Disney Infinity 3.0 Rise Against The Empire Review

This week, Disney have released the Star Wars: Rise Against The Empire play set for Disney Infinity 3.0 and in this review, Travis, Abe and Roger share their thoughts on the play set. The play set includes Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia figures plus the game piece and it was also included in the Playstation Exclusive Saga Bundle which was available at launch but it is now available for everyone.

Roger – I’ve been a huge Star Wars fan since I was a kid, I used to have a huge collection of Star Wars action figures and vehicles, that I used to love and this play set brings back many of those feeling. This play set includes a variety of different locations including Tatoonie, Hoth, Endor, The Death Star and plenty of space battles.

Abe – Rise Against the Empire is a brilliant depiction of the story we all loved from a galaxy far, far away. It is an excellent play set with so much to offer. You have plenty of combat, exploration, collection missions, challenges, boss battling, vehicle clashes, and epic space battles. It offers way more then one would expect from a play set.

Travis – When I first heard about the Rise of the Empire Play Set and the fact that it was going to be a retelling of classic moments from the Star Wars Original Trilogy, I will admit I had my doubts, as I was always about the storylines being new and fresh in Disney Infinity. Then, demoing some of the missions and levels throughout the summer at different events, I did get excited about destroying the Death Star or driving an AT-AT around Hoth. That being said, I still was reluctant. How would this Play Set shape up to what I was hoping/ expecting for? Finally getting to play it this past weekend in its’ final form, I got my answer.

What do you like about Rise Against The Empire?

Roger – I picked up the PS4 Saga Bundle at launch to get access to the Boba Fett figure , who is easily my most used figure because he is the only flyer in the launch range for toy box building.  So I have been having lots of fun over the past month, especially with the space missions and the ice planet of Hoth.  The space missions are so much fun and Disney have done an awesome job in recreating some classic scenes and making them so enjoyable to play, especially because we get to use a X-Wing or Millennium Falcon.  The Hoth level works so well with the snowspeeders and AT-AT’s, Disney have tried to go back to the toy feel that we saw with the first game and you can really see it with missions such as removing the batteries from the AT-AT’s.  All of these little items so how much care has gone into the design, especially with making all the levels feel so different to one another and in general, make Rise of the Empire, one of my favourite play sets so far.

I’ve loved being able to go back into the play set and replay missions at ease, to try to unlock more toys for the Toy Box and mainly to just go back and have fun, especially with getting my hands on some of the other figures like Darth Vader and Han Solo.  There is just something so cool about riding around with Darth Vader destroying Stormtroopers or running around Endor with Chewbacca.

Abe – What’s not to like about it? I like how we get to relive the classic trilogy in the form of a play set. It almost makes you feel like you have the extra-extended versions of the original movies and you get to explore those stories that you don’t see on the screen. Just excellent fun to get you to the iconic moments we all remember. I also love the space battles! They are extremely fun and add an amazing element to the Disney Infinity way of playing. Not to mention, being able to fly the trench run yourself? Talk about being spoiled in 3.0!

Travis – To be fair, between work and other obligations, I was only able to get into the Hoth segment of the game, which coincides with the opening scenes of The Empire Strikes Back. So, for this brief review, I can only focus on what I dealt with on my first visit to Tatooine and then my time on the Death Star.

One thing I liked about the game were the flight controls. So much smoother than the Trench Run demo I did this summer, where the controls were a little rough and I found myself not only crashing into the walls more often, but also flying within some of the walls and not crashing at all. I was told at that time that they were working on tweaking the controls and making them better, and I am happy to find out that they actually did.

Another thing I enjoyed in this Play Set so far is that there are things within each of the planets that you must do in order to advance the storyline. From building special buildings to fighting off Tusken Raiders to locating members of the Cantina Band, the missions on Tatooine were actually a lot of fun. I have not played a lot of the Hoth planet missions yet, but they seem equally as fun so far.

I am also liking how the Characters Coins (which unlock other Star Wars characters to be playable inside the Play Set) seem to be a lot more plentiful earlier on in Rise of the Empire than I have found so far with Twilight of the Republic (which I am only scratching the surface of itself). I have actually unlocked quite a few characters already, which is nice… especially when you don’t realize you have the game set to the highest difficulty and you are fighting off massive amounts of Tusken Raiders with a Level 4 Luke and Leia.

Also just a side note of something to like… when I throw something into the Sarlacc Pit, it throws everything up… funny seeing a Jawa come out all covered in glop.

What don’t we like about Rise Against The Empire?

