E3 2013 Preview: Disney Infinity

Disney Interactive is one of the premiere gaming publishers out there and Disney Infinity looks to take the open world sandbox environment to another level with Disney Infinity. I got to see some demos of the game in action.

So here's what I took away from this game -- you can do whatever you want, with whoever you want, as long as you have them unlocked in your toy box. You purchase the game which comes with three figures. This allows you to play the more structured part of the game. Explore the Seven Seas with Captain Sparrow in you quest to defeat Davy Jones. Ride around Monsters University with Mike and Sully. Or explore the world of The Incredibles. The choice is yours.

As you explore the world around you, you unlock various characters and items that you can use in the toy box. The toy box allows you to create whatever you want in an open world environment and share it with other people. It was a tad confusing as to how it all works, but if you buy the other Disney characters (that are sold separately), you can place them on the pad and insert them into the game.

The characters also come with Power Shields which use can stack below your character to give them hit points or shields. You can also change your environment with a power shield. Put down Nemo's shield and your world turns into an aquarium. It was pretty neat.

Even though I only got to spend a few minutes with Disney Infinity, the potential seems pretty great for this title. The goal for Disney is for players to create a whole new world (zing!) then upload it to Disney.com where it can be added to the Disney Infinity world. This, coupled with the character possibilities and limitless interaction available in the world, means you could spend hours and hours and hours in this world and still never see and do everything.

Disney gave me a Dash figure, so when I purchase the game I can play as Dash and open up his toy box adventure. But first I've gotta find Davey Jones...

We'll have more on Disney Infinity this Friday, so look for a more in-depth preview later this week.