Skylanders Superchargers

Developer

: Vicarious Visions |

Publisher

: Activision

Players

: 1 to 2 Player Game |

Release Date

: 09/20/15 |

Genre

: Toys to Life

Activision was the first company to introduce the Toys to Life genre to the world with Skylanders and each year they find a way to reinvent the formula and release a new entry in the popular game. This year, that innovation is vehicles: Land, Air, and Sea. The addition of vehicles may not seem to be huge but it really does add a lot to the game.

Lets talk about the toys for a moment This year the Development team at Vicarious Visions, who also was the Developer responsible for Skylanders Swap Force, brings the first moveable toys to the Skylanders line. The vehicles will all move in some way. Helicopter vehicles have spinning blades, car vehicles have spinning wheels, and sea vehicles have spinning propellers. It may seem really minor but I think this is a step in the direction of having poseable Skylander figures.

Another thing about the toys is that they are not releasing any new waves of the regular Skylander heroes. This year it is all about the Superchargers. That means no minis, no little figures to collect–only 20 Superchargers and 20 Vehicles that go with them. Sure, 40 total characters is still a lot to collect but in this crowded Toys to Life Genre, it seems a lot easier to collect these toys when they are spread out over several waves.

Another thing that people often get confused about is how completing the game with the base game and figures. The Starter Pack contains one vehicle, a matching Supercharger Skylander, and a regular Skylander. This is enough to make it through the main portion of the game. Yes, you will be locked out of certain areas that require an Air or Sea vehicle or areas that require a specific element to get into. But these are only for bonus treasure. You don’t need them to complete the game.

Playing Skylanders is a blast. I normally don’t get a lot of hands on time with it since my six year old takes over the controls for me and the same was true this year. In fact, as soon as Skylanders Superchargers came out, Disney Infinity 3.0 was shelved. This was mainly because of the Mario Kart style racing that Skylanders Superchargers adds in. While there are also race sequences for Sea and Air, the Land races seem to be the most fun. In fact, you will find you will have to race and destroy bosses instead of the normal on foot battles against bosses. This variety makes the game a lot of fun.

This year, Activision is making Skylanders Superchargers available digitally. This will retail for $49.99 and include the same starter characters but offer them digitally. This is for anyone who already has a portal–like the one from Trap Team–and wants to save $25 bucks. Warning though, if you are a toy collector, you cannot purchase starter pack toys individually. This also leads me to exclusive Nintendo amiibo/Skylander toys. The Wii U version features Stealth Elf, as with the other Starter Packs, but instead of the normal Spitfire and Hotstreak combo, players will instead get a Donkey Kong and his paired vehicle. The 3DS version, which is a completely different game, receives Bowser and his Air vehicle. If you collect amiibo, you have to purchase the starter packs of Wii U and 3DS to get these toys. Also, you cannot play with the Nintendo characters on any other system except Nintendo platforms.

Overall. Skylanders Superchargers is the best entry in the Skylanders franchise. Though some may tire of the basic formula, Vicarious Visions has done an excellent job integrating new fun with Mario Kart style racing and new ways to tackle bosses in vehicles. While older players may not see much fun in the Toys to Life genre, if you have younger kids, you will almost certainly be picking up this game this year.

By Kaleb Rutherford –

10/07/15