Disney launched its new interactive videogame Disney Infinity on Sunday. The complex new game allows fans to explore all new scenarios and locations within the worlds of their favorite Disney and Disney Pixar films while also giving the fans a place to create their own adventures and features within the Disney universe.

Disney Infinity has been released for Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo Wii U and Playstation 3. Upon purchase of the "Starter Pack" a player will have access to three characters – fun little figurines that plug into the Disney Infinity gaming apparatus named the Infinity Base – along with three different worlds called "playsets" that the characters go into. The current starter packs include characters and playsets from Pirates of the Caribbean, Monsters University and The Incredibles.

Each playset comes set with over five hours worth of pre-programed gaming. In addition to these playsets, players will have access to the Toy Box, a place where fans can create their own adventures and challenges. This “open-world” play is the place where Disney allows fans to mix and match characters. In other words, the Toy Box is a place of free play.

The gimmick is that Disney Infinity will allow players to create their own films within the game, like a sort of live fanfiction. As more characters and playsets are released, the game will no doubt grow and become more complicated. Currently, other than the three playsets included in the Starter Pack, Disney Infinity has also released a Cars playset and a The Lone Ranger playset that are sold separately. Disney plans to continue to release extra game pieces, such as extra individual characters or character packs and "power discs."

The game has been getting decent reviews, but Wired found the creative Toy Box aspect of the game difficult to access.

“It’s hard to escape the feeling that Disney left out some important information when it sold us on the creativity mode. It’s possible to create some pretty impressive stuff with Toy Box, including actual videogame levels that can time you and keep score and use logic and everything, but not right out of the box. Lots and lots of the ‘building blocks’ – not just cosmetics but actual functional key parts – are locked behind paywalls and playwalls. We’ve sunk dozens of hours into the playsets and it feels like we’ve barely made a dent as far as unlocking new items,” writes Chris Kohler of Wired.

Another review applauds Disney Infinity as a feat in combining real childlike adoration of toys with video gaming.

“Disney Infinity is really all about celebrating the wonder of toys, and that concept is really sold through some lovely deft touches. For instance, Jack’s [Jack Sparrow] just a tad too short to see clearly over the helm of the Black Pearl; the robots you fight as Mr. Incredible have visible battery slots; and or when you ‘die’ you break apart like a neglected plaything. These really are toys that have come to life,” writes Daniel Krupa of IGN.

– Olivia Truffaut-Wong

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