I got the opportunity to ask some questions and see some live gameplay for the recently announced Disney Infinity 2.0: Marvel Super Heroes at Disney’s E3 booth today, and walked away with some interesting details on the game. What I heard sounds very promising, and those who enjoyed the original Disney Infinity last year will want to keep their eyes on this follow-up.
Both gameplay modes in Infinity 2.0, the campaign-based Play Sets and the more freeform Toy Box, will boast substantial enhancements and expansions. The Avengers Play Set that will come bundled with the game will be four times the size of the original’s The Incredibles-themed level, and characters can now be upgraded through skill trees over time. The Toy Box mode, where players can create and share their own environments, will now offer explorable interiors for certain buildings, which can be further customized.
As a response to younger gamers who had difficulty wrapping their heads around the original game’s content creation systems, Infinity 2.0 will offer procedural generation mechanics called brushes and builders. Brushes, which will affect the general environment, allow players to specify what type of things they’d like to see in their level, and then automatically fills things in. Builders are characters who will automatically create whole buildings, and they will be familiar to longtime Disney fans (I was able to get confirmation that the Sultan from Aladdin and Eve from WALL-E will be among them).
The Power Disc accessories from the original will also return, and certain ones will reward specific characters with alternate costumes. I got confirmation that Spider-Man will be able to equip his famous black suit with one Power Disc, while another will give Captain America his World War II-era costume.
It was also recently announced that the first Play Set expansion will focus on Spider-Man, and will launch alongside the game. Furthermore, the representative I spoke with confirmed that, despite the game’s Marvel-centric focus, there will be more new Disney characters introduced to the game over time, including Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty and Merida from Brave.
Disney Infinity 2.0: Marvel Super Heroes will launch in North America on September 23 for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PS Vita, Wii U, Windows, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.