While other toy-game hybrid makers are moving on from older Nintendo hardware this year, Activision has doubled down on Wii, 3DS and Wii U Skylanders with bespoke versions and cross-over dual action Skylander-amiibo. This year's Skylanders Superchargers novelty is a good one. The articulated vehicles not only bring a new level of action to the screen - along with much needed variety - but they also work great as toys away from the main game. In fact, with Lego Dimensions bringing buildable smart minifigures and these vehicles in Skylanders, Disney Infinity's static figures are looking a bit dated.
The vehicles come in three flavours: air, land and sea. Although you only get one in the Starter Pack it's good that you can still complete the game without having to commit to any extra purchases. Of course if you do buy additional vehicles this opens up more of the game, so the temptation is always present. There aren't elemental zones this year but to access all of the racing sections of the game you do need a vehicle for each of the ten elements. Kids would no doubt prefer it if the game let you access everything without spending more money, but at the same time it's important to tie content to the toy purchases if they are going to offer value. That is, after all, the driving force behind the franchise.
While Skylanders held out longer than its competitors in offering a Wii version of the game, this year things are a little different. While the Wii U version matches the other consoles for content and play-style, the Wii and 3DS games are tagged as "Racing" experiences and offer a Mario Kart-style challenge with local and online racing. Perhaps the biggest news for Nintendo owners is the provision of exclusive amiibo-Skylander crossover characters for Bowser and Donkey Kong. These not only look beautiful but are totally functional as both Skylanders and amiibo, changing their status via a switch at the bottom.
In the main game you progress through a combination of on-foot and driving sections. The vehicles can be driven by any of the characters in your Skylanders collection but only the new Supercharger characters can upgrade and modify your ride. This opens up another big new aspect of the game; earning currency and spending it on new modifications is more fun than you might expect, and is cleverly balanced as well. Adding more power will also add weight which will slow acceleration, while lighter vehicles may end up with less grip or stamina. Finding the sweet spot is a challenge, but one that becomes very addictive.
The process of evolving your vehicles is great hook for the main campaign itself, but also gives you another reason to race against friends in the Karting mode. This racing aspect is included not only on the Wii and 3DS versions but all the other console versions as well. Kids are certain to lap up (no pun intended) the racing sections of the game, but will also appreciate the campaign's co-op aspect. Here, one player drives while the other takes control of the weapons. It reminded us a lot of Mario Kart: Double Dash and created a varied two-player experience that worked for a variety of abilities.
As mentioned, a big benefit of Skylanders over its competitors is being able to use the previous year's characters in every part of the game. Another good advancement in the value stakes is being able to use previous year's portals. Unlike Trap Team or Swap Force, Superchargers works with any of the previous Portals right back to Spyro's Adventures (remember him?). This combines with a game-only download purchase to make entry into the new Skylanders very cost effective. It's good to see Activision honouring the time and money spent on previous iterations of the game.
On this front, the move away from simply re-releasing versions of characters is also better value. This year we get some returning heroes but they are completely new in terms of look. Unlike wave 1, 2 and 3 reposed releases that only had one new power, the Supercharged Skylanders have a complete new design and fresh upgrade tree. The game itself looks fantastic on Wii U as well, whether played on the big TV or with the TV off and on the GamePad. Vicarious Visions has obviously worked hard on the implementation and although it seemed to take longer to load than the Xbox One and PS4 editions, the snap and sparkle of each level was worth the wait.
Conclusion
Assessing a game like Skylanders is always difficult. Different players will get different things from it. This year the combination of the articulated vehicles, the kart racer mode and the sensible approach to backwards compatibility create a game that is a lot of fun and great value. This isn't just another update to the Skylanders series, it's the moment the game properly comes of age both from the perspective of top notch gameplay as well as offering families exactly what they want in terms of value. Also, those amiibo-Skylanders are fantastic.
Comments 41
It's between this and Lego Dementions and I don't know where to start. This score doesn't help things either lol. I'm leaning towards Lego but that price!
I'm glad Amiibo are the only Toys to life things I buy now.
@Spoony_Tech Lego Dimensions has Doctor Who. I just solved your problem.
What do you do in a skylanders game? Run forward? I'm interested because bowser.
@RantingThespian But I've never seen Dr Who and don't plan on starting too. Plus it's more for the kids as I hardly ever played Swap Force. Of anything both kids could get into Lego for some of the other properties that have. I personally would like Back to the Future.
I'm glad that gets both Nintendo and amiibo more exposure...however just jumped into DI....sticking with DI and amiibo as my toys to life.
my son will love this game. he wants it for christmas. i'll be buying the retail version though since i want donkey kong.
