Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes Avengers Play Set Review

The Avengers have made it to Disney Infinity.

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There was little doubt that they would, not after Disney Interactive first revealed that Marvel’s heroes were coming to the 2.0 version of the game. Being the company’s premier super-team has its privileges.

In this case, it’s having the Starter Pack include the Avengers Play Set and three of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes — Iron Man, Thor and Black Widow — so you can jump into the action right away. The difference between this Play Set and the ones you may have played in the first iteration of Disney Infinity is mostly one of scale: everything here is bigger and bolder, which is fitting for super heroes, even if the whole package is still a little light for an action RPG.

The gist of the story is that New York City is being invaded by Frost Giants, forcing Nick Fury to call upon the Avengers for aid. The team that assembles is the movie lineup (the three previously mentioned heroes plus Captain America, Hawkeye and the Hulk), though the setting can best be described as a pleasant mix between the movie and comic book continuities.

As such, comic book fans will be pleased to know that more characters show up than just the ones represented by the figures used in conjunction with the game. It’s not giving anything away to say that Loki is involved with the Frost Giant assault, but there are other villains you’ll run into along the way. Other Avengers show up to lend a hand as NPCs, including some we haven’t seen in the Marvel Cinematic Universe yet like Captain Marvel. That gives the game the feeling that you’re participating in something bigger even though the action is confined to NYC.

That’s not actually as limiting as it sounds, as the city itself is huge, much bigger than the maps from the first wave of Disney Infinity Play Sets. It’s great fun to simply see the sights, as the developers included real world landmarks like the Empire State Building and Statue of Liberty, along with fictional ones like Avengers Tower. The city isn’t drawn to scale, but that’s probably a good thing, since it takes Black Widow quite some time to get around as it is since she can’t fly.

Yep, I said fly, as one of the big additions to Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes is flight as a movement power. Thor and Iron Man both zip around pretty quickly, and they can just hover slowly when that’s more appropriate. Poor Natasha has to rely on one of the motorcycles that Fury gives you early on — fitting for her character, but a bummer compared to her airborne teammates.

Disney promised the Marvel Play Sets would put more of an emphasis on combat, and they delivered thanks to the fact that every character starts with both melee attacks that can be chained together for some cool combos, and ranged attacks. The heroes also have their own unique skill trees, allowing you to customize the way they play as you level them up. Some common traits like increased health and movement speed are on every tree, but there are also special abilities that differentiate the heroes quite a bit. Iron Man, for instance, gets the most versatility as he advances, while Thor becomes even more of a handful when he’s up close and personal.

(As an aside though, it’s a lot of fun to throw Mjolnir at enemies and watch it hit them on the way out and the way back!)

The only real downside in the gameplay is that it gets a bit repetitive after a while. The grunts you fight are mostly Frost Giants, and while they come in several different varieties, the game primarily attempts to challenge you just by throwing a lot of them at you at one time. You’ll have plenty of opportunities to pick up different missions from Fury and other NPCs, but except for some escort missions, most of them boil down to defending a spot against an attack or journeying to different spots around the city to gather things or activarte buttons while you get attacked along the way.

One good reason to complete as many missions as possible is that a lot of them come with voice-acted cutscenes, which are well done and feature more than just the main cast. Finding enough tokens around New York can also allow you to unlock Rocket Raccoon and Nova for use with the Avengers Play Set, and the way the game integrates them into the story is also pretty cool.

As a pure video game experience, the Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes Avengers Play Set is nothing Earth-shattering, but longtime Avengers fans are going to get a little more out of it than the general gaming public. Since it serves as the gateway into the new version of the overall game, it’s perfect for people who sat out the first Disney Infinity but are curious about the Marvel connection this time around, though at $75, it’s a little stiff for a curiosity purchase. My adivce is that since you’re almost sure to have comic-loving friends who buy this, check it out with them first before you take the plunge. If you like this Play Set, you’re probably going to go all-in with the rest of the figures and Play Sets, so get your wallet ready!

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