Disney Infinity: Toy Box Challenge

Genre: Party Game

Players: 1-2 Competitive (Local Wireless)

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Review:

Note: Are you confused by all this “Toys to Life” stuff? Check out eShopperReviews’ helpful guide here!

Disney Infinity: Toy Box Challenge is a family-friendly Party Game. This game was released in 2013 on Nintendo 3DS and is completely separate from the other Disney Infinity games, though it uses the same figurines as the first game in that franchise. Oh yeah, on that note, this game takes the “Toys to Life” concept and adds to it Disney and Pixar franchises. Much like Amiibos, Disney Infinity figurines have NFC chips in them, which can be read by a “Infinity Base” portal device that connects to your Wii U via a USB port.

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Getting Started

For those wondering about what additional toys/gadgets/doodads you’ll need to get to enjoy this game, know that in order to play this game, you need to have a Nintendo 3DS Infinity Base. This version will not work with Infinity Bases for other platforms.

You will also need any three compatible Disney Infinity character figurines (this game only works with figurines created for the first game – 2.0 Edition and 3.0 Edition figurines won’t cut it). Unlike the console games, the figurines here are largely interchangeable. They all have a different look and voice, and slightly different stats, but they do not have different abilities or offer any additional content.

While that’s what you need to play this game, if you want to play a significant portion of this game’s content, you will also want to get a compatible Play Set figurine (this game only works with play set figurines created for the first game – 2.0 Edition and 3.0 Edition figurines won’t cut it). Each Play Set figurine contains new game boards to play on.

In addition, players can opt to use additional round and hexagonal Power Discs (once again, only 1.0 discs – 2.0 Edition and 3.0 Edition discs won’t cut it) which give players additional stat bonuses. I cannot stress enough how little this is necessary – this game is easy enough without these extra bonuses.

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An Infinitely Smaller Experience?

For the Nintendo 3DS version of Disney Infinity, the game’s designers chose not to try to replicate the large worlds and creation tool sets of the console games, instead opting to go for a Party Game comparable to Mario Party. While I think it was probably a smart move not to try to reproduce the full console experience in the handheld game, I have to question the choice of a Party game as the alternative here – this is not a genre that’s known to be particularly great on handheld platforms.

Unfortunately, this game seems dead set on justifying my fears at every turn. As if being a handheld Party Game wasn’t enough, the game seems to only support two players. What’s more, there are loading screens at seemingly every turn, because nothing says “party” like “wait”. And the games themselves are all simple and bland. Your choice of character won’t make much difference here either – they all play the same, with only aesthetic changes and slight differences in stats.

Don’t expect those stat differences to matter, either – this game’s challenge level is stupidly low, to the point where anyone more skilled than a small child will breeze past this game’s challenges.

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Back to the Toy Box?

I can completely understand the Nintendo 3DS version of Disney Infinity not replicating the experience of the console versions of the game. But what 3DS owners got in its place was a terrible Mario Party clone where the “Toys to Life” stuff seems forced, the difference between characters is negligible, the pacing is agonizingly slow, the games are stupidly simple, and the challenge level is so terribly low that very few players will find this worth their time. If you really want Mario Party on Nintendo 3DS, just get Mario Party. If you want a fun Disney game, there are plenty of others to choose from. But don’t get this terrible attempt to try to shoehorn a terrible Nintendo 3DS game into the Disney Infinity franchise.

tl;dr – Disney Infinity: Toy Box Challenge is a family-friendly Party Game where players are enticed with the promise of an epic crossover featuring all their favorite Disney and Pixar characters. Unfortunately, this is a terrible Party Game that’s slow-paced, simple, lacks a challenge, and does little to justify the “Toys to Life” elements. Do not waste your money on this one.

Grade: D

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