When Disney Infinity was first announced, the possibilities seemed, well… almost infinite. Standing on its own, Disney has an incredibly rich, deep and diverse well of material to draw upon. We got a taste of that with Disney Infinity, but secretly — or not so secretly — hoped for Marvel and Star Wars to become a part of the game.
Our wishes have been answered, in part, with Disney Infinity 2.0 fully embracing the Marvel stable and capitalising on the current super hero mania grasping the entertainment world. Star Wars will have to wait (presumably until Episode VII’s release next year), because for now it’s Marvel’s turn in the Infinity spotlight. At E3 this year Disney was showing Infinity 2.0’s Toy Box mode and a handful of Play Sets. While the Toy Box was hands off, I spent some time with the freshly unveiled Amazing Spider-Man Play Set and it was awesome.
Playing as Ol’ Webhead himself is exhilarating. Avalanche has simply nailed the feeling of being Spider-Man. Embracing the “web lines can attach to the clouds” style of movement, Spidey moves around Toy New York at breakneck speed. Tilting the control stick forward or back allows him to climb or fall and within no time I was high up above the city’s tallest buildings heading to my next target. No falling damage — everything is a toy remember — means that Spider-Man can enter a divebomb at any point while web slinging and slam into the earth with an almighty thud, trouncing any nearby enemies, or citizens for that matter.
Combat has been tweaked and improved upon in Infinity 2.0 allowing for combos, special moves and an overall greater sense of flow. It’s not Bayonetta by any means, but the additional moves make combat a lot less spammy and a lot more fun. Other improvements over and above Infinity are found at every turn. In 2.0 when you earn experience points and your character levels up, it actually has a purpose. Each and every character has a skill tree with various upgrades that can be unlocked as they level up. The kicker? There are more upgrades than levels meaning that as you level up you’ll not be able to unlock every upgrade. Clever Disney. Completionists and the more obsessive compulsive among us will likely see this as an extra challenge and so will purchase doubles of figures simply to unlock the entire tree.
The kiddy nature of Infinity remains with the sequel with the Spider-Man playset revolving around a horde of marauding Venom symbiotes unleashed by the Green Goblin. It’s very camp and fun and safe. Perfect for kids and adults alike and since everything is just a toy, nobody actually gets hurt.
With Spider-Man being so well rounded and fun I can’t imagine the other Marvel properties being any different. When Infinity 2.0 launches with The Avengers later this year playing as Iron Man, Hulk, Captain America and the rest is going to be a dream come true for all kids, big and little.
Disney Infinity 2.0: Marvel Super Heroes will be available for PC, PS3, PS4, Wii U, Xbox 360 and Xbox One 18 September.
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