You may or may not have heard that it's now official: Star Wars is coming to Disney Infinity with the forthcoming 3.0 edition. 1.0 brought us classics from Disney and Pixar, while 2.0 focused on Marvel superheroes. So it's a natural progression — and a surprise to no one — that 3.0 will delve into Disney's newest acquisition: Star Wars.
While Disney Interactive has yet to announce or comment on anything relating to 3.0, a German retailer named Saturn this week leaked an image of the Star Wars starter pack. We respect the hard work that Avalanche and its partners do creating all the fun stuff players get to do in Disney Infinity, so we're not going to post the image here. (Saturn's already removed it anyway, but you can still find it in various places online.)
Sorry, Avalanche. We know it sucks.
Still, the cat's out of the bag and we can't unring that bell. So if you want to know everything that can be gleaned from the 3.0 Starter Pack image, we're going to discuss it and give our reactions. If you'd prefer to wait and appreciate the announcement the way that Disney intends, you'll want to go read something else.
Still here? Last chance.
Okay, let's go.
The Disney Infinity 3.0: Star Wars Starter Pack looks a great deal like the first two Starter Packs. The box is the same shape and size, but black and focused entirely on Star Wars. The characters shown in the artwork look as though they could have been lifted straight out of The Clone Wars TV series. In fact, the two figures that come with the Starter Pack are from the show: Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka Tanno.
We have to stop here and address this, because it's pretty darn shocking. That Avalanche would choose to lead its Star Wars charge with Clone Wars content and figures is extremely unexpected, since Disney is doing its best to pretend that the prequel trilogy never happened (and The Clone Wars is part of the prequel era). Every form of media that Disney and Lucasfilm have authorized since the Mouse House bought that galaxy far, far away has been focused whole-hog on the original trilogy era, its characters and locations. They even canceled The Clone Wars so Disney could have its own animated series (the excellent Star Wars Rebels) that focuses on the Empire and the Rebellion.
The box also includes the first Playset piece, which is in the shape of the Jedi logo with a pair of lightsabers criss-crossed behind it. We're guessing that the Playset will focus on Clone Wars-related content.
Other characters featured on the cover art include Obi-Wan Kenobi (the Clone Wars version), Yoda, Darth Vader, R2-D2, C-3PO and Princess Leia riding a Tauntaun. Leia's inclusion confirms that despite the Clone Wars love, the original trilogy isn't being ignored. So we fully expect Han Solo, Luke Skywalker and others to be available, too. (In fact, it's likely that Han and Luke could be bundled with a separate Playset.)
The box includes the hardware base to place figures, discs and Playset pieces on, as well as a card for redeeming online content, and the game disc.
Perhaps more telling than what is included is what isn't. The biggest complaint players had about 2.0 is that it was light on content. The first game came with three Playsets on a single crystal, three figures, and there were three additional Playsets available to purchase for a total of six. But 2.0 had only three Playsets to play in — half as many as the first game — and just one that came with the Starter Pack. To make up for this, Avalanche created "Toybox Game" discs that gave gamers procedurally-generated levels to play, which were pretty repetitive.
This 3.0 box lacks Toybox discs of any kind. Could this mean we'll be getting more Playsets this go-round? We hope so. There are also just two characters included instead of the usual three. Locations visible in the background of the artwork include Tattooine and Hoth, both of which are no-brainers for Playset content. There are also ships flying in space, so spaceflight combat might not be out of the question.
This Star Wars leak comes just days after a previous leak identified the full list of "Disney Originals" characters that would be made available with 3.0. That list included Mulan, Olaf, Mickey, Minnie and characters from Tron: Legacy and Inside Out.
Saturn, the German retailer responsible for the Star Wars leak, also revealed August 15, 2015 as the game's release date. It's expected to be playable on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Wii U and PC.
With "May the 4th" just around the corner, perhaps Disney Interactive has plans to make its official 3.0 announcements sooner than later.
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