Disney Infinity 2.0: Marvel Super Heroes features an original story headed by Brian Michael Bendis. In The Avengers, players must defeat the Norse God Loki from rebuilding the Casket of Ancient Winters. Similarly to the film, The Guardians Of The Galaxy plot revolves around the Guardians protecting Nowhere from Ronan the Accuser. Spider-Man’s plot is heavily inspired by The Ultimate Spider-Man and features around defeating the evil Green Goblin.
The three plots will please fans of the Marvel universe as they each tell a new side of each franchise in quite depth. The Disney Original characters will not receive their own individual stories this time around and will only be useable in the Toy Box.
Disney Infinity 2.0 on PS4 is a big step-up from the Wii U version of the original game. Characters have a lot more detail and seem to have a lot more in common with their original on-screen characters. Maps appear to be quite a lot larger in scale and more seems to be destructible which is a nice touch. There are a lot more other things that help the open-world games seem a lot more alive. The worlds are full of cars and people which are all destructible and overall, more enemies seem to be able to appear on screen at once without the game slowing down.
I commend Avalanche with being able to represent so many different Disney franchises in so many different ways throughout the game. There are so many fan favourites ranging from different furniture items to Toy Box vehicles.
The main gripe I had with the game was the persistent loading times. When booting up the game or loading up the Toy Box, the load times were fairly long. Thankfully they’re not quite as bad once you get into a Play Set but it was still more than noticeable in certain instances.
In Disney Infinity 2.0 there are 3 separate Play Sets this time around. With the Starter Kit you will receive the Avenger Play Set whilst Spider-Man and Guardians Of The Galaxy can be purchased separately. The Spider-Man set was by far my favourite as I feel that they really nailed the Spider-Man’s ability to fly through the city. The completely different characters of The Avenger characters are well represented in game and really do well to provide some variety.
Unfortunately the overall lack of imagination in Play Sets means you’ll be stretched for creativity while playing them. The gameplay is still extremely solid however variety between Play Sets left me wanting so much more. Each Play Set has you going from point A to B in order to complete missions with the odd side-mission to keep you occupied. I can completely understand the gameplay is so basic as my seven year old nephew is able to understand what he has to do in order to get through the game. However as an older Disney fan, it’s still too basic for me. Countless films and games have shown that they can pander to both adult and children audiences, and it’s hard to forgive Disney Infinity 2.0 for not being able to engage adults well.
Some characters could be used across Play Sets through the use of Crossover Coins. It’s still limited to certain situations but wherever possible, characters can cross over into two play sets. This is something that wasn’t allowed at all within the original game so I was extremely excited to see how this works. Skill trees are also more fleshed out and seem to add much more depth to the overall experience. I would have liked to see both things taken further however it’s improved the game dramatically.
Power discs return and make a much bigger impact on the game. Whilst ability and toy box discs are still around, power discs also unlock alternate costumes for characters. Sidekicks make an appearance in the form of the side-kick power disc. Whilst not everyone’s favourite may not appear as a figurine, it doesn’t mean that they’re not featured as a sidekick. They play into the game as a timed power-up with their own exclusive health bars. The biggest new addition to the power disc collection are the Toy Box game discs. These are discs that unlock 1-2 hour mini-games within the toy box. Two come with the Starter Kit however it has been announced that there are at least 4 more to be released in later waves.
The Toy Box in 2.0 has seen quite a massive improvement. In the first game, it was extremely impressive with what Avalanche were able to do with the game however they’ve brought it leaps and bounds in Toy Box 2.0.
The first big addition are townspeople. These are characters from various Disney shows that will start building various aspects of the Toy box for you. For instance, Eve from Wall-E builds trees and foliage around the place. There is another character that also builds race tracks. The cool thing about this is that they build around each other and essentially create a world that will be unlike the last.
You’re able to take customisation further in the Toy Box by taking full control the camera angle and add in-game text to essentially create a story (with online approval from a Disney moderator). This basically means that players are now able to create a game that doesn’t feel like it was something forced and incomplete.
Another addition are INTerior Toy Boxes. You’re able to populate these inside spaces with popular items from all over the Disney universe. You can also put doors all over the place which can link to a completely different space. These can be linked to an extremely large scale and allow you to keep building until your heart’s content.
