Disney Holiday Showcase: Disney Infinity Demo Review

Perhaps the best thing about the Disney Holiday Showcase last week was that fact that I got to demo the upcoming Disney Infinity 3.0. Though not everything coming out was available to me, portions of the three announced Play Sets, some of the Toy Box Hub, a bunch of characters, and most of the announced Power Discs were at my disposal. While my session didn’t reveal much in the way with new information (mainly thanks to my colleague Abe and his awesome E3 reporting), newly minted Associate Producer of Disney Infinity, David Mayernik, and I had a blast exploring what we could. Let’s jump into my thoughts on what I saw in 3.0

 

Twilight of the Republic Play Set

The level to play in the Twilight of the Republic Play Set, which is the Play Set that comes with the 3.0 Starter Pack, was set on Geonosis, where you are investigating the creation of a droid army. With Plo Koon as your mission giver, you traverse along the canyons, ridges, and bunkers, defeating droids upon droids upon droids all the way. At the end of the level, you get your first taste at battling with General Grievous.

I first started off this level with Yoda (at Level 20). I immediately noticed how much smoother the combat is in 3.0 over 2.0. The combos worked seemlessly, and the lightsaber combat play was amazing. When I switched a short while later to Darth Maul, who was at Level 7, I realized quickly how much of a beast he is in game. His twin blade lightsaber worked very well in taking down the droids, and he seemed to just mow through them at times, even being at only Level 7. I progressed a little further until we decided to see other aspects of 3.0, as I didn’t know how much time I had.

Later, when I revisited the Play Set, roughly around the same location as I left off, I played as Ahsoka Tano (David’s favorite), and her dual lightsaber combat is pretty amazing. I quickly realized who might be my favorite in that Play Set (sorry Yoda!). As I progressed towards Grievous, David had me try out a couple of the Star Wars Rebels. I started out with Kanan, who impressed me with his lightsaber and blaster wielding. I ended up starting battling Grievous with Kanan, but since I had zero clue of how to battle him properly, I ended up getting defeated pretty easily. Sticking Zeb on the base (who, for reference, will not be unlocked in the real version of the game until after this Grievous battle), I knew more of what to expect from the mangy cyborg, and I ended up getting rid of him with the help of Zeb’s blaster rifle.

Unfortunately, that ended what was on the demo of Twilight of the Republic. I so was hoping that the space flight and combat was in that demo, but sadly, it was not. Oh well…. moving on to Rise of the Empire.

 

Rise of the Empire Play Set

With the Rise of the Empire Play Set demo, instead of starting at the beginning of the game, I was given a chance to play through three of the different scene recreations depicted in Episodes IV- VI of the Star Wars movie franchise. I first took to the Battle of Yavin in Luke’s X-Wing, where I helped blow up the Death Star. I then defended the Rebel Base on Hoth by taking down a bunch of AT-AT’s, with the help of a Snowspeeder. Finally, I liberated a speeder bike in the forests of Endor and completed some missions for Lando Calrissian.

I will be the first to admit that it might take a while to get used to the controls of flying the Star Wars vehicles. With both the X-Wing and the Snowspeeder, I am tempted to sat that they were TOO responsive to my movements, which means that I smashed into the walls of the Death Star and broke Snowspeeder tow cables more often than I would like to admit. Even with that being said, there was a lot of fun to be had playing in these scenes that I grew up with as a child. Firing the final blow to the Death Star was a WOOHOO! moment, that’s for sure.

I also really enjoyed being able to control the AT-ATs with a hidden remote control you can find within the AT-AT after you eject the pilot. Once more, this remote can be removed, so you can watch your handiwork from afar… I cannot wait to have AT-AT battles with Abe inside the Toy Box.

This is not to say there weren’t things that needed tweaking. There was common agreement with this demo that the speeder bike in Endor didn’t handle right. It seemed to drive rough, and crashed/ ejected the driver too often. At times, I could drive over a large boulder, but when I came across one of the small Endor critters, I crashed. It was frustrating trying to gauge what you could go over safely, and what you couldn’t.

Throughout this Play Set, I demoed with Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Chewbacca. Chewie was probably the favorite of mine, especially when he was just man-handling the scout troopers in Endor.

Overall, I am very excited to see what the rest of this Play Set holds, and where I will travel within the Original Trilogy.

 

Inside Out Play Set

Next up was the Inside Out Play Set, which from the announcement of it, I was most excited for… and it did not disappoint. I have always been a fan of these puzzle level type games, where there are time and collectible objectives. With this Play Set, it is a combination of 3D levels and 2D type scroller levels. The level I got to try was one of these scroller levels, and it included an inverted level scenario, where, in order to advance in the game, you had to jump through a portal and play upside down “below” the main level. It took a bit to figure it out, but once I did, there was no stopping me.

I used Anger for most of this level, until I got to a spot where Fear was needed, as I needed his special speed ability, which only he has. (Don’t worry, if you don’t have the emotion needed to advance, there will be a special way you can do a “costume change” for 30 seconds to get through the necessary hurdle.) However, looking at the sculpts and seeing how much fun I had demoing this level, I am going to want all of the emotions at launch… if only Fear wasn’t a timed exclusive for Amazon… grumble grumble.

Along the way throughout the level, I battled broccoli and giant bugs, I collected memory orbs, I burst balloons, and I helped save Riley’s imagination. All in a days’ work. Yes… this will be a fun Play Set to complete.

