E3 2015 Hands On: A trip around the galaxy with Disney Infinity 3.0

Ever since Disney bought Lucasfilm, people have wanted to know when Star Wars would make it into Disney Infinity, of course this was the same year it was launching, so we knew it would not be then. However little did anyone know, when you collected all of the figures a surprise was unlocked, in the form of a Lightsaber.  Then in 2.0 we got Marvel and people said again, where was Star Wars and again it was a little gift for collecting them all, Luke’s Landspeeder. But now with 3.0 Star Wars and Disney Infinity fans can rejoice as they are together at last and boy is it good.

As most people would know, Star Wars has been going for some time now, there are those who love the original trilogy, those who like the prequels; and the TV series, The Clone Wars and Rebels also have quite a following and sure while there has been a game or several that tell a story set in those time periods, there has never been a unifying experience until now. On the show floor at E3, Disney had all three of the currently detailed playsets, meaning the announced Avengers and episode 7 playsets were nowhere and they also had the two new toybox games as well as the regular toybox and the all new toybox hub.

I first went hands on with the Kart Racing Toybox game, as I loved racing around in 1.0 and 2.0, so I just had to see what had changed with 3.0. Firstly it is vastly improved, now I never had any real issues with the controls or handling before, but after playing with the refined racing mechanics, I don’t think I can go back to the old ones.

Firstly, the racing look has been refined, in races there is now a progress bar that moves across the top of the screen, to indicate how far you are through the track and where the other players are. Secondly and more importantly, the vehicles now feel heavier, but not to the detriment of the handling of the vehicles.

Drifting around the track felt better than it has in previous games, with my only real reason for losing control being that I hit the pumpkins around the course or I got shot with a weapon, as I was in battle race. The track itself I was racing upon was Nightmare Before Christmas themed and it was not just the sky dome and texture pack, there was a section where you could jump off and trick over the fountain from the town square, or avoid the slot machine characters while drifting around the roulette table. The entire track was brimming with touches that just call out so much of what makes Disney Infinity so awesome.

Of course it was not all about the racing, I took some time to sample the playsets, I played through the Geonosis mission from Twilight of the Republic and two portions from Rise Against the Empire. On Geonosis, I placed down Anakin first and started out running towards the droids, unleashing powerful attacks with my Lightsaber, of course I was level 1, so I did not have that many combos unlocked yet, but I was able to do some damage and look good doing it. After a while, I swapped to Ashoka and really let loose, as Ashoka moves fast, with her twin Lightsabers she is a force to be reckoned with.

After taking apart a multitude of Battle Droids, I jumped into the Rise Against the Empire playset and took part in the Battle of Yavin, which takes place above the Death Star, where you pilot an X-Wing and take down Tie Fighters, provide cover for your fellow pilots and then make the shot to destroy the Death Star. The flying mechanics take a little bit to get used to, but once I did I was flying around with ease. The new spline tool, that I know some people can’t wait to use, is actually being used to keep the X-Wing on its guided path, much like Star Fox did. After I saved the Rebel Alliance, I jumped to Hoth, to take down some AT-AT’s.

First, you must take down one of the larger walkers on foot, which means you must make your way to it, take of the armour, climb it’s leg and remove or destroy a battery. Doing this four times will cause the AT-AT to stop working and then it falls down, once you have done that, you will then be tasked with taking control of a Snowspeeder to take down the remaining walkers, here you have two options, you can use the tow cable, fly around in circles and trip it up, or if you are skilled enough, you can take your Snowspeeder up and land on the back of one of them, get a hold of the remote and use it to destroy the others.

I had a guided tour of the all new Toy Box Hub and while it was not as detailed as I would have liked, I know it offers up something really cool. I actually had the chance to have a brief chat with John Vignocchi, one of the producers of the game and he pointed out some of the toys and features coming to the hub. If you have ever been to Disneyland, you will know that the Main St Cinema shows classic Mickey Mouse Cartoons, well in the Toy Box Hub, the Main St Cinema is replaced with the El Capitan where Disney do all their movie premieres, but that is not the special part. What is special is episodes of Toy Box TV will actually play inside of the El Capitan Theatre, yes you are reading that right, you are actually able to load into Disney Infinity 3.0 and watch episodes of Disney Infinity TV, how cool is that.

Disney Infinity 3.0 is well on track to provide fans with lots and lots of options for players to craft their own experience. The overhauled Kart Racing is spectacular and I can’t to get more hands on with it, but the figures are super detailed as well, which means they will fit right in with my existing collection.

Luke travelled to E3 to cover it for his own site Maxi-Geek, he was nice enough to write this for us too.