Styx: Master of Shadows released a gameplay trailer today as a followup to the first Assassin’s Green video. The new trailer makes great use of Styx’s clone ability to temporarily disable guards while he makes his way to the top of the tower. The clones behave like a magical controllable smoke bomb, allowing Styx to run right up to guards and blow up in a puff of noxious smoke or jump on their faces to keep them busy.
The trailer continues to show how Cyanide Studios has emphasized the vertical design of the levels. There is generous shots of Styx deftly scaling walls to ambush enemies from above while the rest of the level sprawls beneath his feet. Outdoor and indoor areas seem to have been combined into a smooth transition, as Styx is spotted climbing around outside, then sending a clone indoors to blind a pair of unsuspecting guards.
Styx: Master of Shadows will launch for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows on October 7th, 2014.
Known for their acclaimed adventure horror games Scratches, Serena and Asylum, game developers Senscape are back again to give us some more nightmares with The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. It is heavily based on its namesake, a novel by the legendary H.P. Lovecraft.
The Case of Charles Dexter Ward is set in Lovecraft’s home town of Providence, following a young man who covers the secrets of his town, its ancestors and the Necronomicon. He researches into the history of witchcraft and occultism dating back to Salem as he races against time to save Providence from the return of a powerful evil warlock.
Tales and themes of H.P. Lovecraft has always turned heads of horror fans and this game should be no exception. Though this is not the first game we’ve seen based on this Lovecraft novel, this new game will be much more true to the storyline and characters. The Necronomicon: The Drawing of Darkness was so loosely tied to the story it even changed the character names and ending.
The Case of Charles Dexter Ward has still a fair way from completing its Kickstarter campaign, but if you’re a fan of a good ol’creepy game, it is a worth checking out. Also if you are a generous backer, you can get your name immortalised in the game somewhere, like in the town records or as a witch of Salem.
Let me start off with some cautionary advice to you, dear reader, NEVER AGAIN should I be let anywhere near a microphone while there are working eardrums within range… This is something which the polite and accommodating employees of Sony learnt for themselves firsthand when I oriented myself towards their stall at the EB Expo and tried my hand at Singstar: Ultimate Party on the PS4.
Now, don’t get me wrong; I am not terrible singer. I’m a trained actor and have done singing classes, so I know how to modulate and warm up my voice for a performance. The problem was that this was a press event and there was a bar tab so I had been chugging booze and coke since the doors opened. This combination of intoxication and lack of preparation by a tipsy yours truly lead to a rendition of Frozen‘s ‘Let it Go’ which was a lot more Black Metal than when Idina Menzel was singing it. I also slipped up a couple of times with the words as I came to realise that this was NOT the version of ‘Let it go’ which I so dearly loved from the movie. Turns out that the in-house Sony devs, London Studios, couldn’t secure the rights to the original song and had to settle for the current version in the game. My disappointment was palpable, and was further compounded by the limited starting song collection which was available to me.
The game comes included with 30 pop songs from the last couple of years, but didn’t have anything harder (in terms of sound) than pop rock in the form of ‘5 Seconds of Summer’. I instead decided to go with an ear worm to force my disappoint onto everyone else present; Carly Rae Jepsen’s ‘Call me, Maybe?’ with my own Death Metal style. I took this opportunity to also play around with PS4 camera’s functions in the game.
There were a number of overlays and effects which the game provided to mess with the live feed of myself ‘singing’. The game records the players as they sing and takes snapshots at intervals throughout the song. This photos and videos can then be uploaded to social media and the Singstar website for other people to enjoy (or not). By using the touch pad on the PS4 controller I was also able to add in filter effects, virtual masks to the people in shot, and smoke effects coming from the controller. They don’t really add anything to the gameplay and their use in creating a music video would be limited as far as I can tell but the infinite creativity of a gaming community might be able to come up with some interesting stuff. Understandably, it’s difficult to innovate game design when your game is basically karaoke.
In terms of hardware however, the game changes things around by not having not having dedicated microphone peripherals. Instead, there is a free app which can be downloaded by any smartphone and be used to play the game. I assumed that this would allow more players to join in on the song (i.e. how awesome would it be for the game to have 10 people singing along to ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’?). But alas, this was not to be as the game only allows for 2 players at the most.
The game will launch with a reasonable $40 AUD price tag. This is a bargain, especially with the fact that you no longer need to invest in expensive hardware like microphones to play the game. The problem kicks in when you want to go beyond the starting 30 songs which come included, as every other track in the catalogue (of which there are over two thousand) will set you back $2 AUD. This might seem inconsequential at first, but as any accountant worth their salt would point out: it’s easy to let little things add up to a lot. To play this game with your own personal track list might set you back anywhere between $60-$100 AUD. This is more in line with other big name titles, but at least Singstar will let you decided exactly how much you want to spend.
