Disney Infinity 3.0 is here! Since this game is infinite, I’ll be bringing you coverage bit-by-bit as I explore the many layers over the next week. Starter Packs are available now for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, X-Box 360, X-Box One and Wii-U, which gets you the game disc, base, Anakin Skywalker figure, Ahsoka Tano figure and the Twilight of the Republic play set. For those looking to merely upgrade their game who aren’t interested in that Star Wars play set, Disney Infinity 3.0 is available for download on the aforementioned systems.
As with most modern games, within seconds of inserting the disc into my up-to-date PS3 I had to install an update specific to this game that took about five minutes. The first time you play Infinity 3.0, you have to do a mini-tutorial that teaches you things like how to walk, jump and fight. This same sort of demo was on the previous games as well, but this one walks you through bits of the three new play sets available at launch (Twilight of the Old Republic, Rise Against the Empire and Inside Out) before ending in the Toy Box.
You are automatically placed in a demo Toy Box, a good opportunity to not only learn how to use these toys, but also to gain blue sparks (required to buy toys) and level up some of your new characters. The combat training ground is themed to The Nightmare Before Christmas. Main Street U.S.A. is your gateway to building a Toy Box and has demonstrations of the El Capitan Theater (featuring Toy Box TV) and Flynn’s Arcade, a live online multi-player gaming center that connects you with strangers to play against. The sidekick tutorial takes place in an adorable new farm Toy Box. Tatooine is the setting for the vehicle demo, which lets you ride in a land speeder and Millenium Falcon. Dunbrock from Brave teaches you how to scale buildings. Completing all of the tutorials from each Toy Box Host gives you Toy Box gifts. There is also a tutorial for the Interior that is very similar to the one from 2.0, but less involved. The main Interior difference is that sidekicks can design rooms for you now. While playing through the Interior demo, characters will ask you trivia questions that earn you additional sidekicks. Be sure to answer correctly, they only give you one chance to answer.
If you played the previous two versions of Disney Infinity, you have some work to do in order to bring all of your stuff into the new game. First, any figures and play sets need to be touched to the base to bring their exclusive items into your new Toy Box. When touching your figures to the base, be sure to select “Share figure” rather than “Claim ownership.” I made the mistake of selecting the latter once, which reset one of my 2.0 figures to level 0 with no skill tree level ups. If you share, they maintain their status from the previous games and any items exclusive to that figure will now be available in the new game.
The Toy Box works pretty much the same way as it has before, with a few slight changes. As mentioned in the Toy Box demo, you have the ability to use sidekicks if you place the sidekick generator in your box. Here are a couple other highlights new to the Toy Box.
- Toy Dispenser – Players can walk up and stand on one of four bases. A capsule comes out and inserts a toy at random into the Toy Box, but these are toys you already have. It didn’t reveal any toys for me that weren’t already purchased in my Toy Store.
- Radio Disney Player – A small red box that you can place in your Toy Box to listen to Radio Disney live in your game.
- Flying Vehicles – With Star Wars joining the Infinity world, many flying vehicles are now available in the Toy Box and they’ve all been placed into their own toy category. Cars are now “Ground Vehicles.”
- Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain – Similar to Matterhorn and Space Mountain from the previous games, both mountains feature rails allowing you to travel through the mountains. Splash features a walking path through bouncing water at the base. When you go down the big drop, you create quite a splash as you would on the actual attraction. Big Thunder features details like the dinosaur bones and crumbling rocks.
- Halloweentown – Full set pieces to create your own Halloweentown from The Nightmare Before Christmas.
To port over Toy Boxes from the previous games, you need to upload them to the Disney Infinity cloud and then download them into the new game. I’ve had an idealized Magic Kingdom park going since 1.0, so the first thing I did was replace my original Main Street, which consisted of Monsters University frat houses, with the new Main Street U.S.A. set pieces. I then added on to my Frontierland (mostly buildings from The Lone Ranger) to add Big Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain to my park. And if you have a Magic Band from Walt Disney World, be sure to touch it to your base to get the Partners Statue of Walt Disney holding Mickey’s hand, which I obviously placed in front of my castle. My Infinity park is one step closer to completion.
If you’re a Disney fan who was disappointed by 2.0 due to the lack of Disney additions, it seems that they’ve focused on adding more Disney items to the Toy Box this time around. New Disney figures available at launch include classic Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Olaf, Flynn and Quorra from Tron: Legacy, Mulan and the emotions from Inside Out. In the future, they’ve promised Spot from The Good Dinosaur plus Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde from Zootopia. The only Disney inspired play set this time around is Inside Out, which is at least a step-up from 2.0 which didn’t feature a single Disney play set.
Be sure to check back tomorrow for more coverage of Disney Infinity 3.0!