It's been a bit of a bumpy road, but Disney Infinity 3.0 is definitely the definitive title in the Disney-themed 'Toys to Life' figure-centric series. Working in a similar way to Skylanders, where you buy real-life plastic figures to play as, from the traditional Disney fare of Mickey, Aladdin and Stitch to more recent additions like Hulk, Groot and Luke Skywalker, it was third time lucky for Disney Infinity 3.0, as the latest game finally got all the pieces in the right place, with oodles of side missions, and a more robust 'Toy Box' level creator winning us over. Having just finished the bundled Twilight of the Republic Play Set, then, the news that a brand new Marvel-themed Play Set is coming is definitely music to our ears here at Everybody Plays.
Like every arachnophobe, Captain America had second thoughts about coming face to face with a spider(man)...
If you've never played Disney Infinity before, there's one thing you need to know. Disney Infinity's divided up into two sections - the "make your own levels" Toy Box, and the co-op story driven Play Sets. With two Star Wars-themed Play Sets, and another based on the recently released Pixar film Inside Out already available to buy, the next brand to get its 15 minutes of fame in Disney Infinity 3.0 is superhero mega giant, Marvel - a brand which they've already visited once, in Disney Infinity 2.0. With support for all your previous Marvel figures, plus a myriad of new and familiar faces, Marvel Battlegrounds will feature "a new four-player, arcade brawler style of gameplay, and an original Marvel storyline", although there's no mention of whether this will be local or online multiplayer (we suspect the latter though, with local limited to two players).
Story-wise, Marvel bad guys Ultron and Loki have joined forces, planning to steal Asgard's seriously powerful Infinity Stone. To accomplish their mission, Ultron and Loki go with distraction tactics, creating robotic replicas of the famous Marvel Super Heroes, and unleashing them on their namesakes, while they set about stealing the stone. Marvel Super Heroes both genuine and robotic will then battle it out across iconic environments, from a wrecked Brooklyn train yard, the isolated, technologically-advanced land of Wakanda and the SHIELD's own Lunar Base, culminating in a universe-wide battle against Ultron.
To help combat the new Ultron/Loki threat, Marvel Battlegrounds enlists a whole new set of Avengers - although most are still "yet to be announced", outside of the Hulkbuster and Ultron. A new version of Captain America will also make an appearance, now known as Captain America: The First Avenger, in a new pose, costume and with new, enhanced abilities. Old Cap' isn't the only one with a reworked move set though, as all your old Disney Infinity 2.0 Marvel figures, from Black Widow and Iron Man to Star Lord and Groot, will have their skills and abilities tweaked too, so as to work better in the new, presumably more combat-orientated Play Set.
Well, the Hulkbuster certainly came prepared, anyway.
We like the new direction Disney Infinity seems to be going in too - while the first two games effectively locked the characters you could play as depending on their franchise (so Tinkerbell couldn't become a Pirate of the Caribbean), for Disney Infinity 3.0, the rules have been relaxed a bit. Both Star Wars Play Sets let you play as any Star Wars characters, and from the looks of it Marvel Battlegrounds will be the same, except with Marvel folks instead. According to Jay Ong, the Vice President of Marvel Games, "We've created an authentic Marvel story that will give players the freedom to choose any Marvel figure in Disney Infinity and have them face off against each other in an arena style combat". Now if only Disney Infinity 4.0 would expand that, and let Stitch be an honorary avenger!
Disney Infinity 3.0's Marvel Battlegrounds Play Set will launch next year across all consoles (Xbox 360, Xbox One, Playstation 3, Playstation 4 and Wii U), in March - which may seem a bit of a way off, but with two Star Wars sets, an Inside Out-themed level pack and several Toy Box game expansions to get down, it's not like we're going to be running out of Disney Infinity any time soon either. More details on the new Play Set are promised during the weekend's New York Comic Con too - so make sure you check back next week for more information!