After I finished, the booth attendant offered through gritted teeth to upload the recording of my performance onto social media. I told him to delete it, lest it fall into the wrong hands and cause the downfall of humanity…
Bad Blood is a self-contained campaign, released as part of the Watch_Dogs ‘Season Pass’ offerings although, as of this writing, the DLC is available for the general public via UPlay for PC, PSN for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3, and Xbox Live for Xbox One and Xbox 360 (sorry Wii U owners). It follows T-Bone Grady in the events that occur after the conclusion of the main game’s story. So, with that in mind, be forewarned: there will be spoilers in this review.
Story
T-Bone Grady, aka Raymond Kenney, wants to erase his digital footprint for good and escape Blume’s sight. Bad Blood starts off with him attempting just that at a ctOS center. And just when he escapes to his Silo hideout, mission complete, thinking it’ll be his “last night in the rabbit hole”, Grady gets a call from our ol’ homeless pal Tobias Frewer. He’s been kidnapped by Fixers, Blume now apparently on his trail. Being the good friend that Grady is, he promises to hit Blume again in order to clear Frewer’s file so they can both move on with their lives happily and, most importantly, safely. Eventually, a sneaky little rat comes back into play – Defalt. But, wasn’t he taken out by Aiden in the main game? Yes, he was…kinda. It all gets explained, as does his personal motivation for targeting Grady and Frewer. Outside of the campaign missions, the ‘Council of Daves’ and ‘Fox Hunt’ investigation side-missions (five each), respectively, shed light on some evident dissension among the ranks of Dedsec, and Blume’s continued search for Aiden, proving how well Aiden buried his tracks as they are two steps behind the entire time. Additionally, introspective audio logs found in free roam give us insight on the thoughts and emotions of Aiden and Grady given all that has happened.
Gameplay
Bad Blood adds some new wrinkles to the mix. In the campaign, Eugene – T-Bone’s R/C car – is introduced. He takes up a gadget slot on the weapon wheel and can be deployed only in restricted areas/interiors raversed in the story. Initially, Eugene is only implemented in set moments where T-Bone is stonewalled, able to drive through vents and get to the next room to unlock a door or turn off a laser defense system. Soon after, however, a ‘Stun’ ability is granted to the player, allowing them to take out enemies with an even lower profile. After that point, any upgrades – such as ‘Attract’ and ‘Detonate’ – are acquired through completed Street Sweep missions, which we’ll get to in a moment. Lastly, it’s important to note that enemies can spot Eugene, which tips them off to your location. So even though you have that lower profile with Eugene, it is imperative that you not forget the stealth aspect. New weapons are also at T-Bone’s disposal, unlockable in the same manner as Eugene’s upgrades. He does, however, utilise a large wrench and stun gun in his melee attack, the animations for which take a little longer to play out than Aiden’s, which isn’t so advantageous in a stealth-heavy level. Now, onto those Street Sweep missions, which is the other main addition to the gameplay. While T-Bone’s skill tree is the same as Aiden’s, and is governed by XP all the same, an added branch – the Street Sweep skills – are not.
Sheila Billings is T-Bone’s contact within the police force – a relationship that strongly echoes that of Detective Carter and John Reese’s in Person of Interest (as if the comparisons weren’t significant enough already!). In fact, she even sounds like Taraji P. Henson, who plays Detective Carter in said TV show. She even calls him “Mystery Man”, which Carter labels Reese at points in the programme (can no longer be a coincidence). Anyway, she tasks T-Bone with systematically taking out three gangs: the Chicago South Club (run by Lucky Quinn’s son), Fixers and the Militia. There are 20 missions attributed to each club, and completing them earns you tags, as well as points on a progression bar. At the 1, 5 and 20 marks for each gang, you unlock a new perk. The tags, on the other hand, are used as currency for new outfits to customise your T-Bone. These missions play like challenge rooms in the Batman: Arkham series, and can be very challenging, placing optional objectives on the player for maximum points, climbing them up the ranks of the global leaderboard and earning them more tags in the process. On top of that, Driving missions for each gang can be engaged, requiring the player hack or protect a car, speed through a checkpointed course or race their car from point a to b with minimum damage. Oh, and there are 10 co-op missions! They are really fun; it’s a shame there’s fewer of them. And lastly, all the mini-games, betting, poker, ‘Cash Run’, ‘Digital Trips’, etc., can be played as T-Bone, although they are exactly the same.
Visuals & Audio
Bad Blood is well voice-acted and Chicago looks as good as ever, but there’s not much else to be said about the expansion in regards to visuals and audio. No new songs have been added to the radio, although new interior locations can be explored as part of the campaign missions; outside of BlumeForge and the Silo, Defalt’s base in particular was a highlight. The neon lighting in the maze-room, among other parts of the building, reflected Defalt’s day-job as a DJ and, when contrasted with the danger of the location and the murderous intentions of our rat-like foe, created a surreal feel, as if you are trapped in a labyrinthine disco of death! Think less disco, more rave, but you get the point. Oh, audio-wise there is a hilarious bunch of dialogue recorded for T-Bone’s own personal talking moose. They are essentially stand-up comedy punchlines, some of which are truly hysterical, while others sort of bomb…much like a real comic’s material!
