Disney Infinity 2.0, Part 1: Enter the Avengers

You've got your Iron Man, your Thor and your Hulk at the end of the month. What else do you need? Perhaps a bit more some substance. Disney Infinity 2.0 has been one of my most anticipated games for quite some time now. Take the magic of the first game and add a hefty cast of Marvel characters; the results sounded like a match made in heaven. By all means, it is definitely a fantastic team-up, with a few disappointments drizzled into the Avengers playset.

Disney infinity 2.0 is very much the same as the original but with quite a decent and well needed amount of upgrades. New skill trees will have you anticipating your favorite Avenger's super powers as they're gradually unlocked at a decent enough pace. A new combat system to accompany the new skill set is also absolutely fantastic. My gal and I have been playing non-stop and she simply can't get enough of flying around with Iron Man and unleashing all forms of death beams. It's a simple system that expands on the original by adding easy command. You may now hold your attack trigger to unleash one more, click another trigger to unleash a super, hold jump and a bumper to fly. It's all incredibly entertaining but simple, the charm of this series. The attention to detail on the characters themselves is brilliant. For example, Iron Man's flight is sweet and all but when Thor takes to the air, he's followed by a whirlwind of air which further demonstrates the speed he's flying at. Black Widow has an appropriately feminine and attractive hip-sway walk. The effects are bright and colorful and so are the humorous interactions of characters. There are a plethora of vocalisations that will leave you smiling. Since we had pre-ordered, we got Groot as our bonus free figure and we discovered that even the Avengers will interact with him. You can't help but glee at the first time you hear the exchange: "I.Am.Groot." replied by Thor's "Yes....you are indeed Groot".  In essence, the characters are exceptionally wonderful. They feel severely more sophisticated than the initial cast and are far more immersive.

As a result, the playset for the Avengers is fun simply because you get to mess around with the cast via objective based missions and that is all. The Avengers playset is unfortunately the downside to your entire Disney Infinity 2.0 experience. It's not entirely bad, it's simply disappointing. When we first bought the original Disney Infinity, we were given three playsets in one. All three of those playsets took a few days to complete and were entirely fun. Even the frustrating bits were entertaining and bloody hell, you got to take part in sailing the seven seas and mess up some bad mothas in ship battles. This time around, you spend the same amount for one playset and two mini-game disks.  The Avengers playset started off fun. Initially, we were awed by how big the city was and the character abilities. Then it went downhill from there. Missions constantly repeated themselves and we found ourselves doing the exact same thing throughout the whole playset. It was both dull and frustrating. Sure, there's some fantastic cameos by Sif, Wasp and Cpt.Marvel (Carol Danvers, who's one of my favorites), but there was nothing to keep us going except for empty promises. The antagonists are Loki and Modok, which is fantastic, if only we were able to battle them. There's one Loki boss fight right at the beginning and that's it. We have no idea what happens to Modok afterwards. Supposedly, if you collect all the coins in the city, you unlock the option to play as Rocket and Nova. Through them, you face Modok. Which is the dumbest decision I have yet seen. Nova comes in the Spider-Man playset which is another $35-45 and Rocket is another fifteen. Why would you have to spend more to get the entirety of the main storyline? They could've easily added some other obscure antagonist for those characters to face off against but why limit us to only one half of the bloody game? It feels stupid and if you're on a budget, you won't get the full experience within the first few weeks. WHAT!!? It's one of those two steps forward and one step backwards situations. The game is still great and you won't really be playing the playsets much other than to get all the unlocks for the toybox. However, it was such a pleasant surprise in the original game to find out that the playsets weren't just a bonus but a genuine fun and clever experience. You won't get that here in Avengers.

All in all, the game is fantastic; it truly is. You get a plethora of fantastic characters with different play-styles that will fill you with joy. Just don't expect much enjoyment out of their default story adventure. You'll get a few giggles as you run rampant in the city but that will be short lived. Oh well: perhaps the Spider-Man and Guardians playset will prove to be better. I'll make sure to review those as soon as I get my greedy little hands on them. Stay tuned for the second part of my Disney Infinity 2.0 article, as I delve into the far superior ToyBox mode, which will guarantee your need to own this game. Until then, ride some rainbows and wreck havoc with an Iron Suit.