Review

After Doom, every single FPS was referred to as a “Doom clone” for the next couple of years. The same with real-time strategy titles in the wake of Command & Conquer. Emulating someone else's success has always been part of the game's industry, so the only thing surprising about Disney Infinity is that it took someone this long to produce a “Skylanders clone”.

Let's put away my cynical hat for a moment though: if anyone was going to produce another toy and game combination then why not Disney? They have a huge roster of interesting characters to include and there have already been additional waves of characters released and more are promised.

Bundled with the starter pack you get three characters – Jack Sparrow, Mr. Incredible and Sully from Monsters University – and a base to stand them on. What you also get is a playset cube which has a dedicated set of levels for each character. These take the form of individual adventures: as Jack Sparrow you'll sail around the Caribbean; Mr Incredible will protect a city from invading robots and Sully will clean up the campus grounds and take revenge on the neighbouring college. In essence they are Assassin's Creed IV, Crackdown and Bully but, you know, for kids.

Unfortunately, unless you buy additional characters from each collection, these will be resolutely single player affairs. This is a shame as they are enjoyable games in their own right, kind of like minianture open-world adventures where you take on missions and are free to explore. Nothing is especially taxing or difficult, but they are enjoyable and last about 3-4 hours each. Additional playsets are available to buy too, including Toy Story, Cars and The Lone Ranger (with more to come), each containing two characters and a playset cube, but at £30 it's like the most expensive on-disc DLC ever.

It's the Toy Box mode where I spent most of my time however, and it is here that you can play in split-screen two player mode with any characters you want. This is a construction kit allowing you to build your own worlds which you can then invite other players to join. To begin with there is a limited amount of blocks you can use with the most interesting thing you are able to build being a race track. However, as you make your way through the playsets you'll unlock more and more toys to play with. Putting pieces together is very easy and it with a little bit of patience you can have you own level in no time.

A few preset Toy Boxes give you examples of what it is possible to create if you have the patience and imagination but it also turns out that every character you buy has their own Toy Box challenge. Vanelope from Wreck-it Ralph has a Mario Kart style race for you to take part in, for example, these are fun little extras but once you've completed each one there's no reason to go back to them.

Overall, Disney Infinity is a very well made package with a lot of content to keep you busy for hours. To get the most out of it, however, you will need to pick up some extra characters so it will get expensive, and quickly. I'd have to say that I enjoyed playing it with my kids but I enjoyed Skylanders more.

About the Review

Platform

Microsoft Xbox 360

Developer

Avalanche Studios

Publisher

Disney Interactive

Released

23rd August 2013