FutureFive New Zealand - Consumer technology news & reviews from the future
Story image
Star Wars makes Disney Infinity 3.0 awesome
Fri, 4th Sep 2015
FYI, this story is more than a year old

Disney Infinity 3.0 might be a game aimed for kids, but deep down it offers one of the best Star Wars experiences to date. You will be surprised by how good the gameplay is. When Disney acquired the Star Wars license back in 2012, some speculated the franchise would be ruined. However, the buyout has been positive so far. Not only are we getting The Force Awakens movie in December, but Disney Infinity 3.0 shows how good a Star Wars game can be. Disney Infinity 3.0 comes packaged with the “Twilight of the Republic” play set. The set includes a storyline focused on “The Clone Wars” and the two figurines you can play as are Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano. If you want to play as Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi, they are sold separately.   What I love most about the Twilight of the Republic play set is that it includes a better storyline than Attack of the Clones. This storyline adds Darth Maul as its main bad guy plus there are appearances from Jabba the Hutt, General Grevious and other popular characters. The only character that might anger some hardcore Star Wars fans is that Jar Jar Binks is still added. His appearance isn't long, but his high pitch voice and clumsy behaviour might force some gamers to hit the mute button. As for the gameplay, the combat in Disney Infinity 3.0 has improved for the better thanks to the addition of Star Wars. The Jedi characters have a large range of cool force powers and lightsaber attacks. You can even upgrade your character the more you play it to make them stronger and more powerful. Jedi have the ability to deflect laser blasts, and they can also use the force to push enemies away or jump large distances. Sometimes hack-n-slash types of games can get repetitive, but the combat in this game manages to still be fun no matter how many times you play it. The main reason the gameplay manages to feel fresh is because hacking and slashing isn't the only thing you can do. You can even drive a ship and defeat the enemies in epic looking space battles. The popular podracing sequence from Episode 1 has also been replicated too. Presentation wise, Disney Infinity 3.0 makes you feel like you are truly inside the Star Wars universe. The sound effects are all movie accurate and John William's famous score has also been added. The only minor downside is that the movie actors don't reprise their roles. Graphically, the game is lovely throughout. The bright colours will appeal to the kids and the perfectly rendered planets will please even the most hardcore Star Wars fan. The planets of Tatooine, Naboo and Coruscant look authentic and it's great that you can visit each planet whenever you please once they get unlocked. The only major problem I had with the Twilight of the Republic play set was that it was very short. Additional play sets that include the original trilogy and even the movie Inside Out are planned for later this year. Although you do need to pay extra money for these play sets and any other characters that you want to be. Outside of the Star Wars stuff, you can play in Disney Infinity's Toy Box where you can make up your own adventures and be other characters in the wider universe.  3.0 adds a new of toys such as Mulan, Olaf from Frozen, characters from Inside Out and many more. I also got to play a cool expansion called “Toy Box Takeover” which is a fun adventure that allows you to visit many different Disney worlds. You can play as any character you want, but you might see yourself fighting Star Wars and Spider-Man enemies just to name a few. Some of the bosses I encountered here included Darth Vader, Green Goblin and even Syndrome from The Incredibles. The story from this expansion is pretty cool because Syndrome has stolen and hidden some magic wands. Merlin orders you to retrieve them back, but it's easier said than done. Syndrome will force you to fight waves and waves of enemies to find them. As fun as I had with Disney Infinity 3.0, the only flaw about the game itself is how expensive it is to enjoy everything that it has to offer. Extra play sets and characters are sold separately and even the Toy Box Takeover expansion is separated from the main game too. However, Disney Infinity 3.0 as a game itself is excellent no matter how old you are. The addition of Star Wars has made the gameplay much more enjoyable than ever before. You just need to know that you will have to spend extra money to get more gameplay features from it. Verdict: 8.0/10