Last Thursday saw the release of the heavily anticipated Disney Magic Kingdoms mobile game. While a landmark day in many Disney fan’s eyes, it is only the beginning for Disney video game releases this year. 2016 is notable for containing many high quality titles related to Disney brands.
TRON RUN/R (Out Now on PS4 and PC, Coming Soon to Xbox One)
Tron 3 may be permanently derezzed (I know I’m lame.), but Flynn Lives in the form of the new video game TRON RUN/r. Out now on Steam and PSN, TRON RUN/r is not your typical runner, think Temple Run. Instead it crafts elements of the Tron universe like the iconic light cycles and identity discs into a visually stunning arcade experience. The Xbox One version is due out at a later date.
Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens (June 28, 2016)
Although it wasn’t the first LEGO video game by any stretch of the imagination, the original LEGO Star Wars, released in 2005, sparked a new era of Danish building block inspired games. After multiple entries based around the first two trilogies and The Clone Wars television series, the seminal saga is back in full…Force… with the events of Episode VII recounted in comedic LEGO fashion. Along with a deluge of playable characters; levels based around new stories between the 30 year gap since Return of the Jedi will give Star Wars fans an extra reason to play. It will be released on all major current platforms.
Disney Infinity 3.0 Expansions (Throughout 2016)
Instead of 4.0 in 2016, 3.0 will be seeing continued updates to support new figures and Play Sets. Earlier this month Marvel Battlegrounds was released along with multiple new superhero figures. Two Zootopia figures and an animated style Baloo are also out now. Announced for the rest of the year are three playsets based around a unspecificed Disney Animation film (possibly Moana), a Pixar movie (most certainly Finding Dory as confirmed by the backside of a Kraft Mac & Cheese box, of all places) and another Star Wars playset (Rogue One perhaps.) Numerous other characters including Peter Pan and a few Alice Through the Looking Glass ones. Disney Infinity 3.0 is available now on PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and Wii U. The PC and mobile versions, including the Apple TV version are, sadly, no longer going to be actively supported.
Star Wars Battlefront DLC- Outer Rim, Bespin, Death Star (2016-2017)
The first of four paid DLC (downloadable content) for EA’s Battlefront was released Tuesday. The first consists of maps on Outer Rim worlds Tatooine and Sullust. A Summer pack will include Bespin based content (Think Cloud City) and the Fall is Death Star based. One more unannounced pack is set for a release in early 2017.
Star Wars Virtual Reality (TBD)
Those not following the tech scene might not be aware that the next big thing in gaming is virtual reality. The Oculus Rift will be available at the end of this month for $600 while the PlayStation VR headset for PS4 is due out in October for $400. Lucasfilm is already toying around with Star Wars VR. Trials of Tatooine is a demo for the HTC Vive (yet another headset) that was being shown at the Game Developer’s Conferecne in San Franciso. Some sort of Battlefront VR experience is being worked exclusively for PlayStation. Details are scarce, well… there aren’t any.
2016 will not be the end of Disney video games. Sqaure Enix’s Kingdom Hearts III is slated for a 2017 release, and VR technology has the potential to revolutionize how we experience Disney.
(Tron Run/R image ©Disney Interactive Studios; LEGO Star Wars image ©Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment; Star Wars Battlefront image ©Electronic Arts.)
Likeness may vary.
Zack Kaplan likes discussing Star Wars theories when he isn’t busy taking care of life’s bare necessities. You can find a range of attempts at being funny on Twitter @SteelDiver
