darkSpyro

Since the game launched I've seen a lot of negativity about the new gimmick. Personally, I like the idea of collecting vehicles. They're a lot like Hot Wheels but bigger. Also the idea of a kart racer where you collect the characters and vehicles physically is also a cool idea (albeit it falls a bit short compared to the main game). At least for an annualized game they are trying something different this year, so at least give them credit for that.

What do you think of the vehicles?

They overshadow the heck out of on-ground gameplay. They're polished,they work(on the right control configs of course),but they are SO MUCH of the game that you could go in with one skylander or your entire collection and it'll feel exactly the same,because guess what,most of the time you'll be on one of the vehicles.

I'll give people NO credit for trying to make yearly series,too. It's a recipe for disaster.

I do understand the complaints that a lot of people have with the entire vehicle concept and that it overshadows the ground game play but I don't think the vehicle concept is a bad idea. I do enjoy the vehicles and outright love nearly all of them design wise. But everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

It would be a good idea if it was actually 50/50, but with the replay value it's actually 70/30 or so. There's nothing new but daily missions to do on foot after you beat the game,but there's a ton for vehicles.

Seeing that you will probably not be able to use vehicles in future games, it's asking A LOT to throw down $15 for a one and done gimmick...and there are other factors at play. I seriously don't see them supporting vehicles past this game as anything other than a magic item, Skystone, or Legendary treasure with another tick on some inventory screen. Myself included, not many people like racing and would prefer more on ground content fighting with actual Skylanders. I'll actually be happy when Sky 6 rolls around without any racing. Also, the game's lack of replay-ability has already gotten me bored to the point where I don't want to own any additional vehicles...no offense to anybody here who collects them all, but is there really anything all that different or unique from vehicle to vehicle to justify buying more than one vehicle of each terrain type? I guess we all draw the line at different places when it comes to spending our hard earned money. I've drawn my line with the vehicles...no more. At least with Skylanders, you get to fight with them, level them up, and choose from 2 different upgrade paths. Racing should have been a side standalone game as it is for the Wii and 3DS rather than being integrated into the traditional Skylanders gameplay and storyline. Instead, the racing gimmick was almost forced upon us, so we got a game that deviates greatly from prior games with racing content that not everybody likes. All that work they put into the racing content would have been better off in producing more content-filled levels and bringing back traditional/classic Skylanders stuff like PVP and battle arenas. Superchargers isn't a bad game by any means and I don't regret my purchase of it, but it certainly has made me rethink my purchase patterns and has me questioning the direction of the franchise.

As others have said my major problem is that they took away too much of the regular gameplay (could have been easily fixed by making Land sections optional as well), are the focus of all the activities after the main game is completed and that apparently they are somehow considered as characters, thus excusing the reduced roster.

The gimmick itself is really restrictive and it's the first one which cannot be used everywhere.
Racing and driving inside relatively big areas is fine but imagine driving around in a full open-world environment... The hub was a big letdown from that point of view.
Not to mention the elephant in the room: where is the uniqueness of my 100+ characters when I'm driving...?

Frankly not even a true 50/50 would have made me happy but it could have worked if they were the focus of the game after Story mode leaving the main campaign itself to the Skylanders...
I was wishing for a 70/30.
We do have a 70/30 in the end but... Vehicles aren't the 30 part.

I agree with the fact SuperChargers should have been split in two different games:
- a main one which has really little focus on them (maybe some racing features and a free roaming hub) and felt like a standard Skylanders experience;
- a racing focused game with tournaments, online, tons of different tracks and much more and maybe also a simplier but still fun Story mode for the Skylanders.
As it is SuperChargers is a great game... But made up of two good parts which really don't shine if taken apart.

They are great figures, fun to play and do provide something new but I sincerely hope they won't follow the traps' route and be heavily nerfed in future games, or else I will have to rethink my strategy.

Quote: TJRedeemer

Since the game launched I've seen a lot of negativity about the new gimmick. Personally, I like the idea of collecting vehicles. They're a lot like Hot Wheels but bigger. Also the idea of a kart racer where you collect the characters and vehicles physically is also a cool idea (albeit it falls a bit short compared to the main game). At least for an annualized game they are trying something different this year, so at least give them credit for that.

