Disney Infinity 2.0 Marvel Super Heroes - Review

When Disney first unveiled the concept of Disney Infinity they promised that it would always grow and improve, so there was very little surprise when they announced the sequel so soon.

To start with, this years starter kit contains three Avengers characters, Iron Man, Thor and Black Widow.  This year also sees the inclusion of the new Toy Box games that an even more value to Disney infinity.  Anyone who purchase the starter kit last year may be a little upset that this year’s starter kit only contains one play set but with multiple characters from the same universe, you no longer need to purchase an additional figurine to play multiplayer.  It is a trade-off but one that works in their favour.

When you first boot up the game you’ll see influences of the marvel license everywhere, from the comic book style background to the concept and character galleries, even before you into the game you can see the reverence for marvel.  The Avengers playset has you taking on Loki as he attempts to invade New York, with assistance from M.O.D.O.K and some Frost Giants, through the 5-6 hour story you will interact with Nick Fury, Captain Marvel and Wasp as you attempt to clean up the city.

As you progress through the story, your character will level up and become strong, but should you fall in battle you won’t be able to use that character for a while, this is certainly a change from the previous game. What this will force you to do is think about your mission and what character you need, sending in Hawkeye or Black Widow to take down a Frost Giant General maybe a bad idea, sending in the Hulk might be better. Of course this will mean nothing if you have levelled up Hawkeye to be as strong as the Hulk.

Located throughout the city are a variety of collectables, reward boxes and cross-over coins. The boxes are located all over the place and some of them will put your brain to the test when you attempt to get to them. What makes them even more fun to collect is that some can only be collected by a strength character, others by a flight character, so you need to be on the look out for the ones you can collect, upon collection of a few of each you will begin to unlock concept art and more.  The cross-over coins are even more fun to collect as they allow you to bring selected characters into the playset, in this case Nova and Rocket Raccoon.

Character progression in Disney Infinity 2.0 is actually a lot more advanced than it was is in the previous title, now when you level up, you will earn points that you can purchase skills with. It is not possible to unlock each skill on the character progression tree, so you need to decide which way you want to go. You can however reset at any time and start over, should you desire to see how the character might play differently.

It is the addition of this simple character progression system that really makes characters in 2.0 feel more advanced than the first generation, where those guys all pretty much played the same way, but with 2.0 characters there are differences between them. Hulk, as you would expect, is quite the tank, able to take lots of damage and deal out even more, but because of his size he is slow where as Black Widow is fast and nimble but not built for taking down waves of enemies. How you level your character and choose them in battle will determine just how much fun you have here.

There are a few small problems with The Avengers playset though, firstly the toy version of New York is bland, there are few small patches of colour in grass, but when flying as Iron Man or Thor around the city, it is really easy to get turned around because all of the buildings have a grey colour palate. The next problem is that it just does not sound like a city, there is very little about it that engaged me. The remaining issue that I had with the playset was just how underutilised the Avengers are, apart from a few cutscenes and the lines when levelling or completing a mission they don’t really say anything, in fact it makes them feel a little flat.

Of course that is only part of the experience that you will get with the starter pack, the remaining pieces come in the form of Toy Box Games and the all new Toy Box.

The Toy Box Games are as simple in name as they are to understand, these are games that have been built by the game makers using the tools inside the Toy Box which means you can create games just like this if you so desire. The ones that come included with the starter kit are Assault on Asgard and Escape from the Kyln, a tower defence and dungeon crawler respectively.  The games are fun and offer up something completely different from anything else the first game offered, the best bit about them though is that you can break them down to see how they were made.

Of course what made Disney Infinity a hit in the first place was the incredible Toy Box, it was such a simple concept but one that had a lot of depth that people could not help fall for it. With the sequel it was a given that the Toy Box would be more refined than the first attempt but not only did the team fix things, they also created even more ways to make the world you wanted to. A really popular item in the first game was the 2d camera, which allowed you to create a platformer, this meant you could recreate your favourite classic platforming levels, but there was a major flaw with it, your character still moved around in 3 dimensions, which meant they were prone to falling off, but with the new toy box you can now add a clear wall in front to stop that from happening.

Refinements are all well and good, but they don’t always justify a new game and the team obviously understood that people wanted more and they brought the goods. The Toy Box now comes with an array of templates that you can use to create your very own games, from pinball to your own 4 player brawler. The game will provide all the tools for building them if you want or you can try your own hand at it. In fact the games built in tutorials are quite robust, from the simple ones of how to unlock new toys to the more advance ones such as theming your world.

One of the biggest addition to the Toy Box this year is the INterriors, inside spaces that you can create, deck out your way and link them to your toy boxes. These spaces can be large enough to accommodate all your craziest thoughts but the best part is once you start to fill the spaces, the townsfolk will start to hang around. So having Kermit the Frog walking around with Captain Hook is quite a sight and one you are likely to have a grin on your face.

The only real problem with the toy box is there is no structure to anything, for those jumping in for the first time is that because of the sheer number of options and tools it maybe a little much for those starting out. But don’t despair help is at hand in the form of builders, toy box builders can assist with building just about anything. The builders can assist with all things from creation of a town to a racetrack and just about everything in between, they are helpful to be sure, not exactly the fastest. Overall the new toy box is a vast improvement over the previous version and with each new feature that the team added, experiencing the toy box becomes even more fun.

With Disney Infinity 2.0 Marvel Super Heroes the team at Avalanche Software have taken big steps with the Toy Box and it shows, however the included playset feels under developed, but with more figures and playsets 2.0 of Disney Infinity is shaping up to be something truly special.

The Score

8.5

Review code provided by Disney Interactive

The Pros

+Improvements across the board, from character progression to the Toy Box

+The Marvel characters fit in very well with the existing line up

The Cons

-The Avengers playset is very dry and has some issues

-The Toy Box is sure to overwhelm newcomers, with its sheer amount of options