Besides offering hours of enjoyment for the kids, Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes did something for me. It reminded me how much I enjoyed the likes of The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction (2005), X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), and the Marvel Ultimate Alliance games (2006, 2009) and then plunged me into a hole of nostalgia eight miles deep reminiscing about Stunt Island (1992) but before I can really explain that it's worth quickly describing Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes.Besides the actual game, the "starter pack" comes packed with three figures -- Thor, Iron Man, Black Widow -- two Toy Box Game Discs, and the Infinity base, which plugs into your PlayStation 3. To actually play the game, one need only put one of the plastic characters on the base; their digital reflections appear in the game and it's off to the races.
At least, for the kids.
The single player campaign, Marvel's The Avengers Play Set, is a simple romp for anyone over 12-years old, which includes me, but between 6 and 12 that's just about the right spot. (Let's just look the other way and point at something to draw the ESRB's attention elsewhere -- the game is rated "Everyone 10+.") Loki is up to no good, which is another way of saying he's leading an army of frost giants into the heart of Manhattan, and it's up to the Avengers to thwart his plans. It's all pretty harmless and it's cool to see the Marvel characters (heroes and villains) changed to fit the "Infinitization" of the series so that everything looks like it belongs.
It also really cool that the upgradeable aspects of each character are stored with the figure and that the figures from Disney Infinity 1.0 are compatible with the Marvel Super Heroes. The Skylanders series has offered this compatibility feature for a while, so it would have been a big misstep to not have a similar function. Disney very generously sent along the Ultimate Spider-Man and Guardians of the Galaxy packs that, besides offering Nova & Spider-Man and Gamora & Starlord figures respectively, include additional playsets, each with a different adventure. Of the campaigns released so far, I'd say that Spider-Man's is the most fun, but I've always been a fan of webslinging.
Unbelievably, I was taken in by the included the included mini-games (accessed with a Game Disc), though my favourite was definitely Assault on Asgard. It's a Tower Defense game where waves of enemies approach and there's a heavy reliance on placement of defensive measures and fortifications. In between waves, you have to reinforce and replace those defensive positions by spending credits earned during the onslaught.
Where Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes really shines is the Toy Box mode, which lets players go all out with some really flexible building blocks to create worlds and worlds of content. Of course, that same age range that so loved rolling through the campaign, is rendered less able (or willing) to fool around in the Toy Box to really create something, even with all the assists and templates that are included.
There's almost too much to go into to describe what's available in the Toy Box. Besides assembling environments (exterior and interior), it's also possible to design levels with goals and objectives or even racing or combat mini-games. The wide-open feel to the Toy Box reminded me of another Disney Interactive title published back in 1992, Stunt Island. (Hey, Disney bring that one back!) Stunt Island was basically one giant movie set where players could place a huge assortment of props -- from planes to farm animals to trees -- setup some action then film and edit (including recording custom audio) the stunt and have the ability to export those films so anyone could watch it, even those that didn't have the game. In that same vein of sharing, Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes lets players upload and download custom creations.
The ability to download new content on a whim is a good thing because sometimes the level of patience to create your own can be a little taxing.
With a stream of new figures, power disc packs, and a raft of figures available, it's not likely that many players are going to run out of things to do or experiment with.
I also give Disney high marks for spending some time with the packaging to ensure that parents (and kids) can understand what figure works with which playsets. Iron Fist can only be played with in conjunction with the Spider-Man playset and the Toy Box; Groot will work with the Guardians of the Galaxy playset and the Toy box, and it takes all of about five seconds to absorb that information. Likewise differentiating the compatibility of items from Disney Infinity 1.0.If you haven't been able to anticipate my closing thoughts, then let me restate that kids are going to get a lot more out of Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes than adults or teenagers. And let's emphasize, "a lot more" because with the ability to bring a variety of other characters into the mix and a limitless source of new levels and challenges, kids should stay interested for a long time. That's good news for parents considering the price tag for each figure ($14), playset ($35) and power disc pack ($5).
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The Good:
- Fun for the kids- Figures can stand up to some rough real world play
- Toy Box mode has a breadth and depth that encourages experimentation
- Limitless number of creations to download into the Toy Box
- Compatibility with elements of Disney Infinite 1.0
The Bad:
- Some really awful load times
- Can get pricey really quick
- Graphics look a little "blah" compared to Skylanders
