Review: Marvel’s Mightiest Can’t Save Uninspired ‘Disney Infinity 2.0’

What Disney wants, Disney buys. Pixar, Lucasfilm, Marvel — they’re all part of the Disney family now, bringing some of the biggest fantasy and sci-fi properties in the world under one mouse-shaped banner.

But when the company spied Activision’s lucrative Skylanders franchise, it didn’t go out and buy it. It staffed up and copied it.

Disney Infinity, the Mouse House’s not-so-subtle stab at the “toys-to-life” genre, seemed a perfect fit for the company’s impressive stable of characters. Franchises like The Incredibles, Wreck-It Ralph, and Frozen have enjoyed the Infinity treatment since the game­ launched last year, and it’s done a fine job refilling Disney Interactive’s ailing coffers.

So here we are staring at a sequel. Releasing Tuesday for most consoles, Disney Infinity 2.0 isn’t as brand scattershot as the first game, instead leaning heavily on the Marvel license in an effort to inject the new game with some superhuman flair.

But as any hero will tell you, power matters only if you know what to do with it. Despite appearances by the Avengers, Spider-Man, and a host of other superpowered icons, this just isn’t a great video game.

The toys-to-life basics remain unchanged: You place a Disney Infinity physical toy on the little plastic portal connected to your console and boom, it’s warped into the virtual world, ready to set off on all sorts of adventures. Though Disney Infinity shipped with three variations of its Starter Set — The Incredibles, Monsters, Inc., and Pirates of the Caribbean — the Disney Infinity 2.0 Starter Set comes in one flavor: The Avengers. Thor, Iron Man, and Black Widow figures are packed in, and while you can fork over extra coin for the rest of the gang, you don’t need them to complete the game.

You’ll need patience, however, and lots of it.

The main adventure pits the Avengers against Loki, who is out to destroy Manhattan with an army of Frost Giants because, well, why not? He’s Loki. But within an hour or so, it will dawn on you that the undercooked plot is simply an excuse to partake in a little Frost Giant genocide.

I lost count of how many poor Frost Giants I vanquished over the game’s five-hour story, but I’m betting it was in the high hundreds. It wasn’t personal; it’s just that Disney Infinity 2.0 is obsessed with them. “Go here, Avenger,” intones S.H.I.E.L.D. overlord Nick Fury, “and kill me some Frost Giants.” Protect that device by killing more Frost Giants. Destroy the weather machine … oh, and also kill a dozen Frost Giants while you’re at it, cool? Other than the occasional battle with Loki, there are no other enemies to fight. It’s a Frost Giant murder simulator, and it’s repetitive to the point of satire.

There are a few other things to do, but the playset’s open-world mini-games are pretty boring. Races are compromised by shoddy vehicle controls, while the “Smash all the colored cubes suddenly floating in the air” bit doesn’t really sing.

Worse, the campaign lacks the fun side quests that made playset exploration in the original Disney Infinity essential. Hunting down hidden Toy Box items, building bases, helping townsfolk — it’s all mysteriously vanished.

The Starter Set tries to make up for it by including a tower defense game and a weird top-down action romp, both of which are fine as brief diversions but won’t keep you coming back. You’ll be flying back into the soon-to-be-detached arms of the Frost Giants in no time.

And fly you will, because it’s a lot less fun to play as an earthbound hero in The Avengers playset. Characters walk slowly, turning Black Widow into a totally unappealing option even after you unlock the preposterous but necessary S.H.I.E.L.D. flying motorcycle. Virtual Manhattan is a relatively big place; it’s just way easier to patrol the city when you aren’t tethered to the ground.

While the story stalls, unlockable skill trees for each character urge you forward. Your superhero will gain levels and acquire new abilities, which, at the very least, serves as a selfish if plausible justification for mopping the floor with Frost Giants. The powers are playful and appropriate for each hero, and the combat itself is a step up from the last game.

You could also plunk down an extra $35 and buy a Spider-Man or Guardians of the Galaxy playset, if only to pause the mindless slaughter of Frost Giants and instead take out your wrath on, say, Spider-Man’s Symbiotes. The other playsets might look different, but they both suffer the same pacing and repetitive combat issue as The Avengers.

Despite its struggle to deliver a satisfying adventure, Disney Infinity 2.0 manages to pull itself together and deliver a smartly upgraded Toy Box mode. This is where the game peddles Disney Magic™, letting players of all ages do pretty much whatever they want with unlocked characters, items, and tools. Build castles, race vehicles, smash bad guys — really the only limit is your imagination and your skill at using the game’s beefy construction interface. It’s a fair bit easier to use than the Toy Box from the original game, though there’s still a decent learning curve to make the really cool stuff, particularly for the wee ones.

Thankfully, Disney Infinity 2.0 makes it much easier to get going. Large, interesting environments can be randomly generated. Better still, players can employ adorable little Builder characters to automatically gussy things up; it’s like having your very own Oompa Loompa construction crew.

The new Toy Box is packed with Marvel goodies, too, letting fans tinker with The Avengers Tower or hide the Infinity Gauntlet in a tree. Trouble is, you’ll need to unlock all that stuff by hacking through the playsets. Want more of that Disney Magic™? Go kill more Frost Giants. I think a few are still breathing.

Or better yet, don’t. Let the Frost Giant go. There’s far more fun to be had tinkering around in the Toy Box than slogging through the playsets. I applaud Disney for going big with the Marvel line — the physical toys themselves are gorgeous — but it’s time to start rethinking how best to treat these wonderful characters. Something about power and responsibility?

What’s hot: Characters look good; skill trees; improvements to Toy Box mode

What’s not: Playsets are a yawn; unsatisfying controls; R.I.P., Frost Giants

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