Welcome to the video game week dreamed up by your 5-year-old self. If you could go back in time and ask a fun-size version of yourself what video games he wish were invented, he might go off on a run-on sentence about Darth Vader racing Mickey Mouse, a Transformers game that looks just like the cartoon, something with Iron Man and Hulk teaming up to take on Dr. Doom and maybe an action game starring the stuffed Yoshi he cuddles with at night.
Well, all those bizarre, Capri Sun-addled dreams come true this week. Disney Infinity 3.0 Toy Box Speedway handles the racing angle. Marvel Puzzle Quest: Dark Reign jumbles up comic book heroes. Transformers: Devastation is an 80’s cartoon come to life. And Yoshi’s Woolly World stars the Etsy version of Mario’s trusted dino-steed.
Disney Infinity 3.0 Toy Box Speedway
(PC, $20)
The add-on portal disc, which is compatible with all platforms, transforms the game into a Mario Kart-style racer. After placing the character of choice on your portal, you take on other racers in a slapstick demolition derby. The courses are stacked with power-ups, jumps and ridiculous hazards that let you chase down and take out opponents in satisfying fashion. The racing, which is open to as many to four players in online play, adds a new dimension to the standard beat-em-up antics of the game that’s far more exciting than the level building mode.
The racing is fun, but this is far from a full-featured racing game. Only nine tracks are included, and although they are creative and fun — themed as Star Wars, Frozen, Wreck it Ralph and other films — cycling through them in heavy play sessions gets old quickly. If you’ve got a Wii U and Mario Kart 8, you won’t feel much of a need to spend time here. But if you’ve invested a ton of money into Disney Infinity and its cavalcade of action figures and are tiring of the standard modes in the game, this is a smart purchase that greatly expands what you can do with them, pumping new life into the ever-expanding game.
Marvel Puzzle Quest: Dark Reign
(PS4, PS3, $15, Teen)
You may wince at the thought of coughing up $15 for the same game that’s available for free on smartphones, the price makes for a solid deal once you take a closer look. Dispelling the barrage of microtransactions that plague the app, the developer gives you a (pretty much) full-featured version of the game with the original download, providing an all-star selection of heroes to send to battle against the Marvel rogues’ gallery. Battles unfold onscreen as you line up icons onscreen in a match three style reminiscent of Bejweled and Candy Crush Saga. When power ups drop or you connect huge combinations, your heroes pull off devastating special moves — including fighting game-like team-up maneuvers — that rock the enemies.
Gameplay is addictive, dishing out a dizzying chain of upgrades, story progression and loot drops as you move through the role playing campaign. The story, sticking with the Dark Reign storyline from the comic books, unfolds in a TV-like series of episodes, providing motivation and backstory for each battle. There’s also more to take on other than the main storyline, thanks to a pair of $4 downloadable expansions. The content is well worth adding, piling on new characters and missions to expand what you can see and do in the game, but their sheer existence is a cynical moneygrab, since the DLC was obviously ready at launch and simply held back to get you to pay more. It’s best to either pay the full $23 price for all the content or avoid it altogether.
Transformers: Devastation
(Xbox One, PS4, Xbox 360, PS3, $50, Teen)
PlatinumGames continues to kill it with the Transformers franchise, paying tribute to the 1980s TV show origins while telling compelling stories and keeping the combat and platforming tight and involving. Devastation centers around the Devastator, an evil giant combiner that the Decepticon high command manipulates for its desires of cosmic domination. This is the most accurate recreation of the cartoons I have played, nailing the cel-shaded visuals, the tone of the writing and rounding up the authentic voice cast.
Each mission puts you in control of a particular Autobot as he works to undermine the Decepticons’ plans. Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Sideswipe, Wheeljack and others get their time on stage, with each changing the paradigm with his set of weapons and attributes in vehicle and robot forms, vastly altering the strategy and feel. You upgrade the abilities and add new attacks as you go. The level design is varied and expansive, taking advantage of the depth and verticality of the environments. Combat flows in a style reminiscent of the Batman games — with a touch of Devil May Cry combo collections — leading up to visceral thrills when you’re able to unleash screen-clearing beatdowns. It’s disappointing that there’s no multiplayer, but Devastation is tough to beat for solo Transformers thrills.
Yoshi’s Woolly World
(Wii U, $50, Everyone)
Taking the same art style as Kirby’s Epic Yarn, Yoshi’s Woolly World frolics in a universe made entirely of yarn, patchwork fabric and other craft closet odds and ends. Just as in the Yoshi’s Island games that date back to the Super Nintendo era, you guide the enemy-gobbling, egg-tossing dinosaur with a great vertical leap through a daisy chain of whimsical platforming levels, beating down bosses at the end of each world.
The gameplay is almost laughably easy, calibrated so kids in early elementary school can mash through the game with minimal obstruction. That’s not necessarily a drawback. In true Nintendo fashion, the difficulty ramps up considerably when it comes to chasing down the array of collectibles. If you want to ace each level, expect to fail miserably countless times and have your reflexes and willingness to thoroughly explore and backtrack taxed to the extreme. The enemies are a charming mishmash of Yoshi’s Island and Mario game alumni, joined with a cadre of fresh creations that stay true to the spirit of the franchise. A solid pickup for anyone with a sadly underserved Wii U, Yoshi’s Woolly World’s challenge will keep you occupied and obsessed until the next Nintendo release trickles out.
