So far, the Infinity figures haven't inspired the same kind of interest in my kids. As far as I'm concerned, this adds tons of value to the toys as separate purchases. That's another advantage Skylanders has: I'm pretty sure we've spent more time sprawled out on the floor just playing imagination games with the Skylanders figures than we have playing the game. Worse, my son's Monster's University figures are bigger and have moving pieces, so they're more fun to play with outside the game. My kids already have a lot of Disney toys, so there's also an element of repetition. Likewise, there's something sort of marvelous and new about the Skylanders figures that Infinity is missing, perhaps simply because we're all so familiar with these characters already. In Skylanders you level up your guy and you can bring your toys to a friend's house with all your levels intact.
In fact, the toys feel sort of unnecessary in Disney Infinity. There's not the same sense of wonder here when you put Sully on the scanner and he shows up on screen as there is in Skylanders. The one thing I will say is that while the figurines themselves are obviously very high quality, they're not terribly inspiring. Stuff like the glider pack that lets you sore from high buildings is great fun, as is the ability to just climb and leap your way around levels while hammering giant enemies out of your way. The other characters have their own moves that fit nicely. Incredible really feels like a super strong superhero, for instance. Platforming is fun and so is combat, which has a nice oomph to it. Mostly it's been experimentation and fun thus far, but it's so simply and intuitive, I can see how building really amazing stuff will come naturally.īut so far, both the missions and the Toy Box are surprisingly high quality. I still need to try out the multiplayer and I need to really dig down and build some neat stuff in the Toy Box. Just zipping around in a car, or fighting cards from Alice in Wonderland or trying to do crazy jumps, is all magnificent sandboxy fun, whether you're six or thirty-two.
In the Toy Box, you can shape the world how you see fit, adding myriad toys including roads, creatures, giant beach balls, and new terrain wherever you please. It can also be played on the gamepad itself, which is another huge perk.
It's awesome, and the game looks awesome also. The elegance and simplicity that the touchscreen brings to the game is hard to overstate. In fact, I can't really imagine playing this on another system. Navigating menus and choosing "toys" to place in your world is easy even for little kids. The Wii U gamepad, which is equipped with a big, bright touchscreen, is a real godsend for this sort of thing. Nevermind the missions, she wanted to build worlds. What's more interesting, though, is how she gravitated to the Toy Box.