Disney Infinity NEXT happened this week, which was an interesting new strategy that Disney has come up with to bring news to the fans of the Disney Infinity line. The news event was streamed via the Disney Infinity YouTube channel and was similar to how a Nintendo Direct functions, bringing brand new news to the audiences as well as news outlets. There were a number of key announcements, but the biggest takeaway is to not expect a 4.0 this year. Instead playsets will be released throughout the year for each of the four main brands (Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars), the first of which is Marvel Battlegrounds.
Battlegrounds is releasing this month, and is bringing “brawler” style gameplay to Disney Infinity. The playset allows any Marvel figure, from 2.0, 3.0, and any future releases, to be used, in any of the 8 arenas. The gameplay looks heavily focused on PVP, with gameplay reminiscent of Capcom’s Power Stone, as it allows up to four players to do battle in the large open arenas. These arenas also can take damage and change during the course of a battle. However from the footage given, it looks like there could be some PVE elements, such as fighting waves of enemies similar to horde modes found in other games, and they did mention a final, massive boss encounter. Alongside Battlegrounds they are releasing 4 new figures; a new Chris Evans-inspired Captain America, Ant-Man, Black Panther and Vision.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6p2cYYorv3o
One of the other new figures they brought up during the NEXT event was to coincide upcoming release of Jon Favreau’s The Jungle Book. They will be releasing Baloo, based on the original animated film. The figure looks to be a very comical addition to the lineup of figures with goofy attacks combined with the carefree nature of the big bear that many fans have come to love. No date was given for Baloo but one can assume that it will be close to the release of the film in theatres.
The Marvel Battlegrounds playset and the new Marvel figures will be releasing on March 15. If you have not picked up Disney Infinity 3.0 yet, you can check out our review!