The “toys-to-life” genre is growing increasingly competitive, but nobody has a better collection of action figures at their disposal than the big kids behind Disney Infinity 3.0. This third entry in the series is the most polished, cohesive, and enjoyable one to date, fusing a rollicking, intergalactic Star Wars campaign with a staggeringly customisable Toy Box mode. In short, it’s an experience that really lives up to its line-up of all-star ingredients.

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The Avengers play set included with last year’s game was a disappointment, mainly because it featured one of the most uninspiring video game versions of Manhattan ever made, populated with samey escort missions and rehashed enemy types. Fortunately the Star Wars: Twilight of the Republic play set bundled with Disney Infinity 3.0 rights most of its predecessor’s wrongs. It’s a nicely varied campaign set across multiple planets (and the space between), with diverse mission, environment, and enemy types to keep it feeling fresh over the course of its six hour duration (or substantially longer if you aim to complete all its challenges).

Crucially, its combat is fantastic. Steered by the experienced hand of developer Ninja Theory, which has honed its combo-based craft on previous projects such as Heavenly Sword and Devil May Cry, character attacks feel substantially tighter and more fluid than the previous Infinity games. As Yoda, I delighted in pinballing between multiple enemies, leaving groups of enemy droids showering sparks and body parts in my wake. As Anakin I was able to Force-pull a shield out of an enemy’s hands, before dashing forward to uppercut them into the air and juggle them with spectacular saber swings. It’s worth noting that enemies finally have visible health bars in this game, a welcome addition that makes it easier to identify which ones to pick off first in a crowd.

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While all of the Star Wars heroes share the same basic suite of skill upgrades, such as boosts to health and attack strength, there are enough character-specific moves and combos to make it fun to switch between multiple characters (should your budget allow it). Yet unlike the game’s Toy Box mode, Twilight of the Republic doesn’t really lock any substantial content away behind character-specific doors - you can enjoy all of its missions and side quests without having to fork out for additional toys, which is very much appreciated.That’s not to say that Twilight of the Republic is perfect. It would have benefited from a splash of the nudge-wink humour employed by the LEGO games, or even some of Skylanders’ excellent environmental puzzles. There’s also quite a bit of repetition with some of the side quests; the podracing in particular seems like a missed opportunity by offering only one opponent to challenge.But these minor grievances are quickly forgotten once you’re dogfighting separatist ships in the space junk-filled orbit of Geonosis, indulging in flashy lightsaber brawls in the Jedi Temple training room or gleefully hurling your co-op partner into a belching sarlaac pit. It might not reach the level of cinematic authenticity the upcoming Battlefront is targeting, but as far as story-based adventures go Twilight of the Republic offers up one of the most entertaining Star Wars videogame experiences in years.And that’s just the play set. The more flexible and feature-packed other half of Disney Infinity 3.0 is once again the Toy Box mode, which has been refined and expanded upon in almost every way. The new Toy Box Hub is essentially one massive tutorial designed to school you on its world building tools and inspire you to create your own game modes, but there’s literally hours of fun to be found within it before you even think about crafting your own levels or sampling those shared by the community. You can play paintball skirmishes against the gang from Monsters Inc, perform vehicular tricks in a stadium stunt course, or zoom through an aerial checkpoint race from London to Neverland. Or you could just equip Spider-Man with a lightsaber and take on Syndrome’s robot army on the Disneyland main street. The more you do, the more you unlock and level up your chosen character.Additionally, a new sidekick system has been introduced. These pint-sized assistants are kind of like giving your Disney Infinity toys their own Amiibo. You can put your super-deformed buddies to work on crops in the game’s farming area (probably the first time you’ll ever see a Wookiee with a sun hat and watering can), which then reap rewards in the form of food to level up your sidekicks and items to equip them with. It's worth your while to nurture sidekicks because they can fight alongside you and bring additional benefits; if one of them is wearing a medic hat they’ll replenish your character’s health bar when you pick them up, for example.After completing all of the tutorial levels and challenges in the Toy Box Hub, I still lack the talent and inclination to build my own levels or game types to any meaningful degree. But the important thing is that I at least feel like I have a handle on all the creation tools - which is something I never felt with the previous Infinity games - and I eagerly await what the community will do with the robust creation suite on offer combined with the vastly improved controls. From fully functional RPGs to Splatoon-inspired shooters to Rube Goldberg marble runs that play the melody from It’s a Small World with each bounce of the ball; it’s all theoretically possible.Despite the raft of improvements to the Toy Box mode and the superior campaign, it must be said that Disney Infinity 3.0’s starter pack does feel somewhat lighter than those offered for the previous games in terms of what you get in the actual box. Whereas Disney Infinity 2.0: Marvel Super Heroes came with three character figures and two game discs, the new game comes with only two characters and no game discs. This limitation is compounded by the fact that the two included characters, Anakin and Ahsoka, are both lightsaber and Force power-based. If you want to experience the game’s third-person shooting (and you should because it’s great), you’re going to have to shell out for an additional character like Ezra Bridger or Sabine Wren from the outset.