What do you think of the vehicles?

Let me be blunt: the Vehicle gimmick was the main reason I chose to stick around for another year. I was most definitely not disappointed! The racing is excellent fun, with plenty of variety and smooth, engaging gameplay, and the Vehicle segments in Story mode help to break up the pace and make the experience feel fresh. Like Skylanders themselves, each individual Vehicle feels different and unique, with its own unique abilities and theme which perfectly match not just the signature driver, but the element as a whole. I also like how the Vehicles (moreso the Rift Engines themselves) are explained story-wise, and I like how the SuperChargers have their respective Vehicles' Rift Engines as their figures' bases this year. The whole theme is fantastic, and I thoroughly enjoy each and every play session.

Going from Drek's suggestion, maybe Racing could've had the Elemental Challanges, and console could've had the Dogfight races instead of Time Attack for more action(otherwise the Attack upgrades are kinda pointless except for Hard/Nightmare) and an actual Arena Challenge/Survival/Whatever section included. You can do things with both skylanders and vehicles,most people are happy.

Quote: Bifrost

They overshadow the heck out of on-ground gameplay. They're polished,they work(on the right control configs of course),but they are SO MUCH of the game that you could go in with one skylander or your entire collection and it'll feel exactly the same,because guess what,most of the time you'll be on one of the vehicles.

I'll give people NO credit for trying to make yearly series,too. It's a recipe for disaster.

My thoughts when gimmick was announced...and it has in effect become reality. I like the distraction, but it's distracting.

I'm guessing people will collect LESS skylanders this game because their utility is decapitated. Might explain the reason for 18 figures.

i love this, i wish there was more vehicle parts. the land driving parts are the best part of the game for me. when on ground its just the same old same old, enemies come you kill them move on so the vehicle parts really help to change up the pace alot and i think the game is better for it. also 70/30 to vehicle split? do the math again its maybe its maybe 40/60 to ground mode split. the vehicle segment just take longer because your soooo slow in the side scroll water sections. plus adding in the fact you DONT HAVE to do the water and air parts its really like 25 % vehicle and 75% ground mode depending on the level.

in short my opinion is i want more vehicles and games like superchargers, its the best move that they made so far. less figures more gameplay too. 40 figures is the magic number, we dont need 17 different gill grunts and mini and lightcore versions. yea there cool figures but do nothing but take away development time from the game meaning it will be a shorter game. my hopes is that they will have 2 skylanders games now that rotate every other year. next year a classic game with 856 new figures to collect and the year after another superchargers with 20 characters and 20 vehicles. or maybe just a new branch of games as in 2 skylanders games a year, 1 racing 1 normal. all i know is i want more racing, i want mario cart but for skylanders.

Did the math again. You do about 2 enemy waves,vehicle sections. About three puzzle sections, air and sky vehicle sections. Bosses? All but 3 are vehicle bosses(not counting midbosses).
You finish the game? What do you do new?
1. Elemental Zones - Racing.
2. Racing racing.
3.Half the Daily Missions - Racing.

The ONLY onfoot postgame stuff are the other chunk of dailies, Skystones if you have co-op or time to kill, which doesn't get to even 5 minutes most of the matches. Slow or fast, vehicles took most of the game, no excuses.

Get Racing for 3DS and Wii if you need Skylanders Kart, but the whole thing that made the series is having tons of different gameplay - great crap if you can't take advantage of it because those 20 bigger toys are now more important. This is not why I joined,and DEFINATELY not why I spend so much money instead of buying Mario Kart 8 and calling it a day.

Let me get this straight.
40 figures are not ok if 18 of them aren't characters, 4 of them are console exclusives and 8 are revamps.

I'd prefer only 20 new Skylanders as long as they are new and are actual Skylanders.
Gimmicks like vehicles or traps should be an extra and never, I repeat never overshadow or even worse take the place of characters.

Sorry but the balance between vehicles and classic gameplay is not correct; I'm glad you are that much into racing but I'm fine with my Mario Kart games.

Bifrost made me remember about something: I cannot believe they actually introduced online without bringing PvP back.
Imagine vehicle and Skylanders battles between you and your friends... Now that would have been awesome and more in line with the classic gameplay.
Sure they would have had to cut some other vehicle content but, hey, there is always Racing for that.

online without PvP is unconscionable. Can you imagine the matches and modes that would consume HOURS of fun by everyone after the game? I like the game, but cutting corners on originality/exclusivity of shkanders, overshadowing of gimmick, and the now typical quiet post game gameplay makes this game a strike 2 in my book. That's why my decision for next game is 100% in Activision's hands. I'm shutting it down if it doesn't meet my expectations. online PvP and post game show and more variety of the in game experience is key. I'm done buying one and out gimmicks--and if they pull that again I'm automatic out. Any toy from here and out I'm expecting to be pulled forward with COMPLETE functionality we get in the game where the toy originated. Adventure/battle packs are the only exception I'll accept.

Tall words, but my green will speak.

I think it's time to go bi-yearly and go deep on content.

Quote: Drawdler

Everyone's already said why the vehicle zones didn't work very well (make up too much of the game, forced you to sticking with a few choices instead of the 100+ Skylanders and broke the flow in a lot of levels), but I also think their segments weren't designed well. As fair as the Land ones-

• Their difficulty was ridiculous in Nightmare mode. Every enemy was a massive damage sponge, even with fully upgraded vehicles and every boss dragged on and on and ON.
  
• That also made it too hard to upgrade multiple vehicles. I just stuck to Hot Streak, Sky Slicer and Sea Shadow, because even early vehicle segments gave me trouble. I never used any of the other vehicles I bought, because they would be underpowered by the end of the game.
  
• The vehicle controls just didn't feel right. I don't just mean the button mapping (but that was atrocious), I mean their handling and such wasn't as smooth or tight as it should've been. Even with full-on handling mods, I never felt confident trying to make any quick turns. I've tried each vehicle with their handling maxed now and I still feel like the handling doesn't click with any of them. It's hard to pinpoint why I feel this way about the controls, but I think it might be that vehicles turn too slowly.
  
• Most of the vehicle sections were just straightforward drives with a couple of moving objects to avoid. Seeing straightforward roads so often is boring, why not more twists and turns around the levels? Some segments tried adding branching paths, but most of them had the same obstacles or removed obstacles entirely, so they weren't exciting.
  
• The arena sections tried alliveating this and adding more variety, but ended up worse because of a combination of the difficulty and subpar handling- at least in the straightforward parts, you didn't need to change direction or fight as much, so those weren't as much of an issue. I thought the vehicle arena segments were some of the worst in the game. They felt similar to using and fighting with a Skylander, but they handled worse and because there were so few vehicles, you didn't get the same amount of variety or choice.

The only times I liked them were in Cloud Kingdom and VoTA (although Stratosfear was an awful boss, the other segments worked with CK's pacing and VoTA had the most unique and varied vehicle segments in the game). For the rest of the game I felt like they were just an interruption. It's a real shame because I feel like this could've been my favourite game in the series, but it dropped some massive balls. Vehicle segments should've just been optional areas leading to/through different routes in levels rather than forced.

I honestly (if I had a quarter for every time I said "honestly"... I'd be sitting in a useless pile of American currency) liked the 3DS version better because, while it has its own flaws, it was just focused on one thing and didn't force anything else between that.

I can take that pile of American currency!

A lot of the time I want to just run in a level, fight some baddies, maybe level up or get some money for a character. With this if I want to fight I have to go through a vehicle zone and maybe I will come across some enemies.

And I will always, ALWAYS take TT selection of characters over SC's. Was 40 a bit to much? Maye. But I loved having such a huge variety of characters to pick from. This? I get 10 (well for me 12) characters.

Quote: HeyitsHotDog

Quote: Drawdler

Everyone's already said why the vehicle zones didn't work very well (make up too much of the game, forced you to sticking with a few choices instead of the 100+ Skylanders and broke the flow in a lot of levels), but I also think their segments weren't designed well. As fair as the Land ones-

• Their difficulty was ridiculous in Nightmare mode. Every enemy was a massive damage sponge, even with fully upgraded vehicles and every boss dragged on and on and ON.
  
• That also made it too hard to upgrade multiple vehicles. I just stuck to Hot Streak, Sky Slicer and Sea Shadow, because even early vehicle segments gave me trouble. I never used any of the other vehicles I bought, because they would be underpowered by the end of the game.
  
• The vehicle controls just didn't feel right. I don't just mean the button mapping (but that was atrocious), I mean their handling and such wasn't as smooth or tight as it should've been. Even with full-on handling mods, I never felt confident trying to make any quick turns. I've tried each vehicle with their handling maxed now and I still feel like the handling doesn't click with any of them. It's hard to pinpoint why I feel this way about the controls, but I think it might be that vehicles turn too slowly.
  
• Most of the vehicle sections were just straightforward drives with a couple of moving objects to avoid. Seeing straightforward roads so often is boring, why not more twists and turns around the levels? Some segments tried adding branching paths, but most of them had the same obstacles or removed obstacles entirely, so they weren't exciting.
  
• The arena sections tried alliveating this and adding more variety, but ended up worse because of a combination of the difficulty and subpar handling- at least in the straightforward parts, you didn't need to change direction or fight as much, so those weren't as much of an issue. I thought the vehicle arena segments were some of the worst in the game. They felt similar to using and fighting with a Skylander, but they handled worse and because there were so few vehicles, you didn't get the same amount of variety or choice.

The only times I liked them were in Cloud Kingdom and VoTA (although Stratosfear was an awful boss, the other segments worked with CK's pacing and VoTA had the most unique and varied vehicle segments in the game). For the rest of the game I felt like they were just an interruption. It's a real shame because I feel like this could've been my favourite game in the series, but it dropped some massive balls. Vehicle segments should've just been optional areas leading to/through different routes in levels rather than forced.

I honestly (if I had a quarter for every time I said "honestly"... I'd be sitting in a useless pile of American currency) liked the 3DS version better because, while it has its own flaws, it was just focused on one thing and didn't force anything else between that.

I can take that pile of American currency!

$20 trillion in debt coming. Dollar value will be worthless soon. I'd trade it if I were you.

Quote: GaiaMemories

A lot of the time I want to just run in a level, fight some baddies, maybe level up or get some money for a character. With this if I want to fight I have to go through a vehicle zone and maybe I will come across some enemies.

And I will always, ALWAYS take TT selection of characters over SC's. Was 40 a bit to much? Maye. But I loved having such a huge variety of characters to pick from. This? I get 10 (well for me 12) characters.

In terms of new characters I always think more is better.
I have to admit 20 (or 18) is probably the best number but even if they released 100 brand new Skylanders that wouldn't still be a problem.

First of all the thing nobody wants to hear despite it being the truth: you don't have to get them all.
Just stick to your favorite ones and avoid buying a character you don't like (I recommend watching videos if your are even just a bit unsure, though).

But if you are like me and would like to actually buy all of the new Skylanders... Just wait.
I simply bought 4 more toys along the Starter Pack on SuperChargers day one, despite the fact more new figures were there.
But I waited and took them a week later.

Sales also help and slowly their price will decrease.

I love to have the option of buying lots of characters and SuperChargers was a huge letdown from that point of view.

Quote: Drawdler

Everyone's already said why the vehicle concept didn't work very well (make up too much of the game, forced you to sticking with a few choices instead of the 100+ Skylanders and broke the flow in a lot of levels), but I also think their segments weren't designed well. As fair as the Land ones-

• Their difficulty was ridiculous in Nightmare mode. Every enemy was a massive damage sponge, even with fully upgraded vehicles and every boss dragged on and on and ON.
  
• That also made it too hard to upgrade multiple vehicles. I just stuck to Hot Streak, Sky Slicer and Sea Shadow, because even early vehicle segments gave me trouble. I never used any of the other vehicles I bought, because they would be underpowered by the end of the game. Yeah, I was on Nightmare mode, but I didn't feel as helpless with new Skylanders and took the time to play with several of them.
  
• The vehicle controls just didn't feel right. I don't just mean the button mapping (but that was atrocious), I mean their handling and such wasn't as smooth or tight as it should've been. Even with full-on handling mods, I never felt confident trying to make any quick turns. I've tried each vehicle with their handling maxed now and I still feel like the handling doesn't click with any of them. It's hard to pinpoint why I feel this way about the controls, but I think it might be that vehicles turn too slowly.
  
• Most of the vehicle sections were just straightforward drives with a couple of moving objects to avoid. Seeing straightforward roads so often is boring, why not more twists and turns around the levels? Some segments tried adding branching paths, but most of them had the same obstacles or removed obstacles entirely, so they weren't exciting.
  
• The arena sections tried alliveating this and adding more variety, but ended up worse because of a combination of the difficulty and subpar handling- at least in the straightforward parts, you didn't need to change direction or fight as much, so those weren't as much of an issue. I thought the vehicle arena segments were some of the worst in the game. They felt similar to using and fighting with a Skylander, but they handled worse and because there were so few vehicles, you didn't get the same amount of variety or choice. And again, terrible difficulty balance.

The only times I liked them were in Cloud Kingdom and VoTA (although Stratosfear was an awful boss, the other segments worked with CK's pacing and VoTA had the most unique and varied vehicle segments in the game). For the rest of the game I felt like they were just an interruption. It's a real shame because I feel like this could've been my favourite game in the series, but it dropped some massive balls. Vehicle segments should've just been optional areas leading to/through different routes in levels, rather than forced sections.

I honestly (if I had a quarter for every time I said "honestly", I'd be sitting in a useless pile of American currency) liked the 3DS version better because, while it has its own flaws, it was just focused on one thing and didn't force anything else between that.

I agree with everything you've put!
The on-foot stuff is possibly the best in the series, it's just dragged down by the non-optional vehicle segments that feel unrefined.

So here you have some really great gameplay (except for that signature VV slow cutscene-skipping), and then you get cars shoved in your face.
I wonder how they'll deal with vehicles in the next game? Non-character gimmicks have a reputation of being useless next game, so what about one that costs more than a character?
Will they keep vehicles shoehorned in the game? Will it stay on the Wii/3DS? Will they just unlock a skystone?

Drek as usual hit the nail on the head to start

It's restrictive.

It's that simple. There are other things you can throw at the wall, but the over arching issue is restriction. All the other gimmicks were simple 'paywalls', you want this, buy that. MAke life easier, spend a little more on this figure for more dmg and health. But you always had the option of frankly 'leaving' Stealth Elf on the portal, and killing everything with her.

Now a HEAVY chunk of gameplay is being forced to ride in poorly controlled vehicles - often feeling very forced, overly difficult due to controls, yet at least early on, with so much health that its not difficult. If the vehicle sections were more like the 'arena' setups, but you could also traverse the areas on foot, I think they would have a better working model, vehicles give you better offense or defense, but you aren't "forced" to do anything.

Frankly, the vehicle parts aren't exhilarating either, they lack the suspense of an impending boss battle. I fought the dude with the lightning bolt last night and realized, not only did he never hit me, I hardly saw him do anything *regular difficulty*. Moneybone wasn't too different.

All in all, I think its actually a gimmick worth merit, they broke their own mold, and for once they really are TOYS. It needs a little spit and polish - most notably - controls and actual use, but I'm not 'mad' at it. With that said, its still obviously restricting - forcing me to play a game type I don't want to actually play, breaking up action, often unnecessarily (thinking of skipping all of them and coming back to get the rest of the stars later), and being frank, it most likely won't be used in the future - meaning they will all become $15 plastic hot wheels.
- Unreall

Quote: Unreallystic

Drek as usual hit the nail on the head to start

It's restrictive.

It's that simple. There are other things you can throw at the wall, but the over arching issue is restriction. All the other gimmicks were simple 'paywalls', you want this, buy that. MAke life easier, spend a little more on this figure for more dmg and health. But you always had the option of frankly 'leaving' Stealth Elf on the portal, and killing everything with her.

Now a HEAVY chunk of gameplay is being forced to ride in poorly controlled vehicles - often feeling very forced, overly difficult due to controls, yet at least early on, with so much health that its not difficult. If the vehicle sections were more like the 'arena' setups, but you could also traverse the areas on foot, I think they would have a better working model, vehicles give you better offense or defense, but you aren't "forced" to do anything.

Frankly, the vehicle parts aren't exhilarating either, they lack the suspense of an impending boss battle. I fought the dude with the lightning bolt last night and realized, not only did he never hit me, I hardly saw him do anything *regular difficulty*. Moneybone wasn't too different.

All in all, I think its actually a gimmick worth merit, they broke their own mold, and for once they really are TOYS. It needs a little spit and polish - most notably - controls and actual use, but I'm not 'mad' at it. With that said, its still obviously restricting - forcing me to play a game type I don't want to actually play, breaking up action, often unnecessarily (thinking of skipping all of them and coming back to get the rest of the stars later), and being frank, it most likely won't be used in the future - meaning they will all become $15 plastic hot wheels.
- Unreall

Absolutely agree, my friend.

You actually made me remember another thing which annoyed me a lot when it was first discovered: the fact you are forced to always have a vehicle on the Portal to play the game.
I know it has lore explanations and is also not that annoying after all but I simply can't ignore the feeling they had to shove vehicles down our throats in any possible way because they felt we wouldn't have used or bought them, otherwise.

Let me make a small list.
Here is the vehicle-exclusive features:
- actual possibility to play the game;
- possibility to play specific areas, some being mandatory to proceed through the Story;
- Story Mode quests;
- Elemental Challenges;
- all regarding Racing;
- PvP modes.

And all of that equals "restriction" in my book.

It's sad because Skylanders should be a great and complete game without you needing to buy anything except for the copy itself and maybe a new Portal.
Giants would have worked without Tree Rex, SWAP Force was playable without Wash Buckler and Trap Team could be finished without putting a single trap in the Portal.
SuperChargers shouldn't be a good game because of vehicles, it should became even better thanks to them.

But sadly it ends up being an "ok" title without those figures.
I frankly don't think any other game has that problem (not even Trap Team with his whole "Traptanium Gate problem" and the number of traps required to play as all the villains).

Everything up until Superchargers was optional, and even then Giants came with a Giant meaning you got to see everything in the game pending you had one of every elemental Skylander.

Swap Forces excellent Swap Zones were still optional. While exploring the big levels, you could opt in for optional Swap Zones pending you had that figure. If you didn't want to do the Swap Zones (despite the fact they added to the variety of the game), you weren't forced to, but exploring levels was still there, and there was a lot to explore.

Here comes Superchargers. I had such high hopes seeing as VV made Swap Force, my favorite Skylanders game.

VV made on rails driving sections for most of the levels and they forced you to do them. It wasn't something on the side. Nope. The thousands of dollars I've spent on Skylanders became trash thanks to them, seeing as the vehicle was the star of the show. Hardly any, if any, boss fights were on foot. Nope, the vehicle was the star of the show. The exploration that is a staple of Skylanders, which gives me that old schoolish gameplay, while being fresh, was thrown out because they wanted you to drive a car so bad, they literally broke up gameplay just to make sure you drive down a linear - and quite boring path - or a circular area - also quite boring.

Only reason I am buying Supercharger characters and vehicles is because my hope is that the next game is a return to form. Bring back exploration and make my Skylanders be more than people behind a steering wheel. Bring back Adventure Packs, PVP (why no online PVP we got online racing), and things like score and time attack modes, survival arenas (not the ones by Brock those are boring), and bonus missions.