"Another good advancement in the value stakes is being able to use previous year's portals. Unlike Trap Team or Swap Force, Superchargers works with any of the previous Portals...It's good to see Activision honouring the time and money spent on previous iterations of the game"
Does that mean we can use the traps in this version?
Must buy!!
Will there be a review of the Wii/3DS version? I'll probably buy this once the price drops, but I want to know if I should consider the other version.
@maneauleau
Traps can be used, but not to catch new villains. Instead if you use a trap with a villain inside you'll get a card with that villain for the skystone thingy. Only tried it once but I assume there would be a special card for each villain that you can trap in Trap Master.
I'm also waiting for a review of the 3DS version. There is absolutely no one online which is a shame, especially since some clueless parents will buy it and their kids will be disappointed. Just take a look a Amazon product ratings...
@SuperWiiU I own the wii one and I'm far from impressed. Its just a kart racing game and a very mediocre one at best. I'd stick with mario kart wii
Footage of this has looked fun, might check it out.
@maneauleau You can use traps, they upgrade your vehicles weapon
@PinkSpider The racing should be the same as the Wii U version, and there should be more tracks too. I'm wondering if that's true or not.
@Tisteg80 Obviously, Activision didn't do enough to make the distinction clear. Though the US Amazon lists the WiiU&other console version seperate from the Wii/3DS ones and there are fewer complaints there than on the UK one where all versions are on the same page, so Amazon is at fault here too.
The quality of Skylanders games is so much higher than Disney Infinity it seems crazy to me that they don't sell dramatically better than the Infinity titles.
Once again Skylanders is innovating while DI is rehashing Lego Star Wars. Don't get me wrong. I buy, play, and enjoy both series.
However, it is no contest as to which game is better. They're not even close in Metacritic review scores. Skylanders is a very well crafted game. DI is a lot of fan service around clunky Controls, middling visuals, and crazy long control screens. It's fun like any movie tie-in game is fun, but has the typical movie game problems.
I usually object to toys-to life games but there's year's crop seems too good to ignore...
@Gelantious thank you for the informative answer
@fungusar thank you for the informative answer
@Gelantious They included Skystones again? Good news.
"There aren't elemental zones this year but to access all of the racing sections of the game you do need a vehicle for each of the ten elements."
I'm confused, what's the difference between needing vehicles for each of the 10 elements and elemental zones? Isn't that the same thing just w/ vehicles?
So we need 10 vehicles, even though there are only 3 types? Well that's extremely lazy of them. My family has had a few dinner conversations over the past year or so about vehicles in Skylanders, ever since Family Gamer started the rumour about a year ago, and we have always been able to come up w/ more types to match the 8 elements - before light and dark were announced. Planes, helicopters, boats, submarines, cars, trucks, tanks, hovercraft, rocketships, spaceships, jet skis, jetpacks. It does look like air, sea and land to take up more than just 3 types at least.
So just how much of the game IS locked away? We never cared too much about unlocking all the tiny parts just to get hats, as long as we've had 2 Giants or a couple of swappable transportation bottoms we we're ok missing a few hats and chests as the games have been long enough story wise. But if there are race tracks behind the 10 vehicular elements seems like we will be missing a lot as I only suspect we'l be getting a few, 2 cars in the dark Wii U pack, a plane in the normal Wii pack, and probably 1 boat. At over 80 skylanders now, we're running out of room. At last DK and Bowser can hang out w/ our amiibo collection, only 8 of those.
ive bought wii u version and wii as wanted dk and bowser,,the games really good an by far best skylanders game,,hopefully there will be more nintendo amiibos in the game in the future its really cool playing as dk an bowser
@cyrus_zuo From an adult perspective Skylanders appears to be a better series, but my kids (ages 5-10) much prefer Disney Infinity 3.0 to it. Disney Infinity has come a long way since it was first introduced and many of the core game mechanics have been drastically revamped (and improved) over version 2.0. We also have both Skylanders Superchargers (Wii U and 3DS) and Disney Infinity 3.0 (PS4 and Wii U). They enjoy the Toybox mode more than anything else and will spend countless hours creating there if given the opportunity. Superchargers is a great game by all means, my only complaint is in the 3DS version that it requires specific superchargers to unlock certain content. So we are unable to play some of the game because we don't have an "Undead" supercharger (gen 5) to unlock the content. In the Wii U version so long as you have one air, land, and sea vehicle and even just one Skylander (although one of each is better) you can play through the entire game and unlock virtually everything.
@digga I agree with DK and Bowser being great additions to the franchise. Their move sets are great and fit with the other characters. Hopefully a few more Nintendo characters or levels are added in the future.
