However, it also suffers from some of the same limitations as its predecessors. Like the previous two installments of Disney Infinity, Infinity 3.0 offers an impressive amount of synergy between its two play modes, with activities in one mode unlocking options in the other, and vice versa. The extra guidance is particularly welcome in that mode, as it eases you into the ocean of seemingly limitless world-building options that mode provides. While there’s no shortage of engaging, fun tutorials available in the Toy Box environment that walk you through the creative options available to you, they aren’t mandatory for players who want to jump in sans instruction. With Infinity 3.0, both play modes tread the fine line between letting you learn as you go and providing the guidance you need to get the most out of your playing time.
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Tutorials and in-game guides were noticeably scarce in Marvel Super Heroes, and while it wasn’t much of a concern in the playset adventures (due to the simplified controls) this became especially problematic in the free-form Toy Box mode, where the possibilities seemed limitless – but only if you managed to figure out on your own how to make everything work. The way these side quests are managed – and much of the game’s other activities, for that matter – also represents a big improvement over Marvel Super Heroes that suggests the Infinity 3.0 team were well aware of some of the criticisms lobbed at the previous installment of the franchise. A long list of side missions, challenges, and simple quests are available on each of the four planets you visit in the “Twilight of the Republic” playset, for example, along with character-based rewards that encourage replaying them with different figures.
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Even so, the playsets’ sandbox environments appear to have received a significant upgrade in Infinity 3.0 that makes them feel much, much larger this time around. The playset adventures themselves remain fairly short activities as far as the main narrative goes, and could easily be completed in four or five hours if all of the available side missions and sandbox elements are ignored.
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have done a nice job of avoiding the all-too-common pitfalls of an iterative update that begins and ends with some new characters and storylines.
The platform-navigating activities in particular make knowing how to position the camera nearly as important as knowing when or where to jump. It’s fairly common to find yourself repeatedly missing jumps or getting stuck in the geometry of a particular area due to quirky camera angles or invisible edges that nudge you out of line with your intended action. Infinity 3.0 does have some room to grow, however, in the way characters interact with the in-game environment.
The characters are now able to string together more complicated attacks with the proper timing and button actions, and though the combo attacks aren’t mandatory to defeat enemies, they provide a welcome alternative to the button-mashing combat that dominated the last game. Not only are the controls themselves more intuitive, but the upgradeable skill trees for each character offer significantly more customization. On the playset side, the combat elements in particular received a major update from Marvel Super Heroes, which occasionally felt a little limited in its simplicity (even for an all-ages game). Infinity 3.0 feels like a surprisingly fresh experience in both play modes – playsets and Toy Box – thanks to some major changes in the way characters are controlled, the scope of the sandbox environments, and the creative options (and guidance) available in the world-building activities. In making the leap from Marvel Super Heroes to Disney Infinity 3.0, Disney Interactive Studios and LucasArts have done a nice job of avoiding the all-too-common pitfalls of an iterative update that begins and ends with some new characters and storylines. The other half of the Disney Infinity experience is the free-form, world-building “Toy Box” mode, which allows players to design, assemble, and share their own in-game environments created with stylized themes, programmable objects, and other interactive elements unlocked through various methods (i.e., in-game achievements). The Disney Infinity 3.0 starter pack, for example, offers the “Twilight of the Republic” playset that can be used with many of the Star Wars figures. Themed playsets provide a narrative-based, open-world adventure for a select group of playable characters. Much like its predecessors, Disney Infinity 3.0 is a two-part experience. The result is a world-building experience that does indeed feel infinite in its scope.