Now as I'm sure most people are aware by now, Disney infinity has been canceled.
That was announced back in May of 2016. It only came out in August of 2014 so I was quite surprised by this news... Well sort of.
At the time, I was thinking, why would this Disney based electronic game be canceled. It is completely different from everything they're done before, and it has a lot going for it. It offers a large character pool to choose from, collectible figures that appeal to all generations, collaboration and teamwork, creative mode to create and craft your own worlds, and many playsets that offer new and exciting challenges with very different styles of gameplay. And now, I shall break it down for you and explain the 5 reasons why it failed.
1. Tons of characters?
Yes there are a ridiculous number of characters to choose from, and yes, I do own them all.
They aren't that different though in their powers. Generally, the 2.0 and 3.0 characters are more exciting to play as and offer more abilities than the 1.0 because that was before they had special powers.
The 1.0 characters are less than impressive. Other than the Incredibles, the figures of each movie series all have the same moves. Examples include... Jessie, Woody, and Buzz...Jack Sparrow, Barbossa, Davy Jones...Sully, Mike, and Randy (Can I just say, they should have done monsters inc, not monsters university, and Randall should have been able to turn invisible like Violet from the Incredibles could.)
Other characters in later versions have similar moves too, like all 4 of the Cars characters, many of the star wars figures, some of the marvel figures, Finding Dory characters, Inside Out figures, Wreck-It Ralph figures have the same far ranged attacks, and Mickey and Minnie are very similar.
2. Unfairly matched figures?
Generally, most characters have a close ranged attack, a far ranged attack and some sort of special power. But some are amazing and some are amazingly awful. For example, Violet is super OP. She can just go invisible and sneak up on nearly any Mob, and because she only has a single attack, you can just stack it and spam button push to always win. Anakin and Darth Vader are also quite impressive with their unique force abilities. The marvel characters are all for the most part decent, as are the star wars figures. However, unless you are in the car toy box or the toybox speedway, the cars characters are just horrible. They can't attack like normal figures and fall off the maps very easily. So you can get all the figures, but only a handful are good, many are average, and quite a few are just sad.
3 Poor Playsets, Games and Creative Mode?
Yes there are many playsets, and to be honest, I'm only familiar with the ones in 3.0. That being said, I'm gonna go through them and explain the good and the bad of each.
There are 3 star wars playsets that generally all play the same with a general story loosely based off the movies which are for the most part interesting and engaging. They also then have tedious and often boring mini games to obtain most of the unlockables. They are often challenging and have very little point to them.
There's Inside Out, which is similar in many ways to playing a Mario game, including the tedious and often annoying levels. There are also some balloon thing you are supposed to pop, but it's nearly impossible without a second player and prior knowledge of where they are because it is timed. In fact, much of that playset would benefit from a second player. I'm not sure you could even win with just one. And in order to complete it 100%, you will need all 5 figures for it.
The Captain America one is a fighter vs fighter/s game and though it is alright, it feels very repeative and to be honest, it bored me too much to finish it.
Finding Dory was good overall. It provided a unique experience with realistic unlockables and interesting fun levels. That being said, the game also felt rushed and lacking in depth. There were mini games with no rework for completion. There were not many characters to choose from. The levels took forever to load. And I felt like it was intended for a younger user than the other games because it was far easier to complete.
The Toybox speedway was a good idea in theory but lacked proper execution. It had some good concepts in the way of tracks, but I wish there were more. There was no story to it. It would be nice if there was a story mode, kind of like the Crash Bandicoot racing games did. There also were so many vehicles to choose from that it was a little overwhelming. It would have been better to have fewer vehicle choices and instead allow players to see stats for different cars to pick and choose what they want, or even allow them to build and style their own. Additionally, the CPU players were very challenging to the point where you just felt happy not to come in last. It would have been good to allow a difficulty setting.
Then there is the Toybox Takeover. That was the best of them. It is what I would have expected from such a game. The characters mash up, take on a villain and try to restore peace by going through the different worlds and fighting bosses along the way. Though I can't say I would not have chosen some of the levels, they were all good and created well.
The Toybox hub offers some games, but many are hit or miss, and get old fast. And creative mode, though good in concept, was not done well. Navigation is poor, and building is often too limited in many ways and too endless in others.
4. Slow load time and lag...
There are so many. The game has slow load times and often times will just freeze, which is annoying because it has a really slow load time. Get the picture? Specifically, In the force awakens, I experienced horrible lag in certain spots. It did get slightly better in single player, but that's unacceptable for a new game to be that laggy. The toybox speedway is another one that takes forever to load and often crashes. Many of the toybox worlds take forever to load and often crash as well. Even the menu to get to them has a slow load time. This factor alone should have killed Disney Infinity.
5. Multiplayer, or lack thereof.
Yes, there was multiplayer... kind of. You could play with one other player. This is just sad. Most games allow for 4, some even more, but 2? Especially with all the figures to chose from is really rather pathetic. Now, in the Toybox hub, you could connect only and play with 4 players for certain games, but it took forever to find a group and was often more trouble than it was worth. The game should have allowed 4 player mode, at least with the toybox speedway. It doesn't really make for a family game unless you have a family of 2.
And these are the main reasons (in my opinion) of why Disney Infinity was unsuccessful and needed to die. That being said, I still enjoy the game and do still play it. These are just my critiques, and feel free to add more, challenge mine, ask questions, or share your experiences.
I just recently played a game called OrganAttack! IT was super fun and I highly recommend it.
