Skylanders Trap Team - Review

The first time that I ever saw Skylanders I was intrigued, but as I learn more about the game that it was I was impressed. The idea of bring toys into a digital world was pretty special but it took 4 years before I would even play a Skylanders game and the most recent entry was my foray into that world.

Skylanders Trap team sets up the story rather quickly, there were some bad people that liked to cause all sorts of trouble, it was not until the Trap Masters were able to defeat them and lock them up inside Cloudcracker Prison that all was right with the world. It is just as the story of what happened is finishing up that the prison explodes and the villains are unleashed onto the world once more. But that is not all, the prison is also sent all over the world, having been built from Traptanium, shards of this material have been sent everywhere and you need to collect them.

The Traptanium is needed so you can rebuild the prison, but a prison is nothing without prisoners to fill it and there is where you, the portal master, come into play. The new feature of this game is the ability to trap defeated villains and then summon them back to fight alongside you, something that works very well. The first villain you encounter is The Gulper, a large blue blob creature that love to drink soda. Upon defeating this bad guy, you are prompted to place a water trap into the portal and when you do so, the bad guy will be sucked from the game world and into the crystal. The portal itself has a speaker that allows the trapped villain to actually talk and make comments about what is going on in the game.

The transition from in game to trap is actually pretty clever and works really well, going back and forth just reinforces that fact. With the starter kit you get two Skylanders, one regular and one Trap Master, but if you have any from the previous titles, you can use them in the new iteration as well. Along side the Skylanders are two Traps, a blue water element trap and a green life trap which are what allows you to trap the villains. Included in the box is a tray where you can story your traps with enclosed villains which also gives you an idea on how many traps you may need to purchase.

The gameplay of the actual game is pretty straight forward, you enter a zone with a mission to defeat a boss, but along the way you may pick up addition missions that have you defeating invading bisons or claiming lost treasures. Each of the worlds also includes portals that can only be activated by a trap master of a certain element, you can tell what element by the giant symbol on the front of it, but unless you have that element in your trap master you can’t open it, which then means you will need to return once you have it. You may locate 3 or 4 of these portals through each world but unless you have the right character you can’t open them.

Sadly the actual control of the characters and interaction with the world feels like it was taken from early 3d games. The characters move like they are made from lead and without the ability to run, taking them from the start point the end of a level is quite a challenge. Interacting with the world is also something that is a little strange, as you move throughout the world you can destroy items in order to earn cash to purchase upgrades, but there are something’s that can be destroyed even when they look like items you have destroyed in the past.

The best element the game has going for it is the interaction of real world toys into a video game and it is sad that in order to experience all the game has to offer you will need to invest a lot of money into characters and traps. While it may not give a grown up gamer much of a reason to come back, the presentation and characters themselves will have kids jumping for controller whenever they can.

The Score

7.0

Review code provided by Activision

The Pros

+Toy intergration with traps is amazing

+Great characters, with a story that is easy to follow

The Cons

-Controlling the characters is clunky at the best of times

-Can't just get by with the starter kit, you will need to buy extras