{"id":14061,"date":"2015-10-09T00:01:27","date_gmt":"2015-10-09T00:01:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/?p=14061"},"modified":"2015-10-03T10:42:39","modified_gmt":"2015-10-03T10:42:39","slug":"skylanders-superchargers-super-special","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/2015\/10\/09\/skylanders-superchargers-super-special\/","title":{"rendered":"Skylanders Superchargers Super Special!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SKYLANDERS_LOGO\"<\/a>The Skylanders are revving up for another game in the popular \u2018toys-to-life\u2019 series, and this time, they\u2019re bringing vehicles into the mix. Now you can not only bring your toy Skylanders into the game for the tried and true 3-D action you know and love, but also land, sea, and air crafts for them to drive and race around in certain areas, too! This time, the evil Kaos has created a Doomstation of Total Doomstruction, and it\u2019s eating up all the Skylands! What\u2019s worse, it\u2019s powered by a mysterious force that even Kaos doesn\u2019t understand called \u2018The Darkness.\u2019 Now it\u2019s up to the Skylanders and their new supercharged vehicles to save the day once again! Skylanders Superchargers is available for nearly all the current gaming consoles, but reviewed on Wii U here.<\/p>\n

Here is a shot of the front of the box for the Wii U version of the game. See any characters that look familiar?<\/p>\n

\"SKYLANDERS1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Inside the box you get the game, a new Portal of Power with room for two Skylanders and a vehicle (plus a place to put those little Trap Team doo-dads from the last game\u2014more on that later). You also get a packet of cards for a new upcoming Skylanders card game called Battlecast, plus a poster and instructions.<\/p>\n

\"SKYLANDERS2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Pictured below are the two Skylanders and vehicle you get in the Wii U version of the game. The one on the right is a new version of Stealth Elf who carries a gun. But the big deal about the Nintendo versions of the new Skylanders game is that two guest characters from Nintendo franchises make appearances in them! So in this one you get Turbo Charge Donkey Kong and his Barrel Blast vehicle. DK is all decked out in a new stunt daredevil outfit, and the wheels on his mine car monstrosity even roll! That\u2019s the cool thing about Skylanders toys is they just seem to say, \u201cPlay with me!\u201d Donkey Kong in the game is cool, too. He uses barrels to attack, and can even drum on them like bongos and shoot out of them like cannons to bash into enemies! The only problem is that both Donkey Kong and Stealth Elf belong to the \u2018Life\u2019 element in the game, so you don\u2019t get as much elemental variety with the included Skylanders in this pack.<\/p>\n

\"SKYLANDERS3\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The cool thing is that the 3DS version comes with two other different Nintendo figures: Hammerslam Bowser and his flying Clown Cruiser. It\u2019s too bad that I didn\u2019t get to review the 3DS version as well, because I hear it\u2019s a totally different racing-only game (so is the Wii version, but I don\u2019t know what toys come with that). But the nice folks at Activision were kind enough to include the Bowser and airplane Skylanders when they sent me the Wii U version to review, so I\u2019m really thankful for that. Bowser is really cool in the game as well. He can engulf himself in flames, use a hammer to bash enemies, and summon Koopa Troopa turtles to home in on baddies! So why is Bowser in the game even though he\u2019s a villain? Well Kaos is using The Darkness, and Bowser wants some of that bad stuff for himself! So he\u2019ll play a good guy in this game to keep Kaos from getting it all!<\/p>\n

\"SKYLANDERS4\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The neat thing about both the Donkey Kong and Bowser Skylander toys is they double as Amiibo figures as well! On the bottom of the figure, you can swivel the base from left to right to switch them from Skylanders to Amiibo figures! Very cool!<\/p>\n

\"SKYLANDERS5\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Skylanders Superchargers plays a lot like the old arcade game Gauntlet (with a little bit of the LEGO gameplay thrown in), and it\u2019s also pretty much exactly like the other Skylanders games, too. You move the Skylanders around various areas and mazes, defeating hordes of enemies, solving basic block pushing puzzles, and collecting hidden rare treasures. Each character has different attacks, and they are based on elements like fire, water, earth, wind, magic, undead, and so on. Some secret doors can only be opened by Skylanders of that same element, too. As you defeat enemies, you\u2019ll earn experience points that will help you gain levels and increase your stats. Collect treasures to buy upgrades and new attacks and moves.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the really cool part: Any gold and experience points you collect during the game is saved onto the figure. Then you can take it to a friend\u2019s house and play on their console. It doesn\u2019t matter if they have a different game system, your figure will work on any of them. Although I have a feeling the Nintendo character figures won\u2019t work on competing game consoles.\u00a0\u00a0 Note that new figures and vehicles won\u2019t work with the first four games, but old figures will work with the new sequel. There were sidekick figures that you could get in promotions from companies like Frito-Lay, and in the other games they just followed you around. But in this game, the Sidekick Skylanders can be played by themselves now, too!<\/p>\n

