Disney Infinity 3.0 Toy Box Speedway Review

Disney have recently released Toy Box Speedway for Disney Infinity 3.0 and in this review, Roger, Abe and Travis share their thoughts on the game, their favourite tracks, favourite vehicles plus the pros and cons of the expansion game.

Roger – Toy Box Speedway is one of the highlights of Disney Infinity 3.0, bringing in Sumo Digital, the team behind many kart racers like Sonic and Little Big Planet theme games, means many of the issues of the past have been tweaked to make a very enjoyable kart racing experience.

Travis – Being a fan of Mario Kart growing up, I was very excited for Toy Box Speedway to arrive in the mail last week. I will be the first to admit that I am not the best driver out there, but for me it’s more the fun surrounding the racing than it is the actually being good at. I did find, however, that once I found the vehicle right for me in the game that handled my driving style the best, I actually was quite good at racing… something I lacked not just in Mario Kart growing up, but also with racing in 1.0 and 2.0. Toy Box Speedway unlocked not just a bunch of fun toys, but also a new found racer in me.

Abe – Toy Box Speedway is a breath of fresh air when it comes to new content for Disney Infinity 3.0 and Disney Infinity in general. Racing is definitely a welcomed expansion game and driving is nicely overhauled. Totally enjoy racing through various worlds we love and seeing the story progress every lap. This one is bound to be popular!

Pros

Roger – The wide variety of characters and vehicles makes this expansion game very interesting and having different classes plus timed, battle and normal racing options mean there is lots of replay value from Speedway and then there is the online options which is a huge bonus over any play set.

Travis – The themed tracks are on point. I love the artistry behind them. Seriously, go race the tracks to not win, but to experience the amount of detail that Sumo Digital out into each of the tracks.

I also love how each character from 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0 can be used in this expansion game. It is a very easy and fun way to level up characters that you don’t have up to Level 20 already.

I appreciate the “end game”, meaning that you have trophies and feats to earn in order to unlock the toys for the Toy Box. From what I have gathered, some of the toy unlocks are random as far as which one you will get at a certain time, but others, like Marshmallow from Frozen, are obtainable by some of the harder challenges like getting Gold Levels in the Grand Prix races.

Abe – Being able to explore those amazing tracks with any character from 1, 2, or 3.0 straight out of the box is awesome. This game feels like a stand alone game and is worth every penny. Having a quality racing game in infinity is definitely one thing that I not only see being successful, but I also see it expanding in the future. It’s by far the best expansion game, and a huge step in the right direction for play if all characters. Great celebration sequence every gold trophy as well.

Cons

Roger – I struggled to come up with any major problems with Speedway, for £12, this is such a great expansion game that almost feels like it could have been sold as a separate game, however I feel a few more tracks of other franchises from previous versions, would have been a great addition, such as Tangled or Pirates of the Caribbean.

Also following a great introduction featuring Mickey and Minnie, I would of liked a classic Disney track. And with only one Marvel and one Star Wars track, I was disappointed with the lack of those franchises. Simply, I wanted some more tracks. Some of the vehicles are very mismatched, trying to use a podracer is almost impossible to play with.

I would have loved to have seen Speedway released as a play set, add some figures of characters like Herbie and maybe another Cars character like Luigi or Ramone would have been a excellent way to package this game.

Travis – Not being able to replay the level right away, but having to respawn back into the Hub. Then, when respawning in the Hub, if you want to use the same vehicle, you need to respawn it or reload it as necessary. To me, it forms a disconnect that gets annoying after a bit, especially if you have a goal in mind, like getting gold trophies before heading to bed.

Abe – There are a few things that annoying me. For example, there is no replay button. After every race, I need to reload the whole race. Another thing is after every race my vehicle disappears. I need to respawn the vehicle I want to use to race again. I don’t like that there are only 9 races. They are all great, but I just was left wanting more. They also had a missed opportunity to do an actual Cars race. Like the one movie about racing and they didn’t do a track for it. Also, where’s the closing cinematic when you beat the whole thing? We got an opening one, but no closing. And finally, after you get all the good trophies, the free race mode unlock is very disappointing. What’s the difference the the regular race mode? Woulda been nice to unlock a final 10th track.

Favourite Track

Roger – It was really hard trying to pick a favourite track, I love the selection and many of them are giving love to many under used franchises like Nightmare Before Christmas, Frozen and Big Hero 6, which never saw play sets in previous versions. But it’s the Monsters Inc track that caught my attention the most as I love the moving doors and the overall feel of it. I’d also give high props to the Frozen track for including MarshMallow in such a cool way.

Travis – I really enjoyed all of the tracks, but the Monsters Mayhem is probably my favorite simply because of the fun use of rails inside the level, and the amount of drifting I could do, which gave me fun boosts. If we are talking about Battle Mode, however, Halloween Town Highway was the best. For me, the layout of the course gave me some great places to deal damage to my opponents with the weapons.

Abe – Monsters Mayhem. I love the challenge it has with the different rails, then the two part track with the red light and green light to make them slower or faster, the lasers in the last lap for an added challenge, and the random canisters can slow you down on the track. Ultimately, what I love the most about it is the doors and all the colors. It is quite a gorgeous scenic ride the whole race.

Favourite Vehicle

Roger – One of my favourite vehicles is the TRON cycle, it looks cool and after using it on my iPad version of 2.0 for a while, it is great to finally use it on my PS4 and I always have a feeling the motorcycles go faster than other vehicles.

Travis – Parking Lot Tram (Power Disc). I tried a lot of different vehicles before settling on this one. I liked the way this vehicle handled around the tracks and how responsive it was to my drifting and driving style. Once I got it timed right, getting gold on the races wasn’t as difficult.

Abe – I mainly use the new racing carts provided but I do enjoy racing in Big Bongs Rocket Ship. That little wagon is colorful and loads of fun to ride in. Cool addition to the game in general.

 

Final Thoughts

Roger – I have really enjoyed playing Speedway, with a wide variety of well made tracks with unique items that are much stronger than any previous racing tracks, Speedway is a must have. There is a wide variety of bonus toys to unlock for the toy box which offer more value of money and adding the ability to play as all characters and different power discs from previous games adds more value.

Travis – For the retail price of about $20, there is a lot of value in this game. I spent about 8 hours total in getting all of the gold trophies in the game and most of the feats. That alone is worth it, but then there are the toy unlocks to consider, as well as replayability with the game, especially when they fix the online gameplay bugs and my friends and I feel comfortable playing online again. I would suggest to everyone who owns 3.0 to pick up this game, as it is very much worth the price paid.

Abe – Speedway is an awesome addition to the game. It adds hours of gameplay to the experience whether it be completing the modes solo, or being competitive with friends in multiplayer. It definitely leaves you wanting more so it’s definitely a cool game. I hope we get more tracks whether it be through patch or through a brand new expansion game because Speedway is loads of fun!!!

Here are some of the tracks in action: