darkSpyro

When I first heard what Skylanders 5 would have been about I immediately thought "vehicles and fantasy hack-and-slash aren't two things which mix well, V.V. screwed the brand worse than they did with SWAP Force".
Then news started to flow and while I indeed tried to avoid spoilers as much as possible I sincerely saw potential in SuperChargers.
Finally, after completing the game for PS4 and letting the hype fade away I can tell you I was both wrong and right at the same time.
Here's why.

First let me say I think each Skylander title is made up of two things: the actual game and the collectable toys.
So let's start with the game.
Obvious spoilers ahead.

The Game

SuperChargers is an amazing game.
It's incredibly polished, really detailed and overall looks like a perfect mix between TfB and V.V.; the designs are practically perfect, the characters are sweet, most of the environments are awesome and the plot is fantastic.
You can definitely tell the guy behind the comics wrote it: great character development and rather serious moments for the series really made it feel like a huge step in the right direction to make Skylanders grow up.
But then you also have whimsical parts and others which make you laugh and I never felt those scenes were forced.
And could I not mention Spell Punk Library...?
That's the whole Skyland's lore all in one level.

Of course there are things I don't like: for example I didn't like how Glumshanks' "death" was solved so quickly and I sincerely hoped The Darkness would have been a lot more serious and threatening (though that might have to do with Kaos's influence) but the rest is simply outstanding.

I mentioned levels so I'd better talk about them: I won't lie, I was expecting a lot more since everyone was so excited simply for their names but they are still fantastic ideas.
Some of them are a bit too silly for my tastes (like Cluck's chicken HQ) and others feel more like fillers than anything else (Bandit Train) but they are all fun to play and that's what matters the most.
Puzzles aren't complete no-brainers, combat is well balanced but exploration feels a bit lackluster at times.
Boss battles were ok but I was definitely expecting a bit more from the final one.
Still a huge improvement over SWAP Force's blandness.

I absolutely loved the open Land areas but it was a pity they were restricted to vehicles.
Imagine roaming the skyes, sailing the seas or walking across huge explorable landscapes simply with your Skylanders... Awesome.
Branched paths were also fine but they all took you to the same part of the level.

Now let's talk about the mechanics: the fact each level offers something new while still keeping the core gameplay intact is the exact definition of what I consider a good gimmick to be.
No detachable characters ot talking traps: pure in-game freshness and innovation which really helped each level feel even more unique.
Daily quests are also a great new feature and so are Buzz's missions!
They give you true purposes and not just make you wonder trought old levels and award you for that.
Portal Master Rank has also been improved immensely: the powers are all pretty cool and I can't sincerely wait to unlock path switching, that will add all the replayability I want!
Skystones Overdrive is also a fun new twists on Skylands' favorite game which I sincerely appreciated.
The Wishing Well is also fun but it is tied to one of my biggest gripes with the game.

One thing I sincerely didn't like is how collectables were implemented.
It's fine having random hats, mods and wishstones but I prefer my important items (Soul Gems, Legendary Treasures, Winged Sapphires) to be fixed to specific locations.
I was so sure only a couple of them would have been available at the store I immediately bought all the ones I could find... And then I found out I actually took them away from random chests... Disappointing.

Now, the moment you were all waiting for: the gimmick.
What can I say?
Vehicles are really fun to play, all have unique abilities and definitely help variating the gameplay but I don't like how they are so forced in every aspect of the game.
One of the thing I absolutely don't like is how each level has mandatory Land areas: they are fun the first time you play a Chapter but become terribly annoying when all you want to do is collection money and experience or simply re-explore an area.
Not to mention they take away potential classic-gameplay parts which would have helped feeling the levels even longer (the lenght of the Chapters and the general game is fine but there are still only 13 "Worlds" compared to the 18 or so Trap Team had, even if they are longer).
New hats are based off-of vehicles, the majority of the extra modes regard vehicles, this year's Adventure Packs unlock racing tracks instead of actual levels and tons of little and small details scream vehicles...
You even need at least one of them to simply play the game and complete the main Story.
It's a bit too much, isn't it?

Even then, racing is a really neat aspect and I'm sure I'll have a lot of fun both with my father (Who loved karting games) and online.
Speaking of that, I can't really express an opinion since I only played for a couple minutes and I was near the end of the level but it definitely seems fun and this title was a good time to introduce it.

And last but not least: the soundtrack.
I absolutely loved it.
It's creative, a great mix between magic and techno, fits the various themes and moments greatly and really excites you when you need to.
The Darkness' theme is one of my favorite pieces: some users said it was too slow and calm for a boss fight but I think it was perfect.
We are fighting the very source of each evil in the Skylands: everything needs to point towards it and you have to feel scared and hopeless.
And what can I say about "Supercharged with Love"...?
Awesome.

So... This is the end of the first part of this looooong rewiev.
Hope you enjoyed it so far, let me know if I missed something you wanted to be discussed or if you simply have different opinions.
I might add things myself if they come to my mind.

See you with the second and last part "The Toys" as soon as possible, fellow Portal Masters!

The Toys

As you may have guessed my overall consideration of the game is more than positive.
But what about the other part?
What about the toys...?
Well... I'm afraid to say that's where the true problems are.

I will talk about figures first and then about distribution/marketing/packaging problems.

I know I may easily attract a lot of hate but I'll try to motivate my considerations and be as much objective as possible.

So, SuperChargers comes with 20 new characters' figures and 20 vehicles.
To an average consumer's eye that might seem a good number (2 characters per Element is fine) but even just by looking at that you can already spot one problem: gimmick figures (which aren't characters) are just as much as the actual Skylanders.
Of course one could argue it's because each SuperCharger needs his/her own vehicle but still, traps were a side feature which absolutely didn't overshadow Skylanders, not figure nor gameplay wise.
Not to mention not all the characters had to be SuperChargers and this take us to the second gripe I have with this game.

Cores are gone.
20 SuperChargers and that's it for characters.
Ok, SuperChargers are more similar to Cores rather than Gimmicklanders but they still aren't regular characters.
Sorry I sincerely cannot believe they didn't had time to code at least 10 or 8 new Core Skylanders since they indeed had plenty of time to come up with tons of variants (but we'll get to that later).

Now let's stop looking at what we could have had and start concentrating on what we have.
Yeah I'm talking about the elephant in the room: in the end there are only 10 new Skylanders.
I've talked a lot about Skymiibos in the past so I'm only going to say they are a clever and fun concept which was terribly implemented and with how small SuperChargers is this was definitely not the right game to introduce them.
But I can't avoid to talk about revamps once more: this year devs (or Activision) decided to sell us overpriced S2/3/4/5 which received different powers (a big waste of potential) and call them new, so new they won't even work as their past selves in older games.
No.
That is simply fooling us around.
You can make them and do whatever you want but do not call new something which I already seen way too many times in the past... At least be coherent and don't treat us like idiots.

This also seems to be the year of variants: I don't hate them per se but when you only have 10 new faces and instead of expanding the already exsisting roster you decide it's better to repaint the characters (and vehicles) you already have... You probably didn't get everything right.

Design-wise I feel this game is a step backwards compared to Trap Team: not only because of the numbers but because of the obvious restrictions the characters have.
And unlike SWAP Force, V.V. could have gone completely crazy with this idea... Sadly they decided to stick to upright racing themed creatures.
Which still have cool concepts nonetheless.

In terms of quality I really can't say anything: except for maybe one or two bland looking figures and some annoying lacking details, Skylanders and especially vehicles look as good as always.
You might argue they put more effort in vehicles rather than characters this year and that isn't a good thing but really, all figures still look good.

Before I end this long "review" talking about marketing mistakes let me say two things about other collectables and toy-related features.
I'm not a fan of this year's bases mostly because of the final outcome: sticking Rift Engines on the pedestals wasn't a bad idea per se but they really took away a lot of the elemental features themselves (Undead doesn't glow and that was extremely disappointing to find out).
They could have been a lot more subtle.

Getting rid of cards wasn't also a smart idea: I know they want you to buy Battlecast's cards but the old collectable ones aren't a threat to those by any possible mean.
And no, stickers are not the same thing.
What's the point of having new artworks for the elemental backgrounds if I don't even get to see them as much as I would like to...?

Finally we come to the distribution.
First, the Starter Packs.
Deciding to put yet another Stealth Elf inside all of them was ridiculous just like the amount of Starter Packs you would need to actually own all the starters.
And yes, putting her along with Dark Sea Shadow instead of Nightfall was plain dumb.

Expansion packs should always come with new characters yet the Sea Racing Action Pack comes with another version of Gill Grunt.
Not a good idea, many people may skip it just because they feel they already own the character.
Not to mentions Trophies are a bit insulting when you think your traps could have done the same instead (except for maybe unlocking tracks).

Combo and Triple Packs are good but, again, I think they all regard revamps and their vehicles.
What about the new Skylanders...?

And last but not least the prices: I'm personally fine with vehicles costing 15$/€, they are really worth them even just for the quality... But what made them think it was a good idea to increase the price of regular characters while also taking some features (like cards) away from them...?
I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and think they consider them as Gimmicklanders... For this time.

It's funny how I've always considered SWAP Force to be and ok game with a great line-up of figures and then I play a game which is the exact opposite.
Maybe V.V. put all their effor in the actual game, I don't doubt that, but they have to remember this isn't a normal videogame series.
Toys are just as important as the virtual experience and they cannot be secondary by any possible means.

SuperChargers is most likely my favorite game so far but Trap Team remains my favorite Skylanders experience: great game and fantastic toys.
That being said I feel one of the strongest points of the former (which the latter lacks) is replayability: looking forward to have months of fun with this brand new adventure in the Skylands.

Well this is the end, guys and gals!
Thanks for the patience for reading all this wall of text, hope you enjoyed it and feel free to ask whatever you want!
Discussions are what makes us grow and I can't wait to hear your feedback!

Is it ok to post already? Jumping the gun, I know.
The review started well, almost most of my opinions with the game itself; though I'll have to half disagree on puzzles: though sliding block puzzles put even someone older like me thinking, the live wire puzzles could be solved by a bit of luck and holding foward against the nearest bumper. I can only count one puzzle where I had to stop and think what was the way, while several where I was confused what to do but it pretty much solved itself.

One Tessa event that lead me to all new train puzzles really got me thinking last night. Took at least 5 minutes to figure it out how to arrange the fan blocks and for a while I thought the game glitched and forgot a box. But that was the only one that wasn't really obvious right from the start on what to do.

My short general opinion is that the game was too short. You have levels were you can breeze through them in a few minutes. Stages are drawn out by vehicle stuff as expected which I'm not exactly a fan of. I'd rather have the long exploration Swap Force levels than the short disjointed levels of SuperChargers. Even with the races it feels like half a game. Not a bad game but really not up to par with the rest. Annoying is that for the 360 version it is the glitchiest one of the bunch and I cannot unlock my nightmare achievement because of that.

^ Yeah this is basically where I'm at. I love VV as a developer...but the flow and feel of Trap Team plays better than vehicles in SuperChargers. The game is too short. But I still like the game, and I appreciate their ability to take risk, which is something TfB has not done yet. I love the new twists on things....again...just left wanting more.

I really like the random treasure, it increases the replayability of any level. Now there aren't empty areas you pass by because you already acquired the treasure. I personally found it annoying in previous games that you'd have to play almost to the end of the game to get a particular Soul Gem. In Superchargers, it was a bonus thrill to get something awesome like a Winged Sapphire when it could have been anything. It's like getting a foil in a pack of trading cards.

Big fan of the story levels with chapters. I would much rather have quality over quantity - there might be fewer levels in Superchargers but they all felt unique and had thoughtful details - just a joy to visit.

The OP did a good job at the overview. My thoughts, so far.

I have enjoyed the racing. 4 tracks from each vehicle type, and 4 villains to collect and then racing online with up to 4 players or just you two on a console, its pretty fun. The 42 stars per vehicle type is definitely achievable.

The game is probably too quick and easy. The puzzles were pretty simple and apart from the spinner chests, there was nothing you had to find at a particular spot in each level. Missed a chest? Who cares. Missed a modification box? Who cares. Don't know, I enjoy having an item that was really hidden and you have to replay to find it. I did find most of the chapters unique to each other and they were way more plausible of an actual story than Trap Team was. Lots of Tessa in this game and I like Tessa. More Tessa, less Eon, so that is a good thing. Minus the last group of chapter stories, I believe the game could be progressed with only a land vehicle. Am okay with that and am glad the end at least forced you to have an air or sea vehicle to win. Don't think its unreasonable to force someone to win to at least have one of each vehicle types.

The skystones game is definitely more challenging. I like that a lot. Music was good, though personally I did not like the Superchargers with Love, even though its probably bad or campy on purpose. The only really tough thing in the story part of the game is fighting the last monster on Nightmare. Fighting and leveling up was just too easy in the game. I am definitely in favor of the fact you can change upgrade paths. Definitely. Have not tried it yet.

The character quests and Supercharge challenges and the Buzz things and Element challenges are really the only thing challenging to complete. Getting 3 stars on the life element zone? I shudder to think how I can do that. There seem to be no prizes or trophies or records of it in the game minus just your own personal piece of paper, maybe that was on purpose. Disney Infinity penalizes you in some way to not get 3 stars in everything so maybe Skylanders is trying to give 9 year olds a better chance to get everything.

Still, my favorite thing. The Supercharger characters talk! They interact with Buzz, even my daughter who barely plays or has helped in my 5 games was going once when she walked by, hey, the skylanders can talk I see.

My most annoying thing is Nightfall. They made a patch for the PS4 only but I guess that means my money is not as good with the PS3 compared to PS4 users. I wish they would do a better job at this, why update just one system and not the rest? Hate that and frankly it irks me. I know the character is planning to be rereleased and then everyone can play her, but its just stupid that folks only on the PS4 get the privilege of playing her right now. Yeah, I know about the Bowser and Donkey Kong on the Nintendo platforms but we knew that going in.

It's not forced at the end, they just hide the skip. For Sky you talk to Flynn, I think Sea just lets you go.

Anybody else feel nostalgia for Trap Team once the music starts playing in the hub when you activate the traptanium Legendary Treasure?

Quote: mastermc54

Anybody else feel nostalgia for Trap Team once the music starts playing in the hub when you activate the traptanium Legendary Treasure?

I consider each title a "child", each with its own personalities, positives and negatives.

I agree with the review in basically all ways

The one extra thing I'd like to add is that I think the restriction of online/ racing content with the trophy packs wasn't the best thing. youll probably discuss it in the next part of your review, but it just doesn't feel right to limit the racing content to only 2 tracks per terrain until you get all the trophys. It doesn't really promote much play before the new exciting gimic gets a bit dull.
And with trophy needed to play the villain races also, it actually feels like at least %60 of the racing content was locked until the trophy packs are bought.

i always appreciated adventure packs for providing a new random mission to complete that isn't focused on the main story line and I never felt like I was forced to buy them. but these new trophy packs really dont have the same vibe, I feel like if I don't buy them I missing out on a large part of the game. I'd still buy them anyway, but I don't like to feel I have too.

Awesome review!

-Rov

Hey guys!

Just finished the "review", sorry, it took a bit longer than I expected but I'm kinda busy with University lately.
I have to go to sleep now but I already saw a lot of interesting comments!

Looking forward to join the discussion as soon as possible.

Just to answer your question, the WiiU starter pack does have the BattleCast cards included

Quote: ultyzaus

Just to answer your question, the WiiU starter pack does have the BattleCast cards included

Great to hear, I'll edit that part out then.
Thanks!

Maybe they were missing from Wii Starter Packs...?
I do remember they weren't in a Nintendo Starter Pack...

Good review, pretty much how I feel about the game too. I miss the cards, and the more traditional Skylanders game features ( element gates, exploration, focus on the Skylanders themselves... ) and really don't like the racing much ( only played Xbox One thus far, but 3DS might be fun based on what I watched of it on Youtube ). The overall selection of characters is disappointing for the reasons you mentioned, especially since as much as i love Stealth Elf I don't need 2 or 3 of her in the exact same version ( I will ultimately have 3 versions of the game: X1, Wii U and 3DS...hopefully Dark Edition for Wii U ), the racing packs are a poor replacement for adventure packs, magic items don't do anything worthwhile in Superchargers and I don't like having every collectible being randomized ( I'd be fine with chests respawning with legacy hats, with all Soul Gems, Winged Sapphires and NEW hats being in set locations though ). Never been a fan of Skystones, but at least this time you're never forced to play it in order to progress in the story.

Side note: I still think Amiibolander sounds better and more accurate than Skymiibo....

Amiibolander rolls off the tongue much better in my opinion,yeah.

I stand by my first post on the second part of the review, too, in case anyone's wondering.

They are also in the Wii Dark Starter Pack, but I don't know about the regular one. I know I didn't find them at first glance, but only when I got the game out to try it.