Overall
Bad Blood is welcome, if largely familiar, add-on content for Watch_Dogs. T-Bone is a wildly different personality to Aiden, which lends to an entirely fresh tone for his campaign. In many ways, he is reminiscent of the foil that Trevor played in Grand Theft Auto V, although not anywhere near as vulgar, violent and psychopathic…okay, maybe his accent and way of speaking are the only similarities between them, but still; he’s got this hillbilly air to him, and his rag-tag look also adds to that. The new take Street Sweep skill progression system is nice for variety’s sake, with the missions themselves providing a good challenge and incentive for replaying and topping the leaderboards. Co-op is a great time, Eugene is a nice addition to the gameplay base, and the story wraps up the loose ends relating to our main and supporting characters. For all these reasons, Bad Blood is a worthwhile experience for Watch_Dogs fans – i’s only downside is that its ultimately not too different an experience at its core.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Avast me hearties! Unfurl the sales, pull up anchor and make sure you have rum handy because Disney are bringing Pirates of the Caribbean to our beautiful shores! Disney have today announced that the as of yet unannounced 5th installment in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise will be filming on Queensland’s Gold Coast next year.
Although not much is known about the project yet, we do know that Johnny Depp will be reprising his role as Captain Jack Sparrow, that it will be produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, and directed by Joachim Ronning and Espen Sandberg. Oh, we also know that it will sail onto the silver screen in 2017.
So what do you think of Pirates 5 being filmed down under? Will you make your way to the Gold Coast to check it out, or will you just be excitedly pointing out landmarks in 2017 when watching the movie? Let us know in the comments below and remember to stay tuned to Capsule Computers for all the Disney and Pirates of the Caribbean news as it becomes available.
Back in a time before many of us were born, the very first multiplayer dungeon crawler was created. It’s name was Gauntlet and it changed multiplayer gaming as we knew it. Fast Forward some three decades and now Arrowhead Game Studios have revitalised the series with a brand new remake for PC. Featuring the same epic co-op combat with new visuals, new dungeons and a whole lot of modern charm, this may be one of the most fun little games I have played all year.
Story
After some hours with Gauntlet, I wasn’t too sure what the story was meant to be about. After all of the playable characters wake up on a platform, they decide to go kill the undead and gather some loot. Funnily enough, I was ok with the lack of story as it let me get right into the action. No messing about with half-assed forced plot, just straight into it which really works for this kind of game. Some games don’t need a plot to tie everything together, and Gauntlet is one of them.
Gameplay
Gauntlet puts you in the roll of one of four different character classes. Each class has its own strengths and weaknesses, and will play differently ensuring that as you progress through the game’seven after you have progressed through the game’s many (and I do mean many) dungeons with one character, that there is still benefit to doing it all over again with another. The four character classes are: Warrior, Valkyrie, Archer and Wizard, and they each fill traditional rolls for characters of the genre (largely because this is the game that created the genre in the first place). The Warrior uses his brute force to smash his way through the hordes of enemies, the Valkyrie is a little more tactful using her sword and shield, the Archer attacks from range and the Wizard uses a variety of button presses to execute different, powerful spells. Despite all of the classes handling differently, they are all pretty easy to pick up and master, meaning that you wont be fumbling around for controls instead of having fun.
Speaking of controls, Gauntlet is best played with a controller. Blasphemy I know, but it just works better. After playing considerable amounts of time with both, I can say that the controller is definitely the superior option, allowing for easier control and more rapid response than flicking your hands across the keyboard.
Gauntlet uses procedurally generated maps for players to fight their way through. As you would expect with a dungeon crawler, the aim is to make it through the rooms, beating up enemies and collecting loot as you go through. The enemy design is wild and varied, with new terrifying monsters and undead soldiers in your path every few rooms. The variety of enemy types keeps the game interesting and constantly has you rethinking your battle strategy, as every room of enemies needs different tactics than the last.
This is also a game that is designed for co-op play, and it does so magnificently. It can be an absolute blast to gather three of your buddies and go dungeon raiding together. Since each class plays so differently to one another, having two, three or four players running around at once can lead to some really insane situations. Not only that, but the game allows you to screw with your friends by attacking them, or luring enemies towards them.
One massive downside that the game has is its UI is confusing. Nothing is explained and it is hard to understand how much health you have, what items are in your inventory or just about anything else that a UI is supposed to do. In the end, I found myself just ignoring it and hoping I didn’t get hit too many times.
Visuals & Audio
Gauntlet is a top-down dungeon crawler, and it pulls this off with spectacular beauty. The dank, deep dungeons are all distinct from one another, and the enemies all look different and unique. Surprisingly, considering its top-down perspective the game has a remarkable amount of texture detail in both the backdrops and the character models. I was really impressed with the art direction and actually found myself looking off into the distance and the small, intricate details on more than one occasion.
