inoffensive art style.
The second game focuses primarily on Marvel licenses, featuring, The Avengers, Ultimate Spider-Man, and Guardians of the Galaxy. The gameplay remains the same, but the worlds become more open and vast, giving you complete freedom over superheroes in their chosen worlds. However, unlike the universal appeal of the first game, you should avoid this one if you don’t like Marvel. These games are vastly underrated gems, but a video game won’t change your mind.
Lastly, the biggest change to the series is in its final entry; Disney Infinity 3.0. Racing is implemented and designed by the developers of Modnation Racers, the combat has been smoothed out to feature more powers and devastating looking combos, and the worlds are so open that you may oftentimes have to backtrack and do side-missions you may have missed.
Playsets based Star Wars, like The Clone Wars, The Original Trilogy, and even The Force Awakens exist, along-side a standalone Inside Out Playset and a Brand New Marvel Battlegrounds playset based on the new Civil War movie. The stories all transfer well and the gameplay really shines in this entry. If you’re on the fence, this should be the one you keep an eye out for, since it easily has the widest appeal, cleanest gameplay, and the most content available.
Key Considerations
If you’re excited and gung ho to jump into Disney Infinity, there are a few things you have to remember:
- You cannot mix and match playsets and games, you have to have the game for each playset. It’s not possible to play through the Toy Story playset in Disney Infinity 3.0
- Not all characters are compatible. While it must be really neat for the 90’s Kid in you to see that characters such as Aladdin and Mickey Mouse are available, there is no way to play as them in Playsets. They’re strictly for the Toy Box mode, which while fun, is nowhere near as engaging as the Playsets are. Also remember that characters only work in a series they are from. You can’t play as Buzz Lightyear in Marvel Battlegrounds, but you can however play as Kylo Ren in The Original Trilogy (after unlocking his in-game credit found in the open world).
- Avoid all Nintendo versions of Disney Infinity. For whatever reason, the games don’t shine on Nintendo’s consoles. They run slowly and it doesn’t seem the developers took any time to optimize the game. They run really well on the Xbox 360 (my copies of choice), but if you want the best versions, look to the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Just remember that the first game is only available on PS3, Xbox 360, Wii U, and Wii.
Conclusion
The games are extremely fun platformers with enough to do for anyone in the family, and with shops everywhere putting them out on clearance, there’s never been a better time to go all-in on the series.
I was able to get the entire series with their base characters for less than $60, taking advantage of the Buy 2 Get 3 Disney Infinity Figures sale at GameStop (which includes Playsets), and the multiple sales going on for the Starter Packs, some even getting as low as $20. With so much potential gone, now is the perfect time to look into Disney Infinity and exploit its fall to expand your game collection. I’m fairly certain it’s an investment you won’t regret.