You know, this year the figures were a non-factor for me so I don't really have much of an opinion about them. I only bought an air and sea vehicle to unlock content...random ones as none of them really appealed to me to care which ones I owned. Also, I don't care about buying $30 trophies to unlock races to plat the game. The races they did give me where pretty dull anyway.

So, I beat the game quite easily on nightmare with a handful of older level 20 characters and 12 traps...there wasn't really any need to buy SuperChargers. That was a strange feeling as in other games you always had to buy a small army to unlock gates and they always nerfed the older characters damage where you pretty much needed newer characters when you are deeper into the game.

Now I'm left with only wanting a Splat and that's it for SuperChargers hype. The excitement for the game didn't last that long (it wasn't that high to start with when I discovered it was a racing game) and I'm already looking for a deeper Sky 6, something more like Swap Force or Trap Team. I'd even accept a redux/remixed SSA plus Giants rehash with 20% new content over another SC type game.

I thought the sound aspect of the traps were cheezy, but it still remained an infantry army with lots of levels and diversity. Amazing that hindsight 20/20 I had no problems with the game itself except it was "too safe". I'd like to have them ensure the SKYLANDERS remain the focus, not a trap or vehicle etc. I propose TfB takes some of the after game ideas (quests/heroics etc) and bring them back en force and really steal VV's notes for very interesting levels and interaction--which they did very well with SC. I will say however it's time to focus on the gameplay mechanic changes--as long as the SKYLANDERS remain focus and they throw in some of the old with the new we'll be fine.

Loves:

• After a lame attempt at a storyline in Swap Force VV out did themselves with an EXCELLENT story in SSC.
  
• The shorter chapters with more of them was a great idea.
  
• Some of the chapters felt really unique to me. I thought they were really creative and well thought out.
  
• I really like some of the character designs and even though I thought I would hate them I love the redone returning characters and their new attacks/powers.
  
• Skystones Smash. It's actually really hard at times depending on the cards I draw. Makes me really have to work hard I like that.
  

Hates:

• Driving, flying, boating etc. I hate it normally, but it took this from being what I think would have been THE BEST SKYLANDERS EVER and turned it into one that sucked a lot of the time.
  
• Not having the regular stars for each chapter. Kills replayability for me. I like to scroll through the chapters when I'm done having completed the stars for times, not dying etc. Not having that in this game is disappointing.
  

But most of all

Great review Drek95! You did an excellent job. I've only had time to read your 'The Game' review, but it's great already and I really do agree with almost everything you've said, especially about portal master powers, skystones overdrive, about quests being awesome, the land vehicle monopoly, replay value and how some of the plot twists were poorly done. I suppose the only different opinion I hold is that, while the random rewards can be a kick in the teeth sometimes, it wouldn't have been worth the alternative, which is abandoning those mechanics in treasure chests and potentially sacrificing replay value.

If I may say what I thought about the game, I can't decide if it was the best yet, but it's definitely standing out. The things I liked the most about it were combat, portal master powers, skystones, quests and how creative they were with introducing sub-gimmicks, like in Captain Cluck's Chicken HQ or (more so) the Vault of the Ancients. What I didn't like was vehicle-related stuff, low challenge (I played through on hard-equivalent difficulty on my first playthrough, and it was still pretty disappointing), some of the levels, and problems with debugging.

How ironic is this, everyone? Me tarnishing vehicles? For those who weren't here before the game was out, I used to argue that the vehicles would be great because they offered a different way to play other than combat, and yet this time, I not only liked combat, but I was virtually ready to demand more of it. Normally I do the opposite. But despite this, racing and vehicle-challenges were usually short, boring, and land vehicles were prone to bugs. In some places, sometimes my vehicle would capsize, fall through walls or fall through solid ground. The controls were still faulty too. The racing just wasn't fun, but what really ended up dooming the vehicles for me was just how much more interesting portal master powers made combat. I was fascinated by how to use portal master powers to gain maximum effectiveness in combat and what hats would compliment my Skylanders best, and I was always going back for more, to see if I was doing things the most effective possible way. Combat was so amazingly cool while racing just seemed bland and in the way by comparison. Ironically, I also found I liked half of the levels and avoided the other half, normally it's better than that. I also think the developers should have done a better job differentiating which characters belong in the recycle bin--which to reuse-- and which should be buried and forgotten in the trash can.