Developer: Toys for Bob, Beenox
Publisher: Activision
Platform: Wii, Wii U, 360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4, Android, iOS, Fire OS, 3DS (Mobile versions may vary from console versions.)
Tested on: Wii U
Skylanders Trap Team – Review
Nearly three years ago the Skylanders franchise was unleashed upon the world. By using Spyro’s name, the franchise gained a lot of attention, be it positive or negative. Now, with the fourth installment of the franchise in stores across the world, we’ll be able to learn more about a new kind of Skylander, namely the Trap Masters. Will it be enough to stop the forces for evil once and for all? Only time will tell.
Story
In a time, that might be forgotten to some, Skylanders known as Trap Masters roamed the Skylands in order to capture those who threatened the peaceful existence of their beautiful home. By the use of Traptanium, the Trap Masters were able to lock up all these villains in a the Cloudcrack Prison. Whilst this high security prison seemed like the final stop, it was exactly this place Kaos had in mind. Kaos, villain-wannabe-extraordinaire, is back to wreak more havoc upon the Skylands and to do so he has devised a new evil plot.
With the use of his evil contraptions Kaos was able to bust out the band of crooked monsters, hoping they would join him on his evil crusade. Sadly for Kaos, who finally had a decent plan, the ancient villains did not want to join his cause, or at least with him in the lead. With this, Kaos is put in an even poorer position than usually when the Skylanders foil his evil plans. Perhaps it was finally time to do the unthinkable, namely form an unexpected alliance.
Overall the introduction of the story follows the same ploy as the three previous games. The game tries to show you that you are the portal master that needs to collect all the Skylanders in order to return peace and balance to the threatened Skylands. A simple formula but still pleasant for young and old, especially with the massive amount of cutscenes.
Graphics
Graphically Skylanders Trap Team continues with the colorful pallet it used in the previous games. With a few graphical updates, compared to the titles that were originally released solely for the previous generation, the game feels quite new indeed.
The game has a decent amount of different locations and sceneries to be seen, as well as the cast of original enemies, characters and skill arts. There’s certainly a decent amount of variation, even in the simple style the game presents itself.
Having tested the Wii U version of the game, the developers did their best to present you with something extra on the screen of your tablet controller. When playing as your Skylander, you’ll see the trapped minion on the screen and vice versa. Whilst the animations are quite pixilated on the little monitor, it’s still fun to look at and a well appreciated extra gimmick. (You will of course not be able to see this, when you choose to play the game on your tablet controller.)
Sound
Sound wise the game keeps its original cast intact, with voices such as Patrick Warburton’s, who lends his voice to Flynn (Joe from Family Guy). The amount of voice acting in the game is actually quite amazing. All the previous characters, as well as all the new Skylanders and villains are voiced and have a decent amount of lines. Seeing you will switch a lot between characters, villains and have to occasional chitchat with a villager – you’ll never really get sick of the lines everyone throws at you.
The music itself is quite great as well and the developers did their best to give you something extra, namely each of the villains has their own little background tune. This tune, often comical, creates a variation in the music the stages present you with. Overall, an adventurous soundtrack with a typical Skylanders undertone.
An amusing addition that can also be placed in this category is the fact that your portal now makes sound too. The compartment where you have to place your ‘trap’ has a small speaker. This small speaker will playback the sound that the trapped villain is making, be it simple noises or actual conversations. More than often these noises/conversations will make you grin, hoping for more.
Gameplay
Skylanders Trap Team still follows the path of its predecessors and remains an adventure/platform game at its core. Luckily, like the previous game, this installment tries to add a few new original features as well, like a new mode and new playable characters, even on the evil side of the balance.
Most of the time you’ll be controlling the Skylander, that you prefer the most or those that you have available. You’ll be able to expand your collection, by buying physical figurines and then use them in combination with the portal that comes with the game. Just like the previous games, each skylander has its own look, skills and element type.
These element types are important for accessing extra areas in the levels, in order to gain extra money and/or collectibles. Luckily, you can still finish the game, without those mentioned secret areas, without having to get extra characters.
During the playthrough you’ll gain experience and money, to level and purchase new skills. Each of the Skylanders has roughly eight unlockable skills for you to purchase. Sadly, you’ll notice that these skills come quite cheap, for the money you get rewarded with by playing the different levels, modes and minigames.
As stated earlier, the portal has an extra compartment for traps. These traps can capture certain enemies you come across in the game and upon capturing these baddies, you’ll be able to play with them. These converted evildoers can only be summoned for a very short amount of time, but they prove to be quite useful and above all, powerful. In addition they also unlock special ‘Wanted’ side-quests that give you rewards, such as money or an upgrade for your villain. A fun way, to do more than simple battles with the captured bad guys. Keep in mind, these traps also need to be of the element that corresponds with the element of the villain you wish to capture. Luckily, if you can’t capture the baddie at the current time, you’ll be able to send that minion to the central vault in the base. (Even when you replace a monster that was already in a trap.)
Other than that, Skylanders Trap Team offers heaps of extra contents, in the form of different modes, such as the arena, the tower defense mode and mini games such as Skylanders’ own version of Guitar Hero and solving puzzles.
The biggest extra mode will be the ‘tower defense’ mode. Whilst this mode proves to be quite fun, there are a few small disadvantages, such as tower placement and the rewards you get for doing these levels. For starters, towers can only be placed on a few fixed locations, by a character with the corresponding element. This means the game enforces you to use different elements a tad more than the previous installments.
As far as the rewards go, the game tends to rewards you a tad too much. When playing the first two or three levels, you’ll already be able to purchase all of the available upgrades for the character you’re playing. This means your skills will be ‘maxed out’ quite rapidly.
Other modes and puzzles will offer some variation in the overall gameplay and are certainly appreciated. Whilst most puzzles prove to be quite simple, it’s fun to have a change of pace from time to time.
These modes are gradually unlocked, as your main base of operations slowly expands. The ‘overworld’ in Skylanders Trap Team proves to be quite large and keeps on expanding until nearly one third of the total playthrough.
Even though nearly all is good in this fourth installment of the series, there are minor setbacks that can hamper your overall fun experience. Certain bugs still happen, especially when playing co-op. When one of the players uses the captured villain and you enter or leave a building, the other player suddenly gets the ‘first’ Skylander on the portal and the second player can’t switch back to his Skylander form. A small annoyance that can be solved by a “rejoin” of the second player. Other than that, the camera is still a fixed one. This causes some awkward and unclear camera angles, which result in you falling of ledges and so on.
Conclusion
Skylanders Trap Team offers a great experience when it comes to an already popular genre. Activision shows us that they can still do original things with a franchise that already provided us with four guys in roughly three years. If you’re a fan of interactive gaming or an adventure platformer that is quite easy to learn, fun to explore or an overall gameplay scheme that works, then it might be time to roam through the Skylands with your favorite Skylander.
Skylanders Trap Team - Review,
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