Every so often in each level, you\u2019ll be prompted to play a section with a vehicle. These parts of the game take the form of a racing or driving area, or an air or sea combat section. You don\u2019t HAVE to finish these sections if you don\u2019t have a particular vehicle, but you will earn stars upon completion that\u2019ll help you level up and earn rewards. In the vehicle sections, you can pick up Gearbits that you can use to purchase upgrades for your car, and you can find hidden items to customize them, too! If you match a vehicle with the correct Skylander, it\u2019ll \u2018supercharge\u2019 the car and make them more powerful, also. For instance, Bowser\u2019s supercharged plane looks more like his airship, and Donkey Kong\u2019s supercharged kart gets a little sidecar for Diddy Kong to ride in!<\/p>\n

You can play the game with two players, but in the vehicle sections, only one person can drive. The other player moves a cursor around to shoot. It would\u2019ve been nice if they could\u2019ve made these sections split screen and let both players drive their own cars, but I guess there wasn\u2019t enough room on the Portal of Power for that. By the way, the Wii U version also lets you play with others online, too. Also, you can put one of the Trap Team pieces in a slot on the Portal, but it won\u2019t let you play as the bad guys. What it does is unlocks a temporary weapon for your vehicles, and gives you a new card to use for the returning Skystones in-game card battles. It\u2019s too bad the Portal doesn\u2019t light up like the other ones did. It looks like it could, too.<\/p>\n

There is also a separate racing game in Superchargers, and it is split screen for two players. Both players can drive in this mode, but you still have to use the same kind of vehicle since only one will fit on the Portal. You can pick up items like in a Mario Kart game, but they have to be used right then, so it\u2019s not quite the same. The rewards and prizes you earn in the racing game can be carried over into the main quest. Only problem is the racing sections are pretty tough, even on easy. And while the racing is decent enough and somewhat fun, they\u2019re not super great, either. Definitely no Mario Kart 8 quality racing here. But it doesn\u2019t keep the game from being any less entertaining.<\/p>\n

\"SKYLANDERS_SCREEN\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Kid Factor:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Skylanders Superchargers is rated E-10 with ESRB descriptors of Cartoon Violence and Comic Mischief. While you do smack around monsters and bad guys with punches and weapons, and blast them with fireballs, water, and other projectiles, enemies just disappear when defeated. Reading skill isn\u2019t totally necessary as everyone has spoken voices. Parents may need to help set everything up initially.<\/p>\n

But the real question about if this game is suitable for your kids has nothing to do with the gameplay. These games require the Portal of Power pedestal and the figures to play. If your kids break or lose any of these items, they won\u2019t be able to play the game. So ask yourself this question: Are your kids good at keeping up with, taking care of, and not losing their toys? If the answer is yes, then they are ready for this game.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m surprised they haven\u2019t made a cartoon yet to go along with the game, the characters and setting of Skylanders sound like something right off Nickelodeon\u2019s NickToons. They even got some well-known cartoon voice actors to play the parts in the game. The bad guy Kaos is the same voice as Invader ZIM, for instance, and Patrick Warburton (The Emperor\u2019s New Groove) returns as Flynn. And I think kids will like that. Plus, kids can play it together with their friends, siblings, and even parents! Sure the Skylanders games are a bit of a money-sink and the gameplay isn\u2019t totally original. But I still think this is one of the best kids\u2019 game franchises out there today. I think it would make a great birthday present or a surprise under the Christmas tree this year.<\/p>\n

Make sure to check out my other Skylanders review blowouts! Skylanders is a pretty big deal here at GamerDad! It\u2019s been an honor to be able to review all of them!<\/p>\n

Skylanders: Trap Team<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Skylanders: Swap Force<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Skylanders: Giants<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Skylanders: Spyro\u2019s Adventure<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Skylanders are revving up for another game in the popular \u2018toys-to-life\u2019 series, and this time, they\u2019re bringing vehicles into the mix. Now you can not only bring your toy Skylanders into the game for the tried and true 3-D action you know and love, but also land, sea, and air crafts for them to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-game-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14061","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14061"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14061\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14063,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14061\/revisions\/14063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}