In contrast to the look of the game, its audio is a little lacking. Utilising a very minimalist soundtrack, Gauntlet makes you feel like you are in these dank caverns and facing down the hordes of the undead, but the entire time I was playing the game, I just kept thinking how a little more sound, both in the music and the sound effects department would make the whole package feel a lot more complete.
Overall
Gauntlet is a rare breed of game that is just fun. It may not be the most original or ground breaking game, but it presents a game that is a fun little romp through dungeons. Wide variety of enemies, clever little puzzles and an environment that’s just begging for multiplayer mayhem mean that Gauntlet is a game you will return to time and time again.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
The Disney Infinity 2.0 Marvel Super Heroes Starter Pack and Play Sets come with all that you need to enjoy the game, but they don’t quite come with everything you might want. A big part of the Disney Infinity experience is collecting and playing with all of the other characters that are on offer. This time around we have a smorgasboard of super heroes to slam down onto our Infinity Base and run through the game’s various Play Sets and Toy Box mode. So lets take a closer look at the first wave figures that don’t come included in a pack:
The first Avenger himself, Captain America AKA Steve Rodgers is a super soldier from a bygone era. Taveling through time and into Disney Infinity, Ole’ Cap brings with him his mighty shield, and when he throws it all who face his shield must yield… Yeah ok so many people out there wont recognise the old Captain America theme song. Regardless, Captain America is the epitome of an average character in the world of Disney Infinity 2.0. Where you have heroes who can fly, climb buildings or smash entire armies with a single punch, Captain America sits back, throwing his shield and punching evil in the face. Sadly his greatest strength – his ability to lead and inspire, doesn’t translate well into a video game so Rodgers is stuck throwing his shield around and using his bare fists in combat. Don’t get me wrong, there isn’t anything wrong with Cap, but just as a character in the game he is a little outclassed.
Hawkeye
The first of the game’s archers (Merida from Brave will be joining the roster at a later date), Hawkeye is currently unique among all the characters. His bow is his primary weapon and he uses it to great effectiveness on the battlefield. Hawkeye is able to shoot enemies from far away… and also from not-so far away. He is a bit of a one-note character but still incredibly fun to play. Lining up a shot with your bow is even more exciting after you have upgraded it a few times to give it that extra stopping power. Also, his low-key attire really helps him stand out from the brightly coloured team-mates.
The Incredible Hulk
Ok I will start with this – I don’t like the colour of green that they chose for the Hulk’s figure. It is a little pale and drab and lacks the pizzazz that I’ve come to expect from the green giant (admittedly, he looks a lot better in-game). Also his facial expression on the figure looks like he is biting his bottom lip so it is a little hard to take him seriously. Ok, that negativity aside: The Hulk is awesome. He is EXACTLY the powerhouse you would expect him to be, and he can plow through entire hordes of enemies with no hassle at all. Once you start progressing along his skill tree and give him the wall-crawl ability and some extra strength in his punches, he becomes nigh unstoppable. Hulk is also playable in the Spider-Man Play Set after finding all of his Crossover Coins (which conveniently enough are all placed right near each other). To summarise the way the Hulks plays is to say heThe way Hulk plays is very reminiscent of The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, and frankly that is just incredible.
Spider-Man Figures
Nick Fury
The man himself, the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. is in the house and he is voiced by none other than Samuel L. Jackson. Getting a movie star to reprise their role on a video game is rare enough, but to have it be such a well known name is even rarer. Jackson doesn’t phone in this performance either, giving his all to the character like he was reading the script for Avengers 3. Nick Fury plays a lot like Black Widow from the Starter Set, equipped with dual blasters and the ability to cloak and summon a Life Model Decoy to distract his enemies. He does everything a super spy outta, and does it with class. Although it is a little disappointing that he is not playable in the Avengers Play Set, but I guess you can’t have it all.
Iron Fist
Easily the most obscure character included in the game, Iron Fist’s appearance and voice come from the Ultimate Spider-Man animated series. A master of kung-fu, and a man who beat a dragon with his own two hands, Iron Fist brings his incredible fighting skill to Disney Infinity 2.0. Another one of those average characters, like Captain America, it is nevertheless cool to see Avalanche and Disney utilising some more unknown characters in the Marvel library (although his inclusion could be to hype up the upcoming Iron Fist show on Netflix).
Venom
Possibly one of the most well-known villains in all of nerddom, Venom is the antithesis of Spider-Man, and his black suit, long tongue and muscular build have become a trademark and he wears them all with pride in Disney Infinity 2.0. Venom is very much a cross between Spider-Man and The Hulk, with the abilities of the former mixed with the strength of the latter. I think its fair to say that Venom is the strongest character out of the first-wave line-up and may be the strongest character out of the entire Disney Infinity universe.
Guardians of the Galaxy Figures
Roccet Raccoon
“Ohhh yeahhhhh.” Since earlier this year, Roccet Raccoon has become a household name. The wise-cracking, gun-toting half animal/half robot maniac has warmed the hearts of people all over the world, and now you get to play as him! In-game, Rocket plays very similar to Star-Lord, utilising his dual blasters to inflict as much damage as possible on the waves of enemies attacking Knowhere (or your Toy Box, whichever you choose). However, he can charge up his weapons and unleash explosive blasts that take out enemies in a wide area. Not only that, but he is able to ride on the shoulder of Groot, and fire from there much like he does in the movie. His physical appearance is a bit of a mixture of his movie and comic book iterations, creating a clook that is unique to the game.
Groot
If there is someone from Guardians of the Galaxy more well known than Roccet Raccoon, it is Groot. The living tree that can only speak three words brings his considerable bulk and power to the game, able to punch enemies from afar and climb up walls, Groot can do it all! While not quite as strong as the Hulk or Venom, he is up there in terms of power level (keeping true to his comic book characterisation). Groot’s appearance this time round is more akin to his movie look than his comic book one, probably to not confuse people who have never heard of the admittedly obscure comic series.
Drax the Destroyer
Drax the Destroyer. What more can really be said. Strong and fast, Drax is the ultimate fighter. Weilding his twin blades, he charges into battle like a madman (cause well… he IS a madman). The designers opted give Drax his comic book look rather than his film one, probably because the amount of detail that his tattooing had in the film would be impossible to replicate on a figure this size. Although having Star-Lord, Groot and Roccet resemble their film counterparts while Drax and Gamora look more like the comic book iterations creates a bit of a discrepency with the team, and one that die-hard comic book fans wont be able to overlook.
So there we have it. Disney Infinity 2.0 Wave 1 has 9 stand-alone figuresand while many of them are absolute home-runs, some are misses that fumble at the start. Some characters just don’t translate very well into a video game, and some are just outclassed by those around them. However, Marvel and Disney have done an excellent job bringing these characters to life, and all of them have had their skills and abilities lifted straight from the comic books and into the game, and that alone is enough of a reason to celebrate.
Spider-Man is probably.. nay he definitely is the biggest hero in the Disney Infinity 2.0: Marvel Super Heroes line up, and for good reason. People all over the world can sympathise and empathise with the young man who is just trying to help. The Spider-Man Play Set, inspired by the current Ultimate Spider-Man animated series brings Spidey, Nova, Iron Fist, Venom and Nick Fury to the forefront and lets players traverse the busy streets of New York with some of the best web-swinging action in years. Though is shines in some aspects, this Play Set does always prove that great power doesn’t always equal great responsibility.
Story
The Spider-Man Play Set has one of the greatest tutorial levels I have ever played in a game. Spidey encounters Green Goblin and Mysterio after they have cloned the Venom Symbiote in an attempt to take over New York. Mysterio manages to catch our favourite wall-crawler and the tutorial mission is Spidey trying to make his way through one of the master illusionist’s traps. Collapsing floors, moving walls and a whole range of visual tricks litter the way through this tutorial, and that is only the beginning. As you make your way through the campaign, you will come up against famous Spider-Man villains, leading to the eventual showdown with none other than the Green Goblin himself.
Gameplay
Ok, lets discuss the one thing you really want to know about: web swinging. Every single Spider-Man game is made or broken by its web-swinging. Well, I can happily say that the web-swinging in Disney Infinity is simply amazing (I think I will be getting fired for making such a bad pun). Now this isn’t AS good as the web-swinging from the bygone Spider-Man 2 game, however it is about as close as I have ever played. Spidey will twist and flip through the air with all the agility of a spider. As you continue to swing higher and faster, you will almost feel the wind on your face.
Anyway! Enough about the web-slinging and onto the actual gameplay. The Spider-Man Play Set plays very, very similar to the Avengers one where you travel around New York (albeit a different area of New York) defeating the Symbiote clones that Green Goblin has created to raise havoc. The missions are broken into two main categories: combat and defense. Combat missions have you traveling to a particular area of the map and fighting waves of Symbiotes, while the defense missions have you doing almost the same thing but while protecting an item or person from harm. Due to this, many of the missions to feel really similar to one another and they lack any real depth or excitement.
There is about four hours of content in the Spider-Man Play Set and while it is pretty repetitive, it is still an enjoyable experience. After collecting the Crossover Coins, you can play as The Incredible Hulk and Iron Man, each with their own missions that help advance the story. I am a fan of most of the crossover characters, but Hulk and Iron Man both feel out of place here in a Play Set that already has Venom and Nova.
Visuals & Audio
Spider-Man is a character that just feels made for Disney Infinity. The colourful costume, the chipper demeanor and the special abilities all make him feel right at home. Nova, who also comes included in the pack fits in just as well, and together they might be the two best looking and feeling characters in the game. Their costumes are very true to not only the comic books but also their animated series.
Ultimate Spider-Man is one of the most well-known super hero cartoons currently on tv, and the entire cast reprise their roles for Disney Infinity. Hearing Drake Bell’s quips and banter as Spidey feels natural, colourful and right at home. He is joined by Logan Miller as Nova, Greg Cipes as Iron Fist, Caitlyn Taylor Love as White Tiger and Ogie Banks as Luke Cage. The cast of regulars is rounded off by Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury and J.K. Simmons, reprising the role of J. Jonah. Jameson (who has become synonymous with Simmons gravelly voice).
Extras
The Spider-Man Play Set comes included with a Spidey and a Nova figurine. Nova looks absolutely fantastic, his costume and helmet look absolutely phenomenal and he is easily one of the prides of my Disney Infinity collection. Spidey is almost as good, with his figure in an awesome crouched pose and his bright blue and red costume standing proud. However, Spidey suffers from the same problem that the Iron Man figure does; lack of detailing. The thing black web lines on Spidey’s costume aren’t painted on, which makes it look a lot flatter and less detailed overall. Even with this lack of detailing, Spidey probably has the most unique and stand-out figure of anyone in either Disney Infinity game.
Overall
The Spider-Man Play Set has its ups and downs, but I for one can’t get over the web-swinging. I have spent more than a short amount of time just gliding between buildings in New York, watching Peter Parker bend and twist as if he didn’t have a care in the world. The Play Set has some of the best characters in the game, but could have done with a little more variety in the missions and a little more detail on Spidey’s costume. Although when all is said and done, the great figures and awesome web-slinging don’t make up for the repetitive, lackluster gameplay of the Play Set itself.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Guardians of the Galaxy is the biggest film of the year, so it is no surprise that Star-Lord and his motley crew have traveled all the way from Knowhere to take part in Disney Infinity 2.0: Marvel Superheroes. In a different change of pace from the other two Play Sets (Avengers and Spider-Man), Guardians is an openish-world platformer. None of the Guardians can fly, so they are forced to use their feet and a bevy of intergalactic vehicles to get around.
Story
The Guardians of the Galaxy Play Set mixes elements from this year’s film with some of the Guardians comic books. The Guardians manage to get their hands on an Infinity Stone and are bringing it to the Collector on Knowhere for safe keeping when they are ambushed by Ronan the Accuser. The story is fun and lighthearted, maintaining a lot of the charm and wackiness that Guardians is now known for. Much like the Avengers Play-Set, Guardians dips into some obscure characters for its storytelling, most notably Cosmo – the telepathic Russian space dog (who had a brief cameo in the Guardians film). Cosmo is your primary mission giver and it is awesome to see more unknown characters getting some limelight in this game.
Gameplay
Guardians of the Galaxy takes a completely different approach to its gameplay than either the Avengers or Spider-Man Play Sets. None of the Guardians can fly, so instead you will find yourself in the midst of an epic space-opera platformer. All of the traditional platforming elements are here, from moving platforms through to exhaust vents that blast you away if you spend too much time in one spot. Not only is it a refreshing change of pace from the rest of the Disney Infinity offerings, but it is probably the most fun.
While platforming is the focus, there is still plenty of combat, and each of the Guardians handles it differently. Star-Lord uses his element guns to blast away enemies, while Gamora takes a more direct approach with her broadsword. The fact that the two included characters play so differently from one another really keeps the game feeling fresh. There are also other mission types, such as fetch-quests (everybody’s favourite…) and even a few where you get to jump into a giant turret and blast away some Sakaraan soldiers.
The Play Set does have one overwhelming downside, and that is the fact that it is over too quickly. I managed to complete the whole campaign, all of the side-missions and find all of the cross over tokens in a little under three hours. The time flew by however and I enjoyed every minute of it, I just wished there was more.
Visuals & Audio
Guardians of the Galaxy looks beautiful. The deep-space backdrop really stands apart from any previous Play Set and the fact that you get to play in two distinct locations only helps that. The Guardians themselves all look great, but as I mentioned above they are a mix of their comic and film counterparts.
The voices are all also completely new for the game. Unlike the Avengers or Spider-Man characters, the Guardians don’t use their Marvel Animated Universe voices (possibly because they have only appeared about four times in the animated universe so far) and instead have a voice team that sounds more akin to the films. While Chris Pratt, Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel don’t reprise their roles, their replacements do an admirable job of holding down the fort.
Extras
The Guardians of the Galaxy figures are a little unusual. They still have the same care and detail as the rest of the Disney Infinity 2.0 line-up, but the depictions of each of the characters varies from one to the next. Star-Lord looks like he does in the recent film, while Gamora looks like she does in the comic book. This spreads to the team itself, who while still look great together, may irk the more die-hard comic book fans and collectors out there.
Overall
Guardians of the Galaxy is easily the stand-out Play Set of Disney Infinity 2.0. It manages to stand-out from the crowd and offer something completely different. The game’s two settings look absolutely gorgeous and there is enough variety in the missions to make it feel like a full-fledged game. The only thing that lets down this Play Set is its incredibly short length, although the fact that playing through it unlocks all the pieces you need to build your own Star Fox style game makes up for it.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Disney Infinity was an absolute massive hit last year, and continued selling Starter Packs, Play Sets, Figures and Power Discs until even today. This time round, Disney decided to add to the formula by making use of their Marvel Comics license to include some of the world’s most renowned super heroes in on the action. This isn’t just a simple character roster addition though, Disney Infinity 2.0 really does feel like a massive leap forward for the franchise and while it stumbles in a few aspects, it still provides a solid offering for kids, kids at heart, die hard collectors, Disney fans and Marvel comic enthusiasts.
Story
There is only one Play Set Piece in the Disney Infinity 2.0 Starter Set and it tells the story of Loki’s attempt to unleash havoc on the streets of New York by summoning an army of Frost Giants. The Avengers all leap into action, aided by Nick Fury and a few lesser-known Marvel Heroes in order to stop Loki and his associate; M.O.D.O.K.
The story is a bit light and childish, but you can’t really complain about that since the target audience is…well…kids. Although one thing I found really impressive was the developer’s not being afraid to delve into some of the more obscure or lesser-known Marvel characters for story purposes. M.O.D.O.K. is the type of villain that likely won’t ever see the silver screen, so his inclusion here is particularly cool. The same goes for characters like Wasp and Ms. Marvel, two of Marvel’s most badass female roles that are yet to make it to the screen.
Gameplay
Disney Infinity 2.0’s gameplay is broken up into three distinct parts: Play Sets, the Toy Box and the brand new Toy Box Games. The only Play Set for the Disney Infinity 2.0: Marvel Super Heroes Starter Set (phew, that’s a mouthful) is The Avengers, and lets you pick one of the three included characters; Iron Man, Black Widow and Thor, or one of the additional Avengers characters; Captain America, Hawkeye or The Incredible Hulk and complete missions to stop Loki and his army of Frost Giants from ravaging the city. Many of these missions have you traveling to one part of the city, beating up some enemy thugs and turning in for your reward. If that sounds a little dull, that is because it kind of is. There is little to no mission variety in this Play Set. Not only that but the side-missions that were everywhere in the original Disney Infinity are scarce at best now. This cuts down on the amount of time you can spend in the Play Set actually doing things.
It is a bit of a let-down to get such a shorter amount of time in the Play Set, but that just means that players get to jump into the Toy Box all the sooner. While it is available from the onset, you unlock toys by playing through the Play Set campaigns so you will start off with a few more building blocks than you would otherwise. The new Toy Box mode is an absolute dream to play.
If you are familiar with the original Toy Box, then you will know it was clunky, unresponsive and took a long time to do anything. Well those days are gone with a lot of enhances and fixes (both behind the scenes and at the user-level). Firstly, the maps are so much bigger than before, and can be jam packed with toys, logic connections and other goodies without causing nary a dip in frame rate. Secondly, the way in which you purchase toys has completely changed. Gone is the old random roulette spinner, and in its place are purchase trees. You now purchase smaller items along a tree in order to get to the big goodie at the end. While this can still be a little tedious and time-consuming, it nevertheless makes you feel like you have more control over what you are unlocking.
In-game toys aren’t the only part of the game to get trees now, characters now all have a skill tree to unlock more abilities and attack combinations. Levelling up was originally included in Disney Infinity 1.0 but it offered little more than a way to get spins in the Toy Box, now characters get stronger and gain abilities like flight, web-slinging, wall-crawling and even ultimate finishing moves. The skill trees add a bit more depth to the game, and every character’s is unique. Well, except for the 1.0 original characters. They all have largely similar skill trees and all lack a special move. Some of the added abilities don’t really work for the characters, and it comes off as lazy design. A prime example of this is the fact that Phineas gets a super-jump even though he has no reason to. Original Disney Infinity characters also don’t gain any of the new game’s added abilities like flight or wall-crawling. Even Syndrome, who’s whole plot in The Incredibles film revolves around him being able to make himself fly is unable to in the game. While there is a lot of love shown to the new Marvel characters in terms of sticking to their designs and abilities, the same love isn’t shown to the original characters and the abilities they do have really feel like an afterthought.
Disney Infinity 2.0: Marvel Super Heroes also contains new Toy Box Games, which are pre-designed games like the tower defense Assault on Asgard, or the dungeon crawler Escape from the Kyln. These are unlocked by placing the Toy Box Game Disc onto the Infinity Base and offer a LOT of gameplay. To complete either of the two pre-included Toy Box Games will likely take you longer than the Avengers Play Set campaign. The design of these games is fun and will surely spark a lot of creative juices as people play through them, before building their own games.
