The Skylanders video games started the whole toys-to-life games phenomenon, where you scan actual toys to play as them in the games.  They’ve become extremely popular over the years and I’ve been lucky enough to review all of the main games here at GamerDad!  And now Skylanders is gearing to take over collectable card games, too!  Now you can buy Skylanders: Battlecast cards and booster packs in stores, and play a new card battle game for free on iOS, Google Play, and the Amazon Appstore (reviewed on iPad here).

The actual card game itself plays similarly to other kid-centric card battle titles, like Pokémon.  You have a team of three Skylander characters and will go up against up to three enemies.  Whoever can K.O. the other team first, wins.  Use cards to attack, defend, and cause other status effects in battle, and you must have the correct number of crystals available to play certain cards.  There are other rules that I won’t go into here, but the game does an excellent job of explaining all the rules very clearly.  I’m not usually into card games, but I was able to get the gist of this one just fine.  As you battle, you’ll see 3-D animations of your Skylanders characters fighting it out, making the game look much more exciting.

By winning battles and completing quests, you’ll earn coins that you can use to buy more card packs in the shops.  Or you can buy coins with real money in the game, too.  By playing daily, you’ll be able to spin a wheel to get more cards and packs.  Another way to add new cards to your deck is to scan them in using your device’s camera.  When you buy actual Battlecast cards, you can scan them in and use them in the game, too!  I did this with the Battlecast card I got in a Kid Cuisine meal.  It works just fine, but I did have to scan it in twice because you have to be signed into Game Center if you’re using iOS.  You can play the Story Mode where you try and defeat Kaos and his minions in the Second Dimension, a place where you can only attack using card spells, or you can battle other players in Vs. mode that unlocks after you beat all the tutorials.

The game has a few minor problems here and there.  As a free-to-play game, they make it a little hard to earn enough coins to get lots of cards, as they want you to spend money on actual cards and such.  So progression is a bit slow going at times.  It’s not too bad, but it is noticeable.  Also, a few times I didn’t think it saved my progress, as I had to battle some enemies over again next time I came back to play a few times.  And finally, the animations and menu transitions feel a bit choppy, which bogs the action down a bit.  But otherwise, it’s a fun little easy to understand card game that really captures that Skylanders feel.  If you or your kids enjoy Skylanders and card games, you may want to check this out!

Kid Factor:

While the Skylanders and monsters trade blows and zap each other with magical blasts, defeated characters just lie down, so violence is minimal.  Certainly no worse than the regular Skylanders games, which are very kid-friendly.  Reading skill is a must for the text, and parental supervision is recommended for the in-game purchases.

Tags: Game Reviews