Preview - Disney Infinity

Disney Infinity is a game that took me a few days to full understand. At first glance it looks like it is just a quick cash-in on the Skylanders craze. But then I learnt more about the Toy Box and thought ok, they have added more content in the vein of Little Big Planet 2. But still I felt there was more to know about this game. So learnt more and more, and now I can’t wait for the game.

If you’re not familiar with Disney Infinity, it is a video game that recreates those moments when we were kids where you would take your Transformer toy and you’re GI Joe, or perhaps some race cars, get some floor space and make up your own adventures. That’s what Disney Infinity does, and based on early impressions it is doing it very well.

When you get the starter pack you get 3 figures, Sully from Monsters Inc., Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean and Mr. Incredible from The Incredibles, and the base plate.

Now each of the characters comes with a play space for them. Jack Sparrow will allow you to take to the High Seas or the rowdy pirate town of Tortuga to experience missions and objectives as a pirate. And same with the others, but it’s upon playing through each of those worlds that the fun can really begin. As you progress through the worlds you unlock items for the Toy Box mode, and that’s where you can let your imagination sore, and your character if you give them some wings.

Toy Box mode takes that idea of anything goes to a whole new level. You start off with a basic space, and then you can theme it with Hex Discs, which sit at the back of the base plate. You want the sky to look like it does in Wall-e then you can. How about the ground looks like Niceland from Wreck-it Ralph, you can do that. Then you can build a town, maybe a soccer field, a race track, a 2D platformer, a 3D platformer, a flying game. I think you get the idea.

Each of the worlds you create can be uploaded to your online account and then you can save them down to your iPad and continue to make them while travelling. Of course you might make a great world that you think rocks, so you can submit them to Disney and if they are appropriate then Disney will share them with the world. So your friend who has a different console than you can download and experience your world.

Add to that the fact that Disney will continue to release new characters and playsets, the game will never end.

Disney Infinity hits next week and is looking like it will be a smash hit, and something I cannot wait to play myself.