@rjejr It seems that with the Wii U version you can play through with simply having ONE of each vehicle (land, sea, and air). It's only in the Wii and 3DS racing games that you need additional elements to unlock some content. It's not the main racing line of events but rather side paths where you have stunt races or special events. There only seem to be one or two events off on each path that requires a particular element vehicle or supercharger, but it still seems more limiting than in the past where the reward of having each element was maybe a hat or other small item. It seems like the reward though for these side paths is likely an upgrade for that specific vehicle.
@Nico07 Thank you. You have no idea how happy - and rich - you've just made me. And I read all your other comments as well, thanks a lot. My kids are 13 and 10 and Disney 1.0 and 2.0 are sort of a distraction, they build plenty in Minecraft, Skylanders is near obsession level.
@SuperWiiU The 3DS/Wii versions actually have a completely different set of courses than the Wii U racing mode. Wii U initially only has 6 courses, while 3DS/Wii initially has 15. Buying all 3 Racing Action Packs unlocks an additional 6 courses in each game. So in total, Wii U gets 12 courses (4 per vehicle type), and 3DS/Wii gets 21 (7 per vehicle type). And from what I've played so far, there doesn't appear to be any courses overlapping between games.
@rjejr dont be too happy, thats wrong. Ive been playing it on Wii U and you will not be able to do everything unless you have vehicles of each element.
We have enough of these toys with the previous Skylanders, Disney Infinity, and Amiibo figures.
@Spoony_Tech Lego Dimensions is probably a glitchy fest.
Skylanders is a true marvel on Wii U porting - easy decision.
@PinkSpider The Wii version is a separate game and nothing like the Wii U, PS4 and X1 versions.
I'm surprised they even bothered with a Wii edition.
@SteveW On the Wii U you have needed vehicles of each element? I have been playing through with my kids and am eight or so levels in with only four vehicles (Dark Barrel Blaster, Clown Cruiser, Reef Ripper, and Hot Streak). Vehicle sections have only been locked to vehicle types, not elements. You can play through the game without need to complete these, but these portals have only been highlighted as land, sea, or air. If you have a vehicle that matches that type you are allowed in.
As for the racing section of the game, so long as you have a land, sea, and air vehicle you can do two races for each type. The additional race courses are locked behind having the corresponding cups found in the racing action packs. Currently we have the sea racing action pack with the Reef Ripper and Gill Grunt, while apparently the dark edition of the air racing action pack is out at ToysRUs. Each cup allow you to race two additional courses and challenge four total villains (per cup) that when you beat them you unlock them and can race as them.
I've been a Skylander's fan for a while now. I haven't finished Trap Team, so when I finish it, I'll try to pick this up.
@SteveW Oh well, fun while it lasted. Thanks for the correction.
I got this very close to release. It's trippy to play as DK in a non-Nintendo environment. The thing that I really like is that you can adjust the difficulty, so it's very "playable." I want the 3ds version so I can play as Bowser. FWIW, Skylander Giants is only $11.99 on Amazon now.
@rjejr That correction is not really true, if you have 1 of each type of vehicle you can pass through all the gates in the levels, doesn't matter what element they are, the elements only matter if you want to do some more small mini games in the skylander acedemy. So yeah SteveW says it's wrong, I disagree with that a bit, if you have 1 ground, 1 air, and 1 water vehicle you can do everything in the story levels.
@Muttley Well thanks for the correction to the correction. We're always missing something in these games, even though we have a ton of the toys. I think we have all 8 Giants and 1 of each transportation type in Swap Force, but we have 2 of those in the same element so we don't have 1 for each element. We only have 5 or 6 trapmasters, and 2 of those are the same element as we have both Enigma and Blastermind. We do have exactly 1 of each trap element, 11 in all. So I suspect when it's done we'll have maybe 4 or 5 vehicles - some are cool - but not 8 or 10. And even if we did have 8 or 10 I'm sure some would be from the same element as my kids choose by appearance.
Game is a Christmas present, so we won't be playing until then. Good part about that is all the grandparents and aunts buy the toys - Santa brings the game - so the kids have a bunch day 1.
Must... not... give... in...to...temptation...
Ah well, just take my money. My Wii U library just keeps getting bigger while on other platforms it's simply static.
And next: Lego Dimensions.
The new installments of these toys to life games are actually starting to sound good, but I don't want to get into them because I'd either spend hundreds of pounds on all the figures, or just be annoyed that I would't have everything.
Holding out for Nintendo to create their own game. And no AC amiibo festival doesn't count.
If you told me that Bowser and Donkey Kong would share the spotlight with Spyro in a game fifteen years ago, I would lose my mind.
However, the toys-to-life concept has made me so cynical, that I don't even care anymore. And this is the second thing I wouldn't have believed fifteen years ago: not only that the three characters meeting would be a thing, but also the fact I wouldn't care.
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