 

Toy Box Takeover Expansion Game

In addition to the three Play Sets, I was able to demo for a little bit both of the Toy Box Expansion Games that will be released at launch. First up was the Toy Box Takeover Expansion Game, which a lot of retailers are including as a pre-order bonus when you get the 3.0 Starter Pack. The game has been likened to a souped up dungoen- crawler game… like the 2.0 Escape from the Kyln Toy Box Game Disc amped to another level. More complex missions, a more important role for the sidekicks, and the ability to use ANY Disney Infinity character in it from the first level to the last.

I started out Level 1 not realizing I needed to equip myself with a sidekick (I was not paying attention to the Merlin mission giver), so I advanced part way through Level 1 before I came to my senses… basically because I was told I needed the sidekick to advance… so I had to go back. Pretty soon, Boba Fett and his Fix-It Felix sidekick were mowing down enemy pirates in a town reminiscent to Pirates of the Caribbean. I did not finish the level as there was even more fun stuff to see, and never got back around to it, but I am excited about this… well, what is basically a Play Set set inside the Toy Box.

Oh, and after seeing the artwork for Merlin… I would love a Merlin figure inside 3.0.

 

Toy Box Speedway Expansion Game

I also had the opportunity to race inside the new Toy Box Speedway Expansion Game. Consisting of 9 different levels, each with three different race groupings (50cc, 100cc, and 150cc), this reminds me of Disney’s version of Mario Kart… which is a great thing.

I raced in the 50cc group in the Nightmare Before Christmas themed track. What was cool is that each track tells a story somewhat, meaning the track morphs and changes  each lap with the progression of the story. It’s hard to tell while racing, especially for the first time on the track, but I saw Oogie Boogie appear in one part of the track, for example. It’s an interesting element that I am looking forward to seeing implemented in all of the different tracks.

I raced as Fear inside a green sportscar. I raced against the likes of Francesco Bernoulli from CARS, Falcon driving a mini Jawa Sandcrawler, and Hulk… riding Bing Bong’s wagon from Inside Out. That was especially fun to watch. I am not the greatest driver (especially when it comes to drifting), but like the Star Wars vehicles, the car was a lot more responsive to my driving. I quickly fell behind and was at 5th place for a good while until I figured out some of the course, and I ended up winning the race. WOOHOO!

For you racers out there, and I know that some of you are, you will really enjoy this Expansion Game.

 

Toy Box Hub- Main Street

It was time to head into the Toy Box hub, and check out some of the areas. I first went to the Main Street, where the Toy Store, El Capitan Theatre (home of Toy Box TV and the featured toy boxes), and Flynn’s Arcade (home of a bunch of different toy boxes, etc) are located. Unfortunately, for most of it, you need to be connected to the internet, so we were not able to go inside them. However, just seeing some of these buildings were exciting.

 

Toy Box Hub- Farming

I then went over to the Farming section, where Woody help me learn how to farm. I equipped my Launchpad McQuack sidekick and had him plant some things. None of them came to bear fruit while I checked out the farming plots, so I couldn’t upgrade my sidekicks. However, the farming area is pretty big, and there are areas where a lot of sidekicks can farm. If you were a fan of Farmville in years past, this will be a fun thing to do. I know I will be farming… if for nothing else, it can power up your sidekick for the Toy Box Takeover Expansion Game.

While inside the Farming section, I took the chance and played around with Olaf a bit, and briefly looked at Mulan in game. Olaf’s attacks were fun… from shooting his carrot nose as a projectile to beat enemies with his own arm. He was not leveled up to where I could do his special move with the beach scene, but that’s fine… something more to look forward to next time I play the game. I was only really had time to look at how Mulan transferred to an in game likeness, and I think she looks great. I did not do any combat with her.

While in the Farming section, I checked out some of the Power Discs. Why there? Because I could.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Toy Box Hub- Platforming / Amusement Box

The last area I checked out was the Platforming area. First, while in the hub itself, I looked at Luke and Leia’s costume discs, and then checked out what the Mace Windu Team Up character looked like with Boba Fett.

 

After that, I visited a section of the Platforming area called the Amusement Box, which showed how carnival rides could be created using the spline tool. A roller coaster, death drop, ferris wheel, and mad-tea cups type ride were all there, and using the wand, you could see that the moving parts of the rides were created using the spline tool’s dot and path system.

 

Also on hand was the “gumball machine”, which is new to 3.0, and where you can open up random capsules to re-discover one of the over 6,000 toys inside the Toy Box in 3.0.

 

What’s a demo without figures? While there was down time during the demos, I got some photos of the characters, Power Discs, Game Discs, etc. Not much to explain with the pics, so enjoy!

 

 

  

And with that, the demo was over. I got a significantly in depth demo of 3.0, and that’s thanks to David, who took me through it all, and Tara, who was there as PR for the event. Here the three of us are with JV, who ended up swinging by to say hi, as he was in town for some meetings.

What was great about speaking with JV for a few minutes was that we could both openly geek out on Captain EO hopefully coming to Disney Infinity in the future. We both are huge fans of the attraction, and he is working hard to try and get it somehow into the game in some form. I personally would love to see it, and my excitement pales in comparison to his.

He also is very excited about D23 and Disney Infinity’s presence there. Now, since then we have learned that the 2015 Toy Box Summit will be taking place before D23… but I feel there is even something bigger coming to the actual D23 event. I will be there, and cannot wait to report it back to you all.

And with that, my multitude of hours visiting with Disney Infinity 3.0 came to an end. After demoing what I did, I am even more excited about the launch of 3.0 this Fall. They have really made great upgrades to the system, and it shows. I can’t wait to see how the hardcore gamers and Toy Box Artists put it to the test, and see their beautiful creations.