Please support Game Informer. Print magazine subscriptions are less than $2 per issue

X
Feature

Everything We Know About Disney Infinity 3.0’s Inside Out Play Set

by Kimberley Wallace on May 28, 2015 at 03:02 AM

Pixar's newest film, Inside Out, hits theaters on June 19 and has some powerhouse talent voicing its characters, including Amy Poehler and Lewis Black. The movie is about a young girl named Riley struggling with her feelings about her family's move from Minnesota to San Francisco. Her emotions, such as Joy, Anger, Fear, Disgust, and Sadness, are personified in her mind, living in the control center of it to try to guide her through all her feelings. Disney Infinity 3.0 will have a play set dedicated to the characters of Inside Out and it features its own separate storyline. Here's what you need to know about it.

It's a Sequel Story To The Film
Instead of just rehashing what happened with movie, the storyline is completely new for the play set. Riley is still the star, but this time around she's babysitting and falls asleep while watching TV. While she's sleeping, she accidentally brushes up against the remote, changing the channel to a scary movie. This breaches her subconscious and all these scary images get into her head. It's up to her emotions to attend to this crisis. You'll fight against baddies like broccoli, swamp creatures, and bats.

Get Ready To Platform
The other play sets have been very combat focused. For Inside Out, Disney wanted something different that would have a broad appeal. Therefore, the gameplay is centered on platforming that encourages cooperative play.

All Characters Have Special Abilities
All the emotions have their own unique abilities to help you get through the platforming challenges. This encourages players not to just stick to one character, but to swap to others as they're playing. The best strategy is to pick which character is best for any given situation. Anger can run across lava, Disgust can high jump, Fear runs quickly, Joy can glide across large gaps, and Sadness can walk across clouds.

Plenty Of Gameplay Obstacles That Encourage Cooperation
Clouds are a big component of the levels. Sadness can walk across them with ease, but any other character can only step on them briefly before they disappear; you must jump quickly if you want to get past them without using Sadness. If you're playing co-op, Sadness can pick up another character like Anger and walk across the clouds with him, easing your co-op partner's troubles. Similarly, Anger can pick up Sadness and carry her across the lava should she need it. The entire set can be played single player, but cooperative two-player gameplay is highly encouraged.

Another element is called musical gameplay. Here, you flip switches back and forth, turning on and off various platforms. You must match the musical lines and which platforms you're going on to get through the various areas. This means precisely timing and syncing up with the beat to do so.  Additionally, a gravity feature switches your perspective, turning the world and making you platform upside down.

Our Hands-On Impressions
I tested out of a short level and the platforming seemed pretty smooth. Balloons litter the level for you to pop and collect, and I was obsessively tracking them all down. The harder-to-reach balloons require you to swap characters. Disgust's high jump ability comes in handy for these. Enemies, especially dangerous bulls that charge at you the moment they see you, are all around the level. The only way to get rid of this menace is to get near an edge and move as it charges at you, so it falls off. This isn't as easy as it sounds, the window is very narrow for successfully dodging them.

A lot of my level forced me to go across clouds, so Sadness came in handy. Unfortunately, I chose to play as Anger, but that wasn't a problem. Switching characters is simple; you just put the other one on the Infinity Base and then can bring up the character wheel to swap in a jiffy. For a while, I was fine platforming through clouds just using Anger. It just meant I had to keep moving and couldn't collect everything. For meticulous collectors though, swapping to Sadness is essential, especially as the level went on and these sequences became longer. Disney Infinity may be kid friendly, but it still packs a challenge. I can't wait to see how involved further levels get. The Inside Out cast is pretty hilarious in their own right, so this set seems like a no-brainer if you find yourself loving the movie.

Want more on Disney Infinity 3.0? Check out our online hub below for exclusive content from our recent cover story.