Roger – There are a few elements to the play set which I wasn’t so keen on, I prefer the method of unlocking toy that we saw in Twilight of the Republic, being rewarded items for completing missions and challenges, rather than in the Rise play set, where you have to get coins to buy certain objects.

While this play set is more about retelling some of the classic scenes from the movies, trying to cram 3 of my all time favourite movies into one play set seemed like much of the story wasn’t told, skimming over some important items and locations such as the Cloud City (that would have been a nice alternative).  While Infinity has never tried to retell a story, the cut scenes and story felt very much an afterthought with the story just moving us from one planet to another.

Abe – Some of the cut scenes were a little off. I basically work my way to Obi-Wan’s place with Luke fighting with my light saber, only to be told by Obi-Wan in the cut scene that he has a special weapon for me called a light saber? Talk about an awkward moment! Another thing I didn’t like is some missions were not re-playable. Because of that, one of my feats is incomplete and I wont be able to do it unless I start the play set completely over. Don’t know if that makes me happy

Travis – There is not much that I don’t like in the Play Set… aside from the changes in the story-line that were made for continuity of the characters involved in the Play Set. For me, it’s like Star Wars allowing canon to be changed. Also, Disney said that this would be a perfect way for parents to introduce the Original Trilogy to their kids if they haven’t already. Perhaps to some, but to me teaching them the wrong version of the story-line as it happened in the movies.

What do you think about the characters?

Roger – For me, these characters are what Star Wars is all about and are simply some of my favourite Infinity characters of all time, Darth Vader is a excellent figure and I’ve really enjoyed using Luke Skywalker, because he has the power of the lightsaber and the blaster for ranged attacks.  And then there is Boba Fett, one of my highlights of 3.0 as he is so useful in the Toy Box as the only flyer released so far (though this is disabled within the play set which does actually help).

Abe – I love the selection of characters. I enjoyed playing as Luke with his light saber skills, Blasting away and melee fighting with Leia, Using my elite blaster skills with my Han Solo, Bow-casting and using some brute force with Chewbacca, and Force Choking you into the Dark Side with Darth Vader. Only character I have not tried is Boba Fett, but he as well is a great addition to the line of playable characters. Although the Star Wars fan boy in me would have loved a playable R2-D2, C3PO, Lando Calrissian, and the Emperor, I think it was a great selection of characters and an awesome balance across the board for all of the figures we got.

Travis – I am actually really liking the group of five characters that we got for the Rise Play Set (I am not including Boba Fett in this because he 1) is not due out for regular release until 2016 and 2) I do not have him in my collection). I appreciate that Luke has both a lightsaber and a blaster, which coincides to how the character developed in A New Hope. Leia is a very strong female character and I find that I am gravitating towards her more than I thought I would. Han and Chewbacca are fun to brawl with, especially Chewbacca, which is a beast of a brawler imho. For me, the weakest right now is Darth Vader, but I know that is partially because I do not have him leveled up and skill treed out enough.

I haven’t used them a lot, but I would like to mention how fun the two Rise costume Power Discs are. Luke in his Rebel Pilot suit and Leia as Boushh are fun little additions to Disney Infinity, especially since I could never see them being popular enough for an actual figure variant to be made.

Final Thoughts

Roger – Rise of the Empire is without doubt, one of the best play sets ever released for Disney Infinity, it gets the balance right between offering fighting, exploration, flight and more importantly, giving back that feeling of playing with toys.  The whole play set has that Infinity feel that the Marvel play sets lacked in 2.0, its simply a must have for any Star Wars fan and it offers so much replay value.  A must have.

Travis – With the limited time I have had to play Rise of the Empire, I am overall really enjoying it. It has been a struggle to put down the controller to go to bed, or to work, instead of moving on to the next mission, or to find that next Mynock to kill to reach to 100 mark goal. Aside from the small changes in the story-line, I feel that this Play Set will be very popular for the adult players my age who grew up wishing Darth Vader was their father.

Abe – Rise Against the Empire play set is a must for the hardcore Star Wars fan and for those who play Disney Infinity in general. Even if you are not a Star Wars fan, it offers so much variety in its gameplay. There’s a little bit of everything to cater to every type of gamer. It also makes you want to play Twilight of the Republic to experience the prequel trilogy, and makes you excited with anticipation for what’s to come when the Force Awakens play set hits stores. The replay value is definitely high, with the amount of collectible items you need to find, the challenges, the feats, and the three staring missions. This play set is my favorite so far, and I’m glad that they brought the old classic back for the new generation to enjoy. My final rating for the Rise Against the Empire play set is a 9 out of 10!

Here is a gameplay video from Rise Of The Empire: