Star Wars: The Force Awakens 'Disney Infinity' Review: Feeling It

The new Force Awakens Play Set for Disney Infinity 3.0 finishes the series of Star Wars sets offered this year, and in some ways stands apart as very distinct from them. The base set told an original story set against the familiar backdrop of the prequel trilogy's Clone Wars, while the Rise Against the Empire set played fast and loose with the story of A New Hope. This set is similarly abridged, but rather than toying with familiar cultural mythology, the broad strokes here feel like the developer tip-toeing around spoilers.  

The base set includes Rey and Finn, and has to take some narrative shortcuts to get them together and justify the swappable character conceit. What follows is a broad overview of The Force Awakens that leaves out some important details--and those who have seen the film can probably guess just what those are--in favor of a light, kid-friendly retelling. Kylo Ren may go through the biggest change, since he actually seems more menacing presented as a more generic evil threat than the more subtle idea presented in the movie.

In many ways the Force Awakens set shows just how set a pattern Disney Infinity can follow. This is extremely similar to other sets, right down to marooning you on a desert planet and having you gather resources to get off-world. The gatekeeping is less frustrating here, since the progression is considerably faster and the currency (scrap) can be found laying around in heaps. Still, it's light combat scenarios punctuated by light platforming, and the occasional fetch-quest to boot. Nothing here dramatically mixes up the formula, but it's a fine formula to start with.

I should also mention that the open world portion on Jakku was slightly buggy on PlayStation 4, with textures popping and flashing before my eyes from time to time. It never impacted gameplay, but it was distracting.

If one thing sets Disney Infinity apart from the other toys-to-life games, it's the quality of the figures themselves. The Force Awakens set looks as great as ever, albeit less iconic than characters we know like Darth Vader or even ones that were designed to look unique like Sabine Wren from Star Wars Rebels. John Boyega's Finn and Daisy Ridley's Rey both look great, but also slightly more mundane than some of their counterparts. The Kylo Ren figure, sold separately of course, is easily the best of the lot, with his menacing mask, hilted lightsaber, and flaps of the soft plastic to represent his tattered robes.

Those craving another journey to a galaxy far, far away will find it in The Force Awakens set, and players can rest assured that it saves many of the movie's biggest moments in case they haven't seen it. It's not a departure from anything we've seen before in the previous sets, but it is a comfortable way to spend a few hours with new characters and their nicely rendered new settings.

This review is based on a PlayStation 4 copy of the game, Force Awakens Play Set, and figures provided by the publisher. Disney Infinity 3.0 is available in retail stores, and the Force Awakens Play Set is available for $39.99. The game is rated E-10.