Visuals
The original Disney Infinity created an art style that was uniquely its own. It managed to capture the spirit and the look of Disney’s various franchises while also making them look like they all belonged together. The bright colours and semi-exaggerated features are what DI is all about. 2.0 continues this trend, presenting some of Marvel’s biggest and most well-known stars in a whole new light.
While the art style fits the super heroes surprisingly well, the Marvel gang all seem to stand apart from their Disney-created bretherin. While the original game’s characters all looked great standing side-by-side, and often looked like they belonged together despite their obvious differences (Mr Incredible, Perry the Platypus and Lightning McQueen could stand side by side and look like a unified team), the Super Heroes kind of feel like their own different team. Sure they all still look great together, but there is a bit less uniformity across the board.
The jump to next-generation has had an impact on the visual quality of the game, but it is not as immediately noticeable as you might hope. Character models and the world are a little more detailed but unless you are playing both the versions of the game side-by-side then it is kind of hard to tell. What the new hardware does do however is change the size and scope of the game.
Maps are now so much larger before and allow for a tonne more toys to be placed in the Toy Box than ever before. Massive city-scapes are rendered easily and even filling an entire game world with Creativi-Toys and logic connections causes little to no performance issues.
Audio
The sound effects and music are much the same as the original, with tracks being lifted from famous Marvel and Disney animated series and movies and put into the game world to really make it feel like a cohesive, shared universe. However voice acting seems like an entire step-up from the previous game.
While Disney Infinity had a lot of voice actors reprising their roles from film and animated series (most notably The Incredibles and Phineas), many characters were voiced by sound-alikes. While they still sounded great, anybody who has spent time watching Disney programming would soon realize that it wasn’t quite right. 2.0 Takes it one step better and gets many (see: almost all) of the voice actors from the various Marvel animated programs to reprise their role in the game.
Kids (and kids at heart) who have watched Avengers Assemble, Ultimate Spider-Man and Hulk: Agents of S.M.A.S.H. will immediately recognize all of the familiar voices, who have begun to embody their characters. This again helps make that cohesive and unified feel, and also shows a lot of care on the part of the developers to treat these characters right. There is however one particular character who is not voiced by his television counterpart; Nick Fury. Chi McBride does not reprise his role as the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. and instead the main man is voiced by none other than Samuel L. Jackson. Talk about star power! Sam Jackson’s Nick Fury makes the jump from the silver screen to the console game with ease and really sounds fantastic as he is giving you missions and directions through the Avengers Play Set.
Extras
This is Disney Infinity we are talking about, so lets get down to brass tacks! You get a wide variety of goodies in your Starter Pack and it ensures that you have everything you need to get playing from the moment you open the box. Your Starter Pack will come with a Disney Infinity Base, Avengers Play Set Piece, two Toy Box Game Discs and three figures: Iron Man, Thor and Black Widow.
The figures all look amazing, and they manage to capture the look and feel of their character perfectly. Everything from the poses that the figures are in, to the costumes they wear are just perfect. Well, almost perfect. Iron Man is painted in his traditional yellow and red colour scheme, but due to the mass-produced nature of the figures, he lacks any fine detailing. The separation in his armor while still present, doesn’t stand out and makes the figure look a little bland in comparison (Spider-Man suffers from a similar lack of detailing).
The Disney Infinity Base is meant to be basically identical to the one from the first game, but I found it worked even better. While the original Infinity Base had issues with not reading figures or Play Set Pieces at times, the 2.0 Base has shown none of these problems (and I have already spent about as much time on 2.0 as I did the original game). The added build quality and stability really made my gaming experience all the more better as I wasn’t constantly having to fiddle with my character figures to get them to stay in the game.
All of your previous figures will work in 2.0’s Toy Box Mode, and putting them onto the base will unlock all of the toys that are associated with that character. Play Set Pieces unfortunately DON’T work in the new game, although placing them onto the base will unlock all of the toys that you would have achieved through regular play.
Overall
Disney Infinity 2.0 takes a great concept and enhances it further. Bigger maps, more characters and an insane amount of options for players to spend countless hours building, creating and playing. It is a little disappointing that the Starter Set only contains one Play Set, and that it isn’t quite as long a campaign as you might hope for but the new Toy Box 2.0 and the Toy Box Games will still keep you entertained. It is a little disappointing that the 1.0 characters didn’t really get much love this time around, with lackluster skill trees and without abilities that they really should have (cough, cough: Syndrome). Regardless, Disney Infinity 2.0: Marvel Super Heroes is a step above its predecessor and is a fantastic gaming experience for kids, or kids at heart and manages to utilize the Marvel branding with an incredible amount of care and respect creating what is in many ways the ultimate Marvel game. I’ve often said that Disney Infinity was a love letter to Disney as a whole, but Disney Infinity 2.0 is more of a love letter to Marvel Comics with a “P.S. We still kinda like you, Disney” at the end.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