Edit: and I agree with those who have said it. This game forced vehicles down your throat so much, you can't even load a Skylander into the game unless a vehicle is on.

the vehicle zones minus land is optional too and they do give you a land vehicle to start with. if anything you just need 2 other vehicles to see everything vs the 5 characters of the elemental types your missing to get past all the gates. yea there are elemental gates in the academy but they dont have hats or items locked behind them, there just a bonus, and that was another thing i liked about it. the "pay wall" to do everything was very cheap in this game compared to the others. you can get all hats, skystone cards and treasures with 1 character and 3 vehicles, not including cards from tt and treasures from past magical items.

i know i have a conflicting opinion of just about everyone in this topic but i have to keep telling myself, when people have a bad experience they tell 10 other people, when they have a good experience they might tell 1 other person. so for all this negative i know there are probably 4 times more people that, like me, loved this game vs people that hated it.

but here is my view on the series as a total and what i would like. the figures are nice, i like collecting them and i think they look cool but i dont play as all of them, i just collect them. in the game i normally only play 2-3 characters that i like and fit my play style. the rest just collect dust on the displays. i view this first as a game and 2nd as a collection so im much more interested in playing the game. i have a degree in video game programming myself and i know the effort, time and money that goes into making games. just developing 1 character takes weeks to design, program and balance, time that can be put to other things. and when i look at the massive amounts of figures and bosses TT had in it made me realize the amount of time it took to make all that and just how much more they could of done instead of focusing on boss mechanics that dont matter on normal mode because they die in 5 seconds. but this is why i like to see less figures and complex gimiks and more focus on the game itself. make the game longer, add more story, add something that really makes you want to play the game over and over again from the start and just not level hop around. a example of this is my all time favorite game series, ratchet and clank. beat the game and you get challenge mode, you start the game from the very start again but you get new upgrades and weapons to become even stronger, the enemies are alot harder too. yea you got nightmare mode and yea the challenge mode dosent fit 100% but something like that might.

anyways that my opinion, it may not be yours but i respect your opinion and i hope you will do the same for my opinion.

I had a good experience, it's just not something I want to ever have again. This game was fun,but the bad choices need to stop.

Replay bonus is a bonus in itself. Hats are pointless now that ANYTHING can give one, so they don't actually add much to exploration,only red toolboxes - WHICH,GUESS WHAT,VEHICLE RELATED.

Frankly, I don't know how they could make vehicles optional (assuming only land at this point) at any point. THere are simple territory configurations required for this, and the figure fighting sections HAVE to be configured differently for vehicles. I suspect all of the areas would have to be huge as arenas if they made land vehicles optional throughout. So if you think about it, they rightsized the sections according to how they built it. The complaints are still valid, just saying. However, if they made this game MORE OPEN WORLD, I'd argue they could've pulled it off much easier.

I think they did the best they could with the gimmick they had personally. It was a somewhat interesting excusion, but I'm afraid the gimmick's characteristics didn't make it fit what we traditionally think of in a traditional game. Which is something I'm sure they're discussing right now. I give them kudos for trying, but making me pay for plastic that doesn't work the next game needs to stop--that's why I'm frankly ok being gimmick free.

From the ones i have so far, they've done a good job on them.

I just hope they live up to all the hype.

Quote: Alphawolf

the vehicle zones minus land is optional too and they do give you a land vehicle to start with. if anything you just need 2 other vehicles to see everything vs the 5 characters of the elemental types your missing to get past all the gates. yea there are elemental gates in the academy but they dont have hats or items locked behind them, there just a bonus, and that was another thing i liked about it. the "pay wall" to do everything was very cheap in this game compared to the others. you can get all hats, skystone cards and treasures with 1 character and 3 vehicles, not including cards from tt and treasures from past magical items.

i know i have a conflicting opinion of just about everyone in this topic but i have to keep telling myself, when people have a bad experience they tell 10 other people, when they have a good experience they might tell 1 other person. so for all this negative i know there are probably 4 times more people that, like me, loved this game vs people that hated it.

But - no one is really complaining about the cost aspect of it, or having to buy vehicles - that's not hte problem...

Imagine you just spent $400 on a PS4 and Fallout 4. You take off from work and buy a bunch of *healthy* snacks with the plans of playing Fall Out ALL DAY. You've spent the money and got setup to just play Fall Out for the day, barely having to budge for food or bathroom breaks.

Now imagine if every 15 minutes of Fallout you had to stop and play a game of Rocket League to continue.

That's what's happened - you want to play Skylanders, but at least twice per level you HAVE to stop playing skylanders and switch to a stripped down racing game. Some of us have spent goo-gobs of money on not just skylander's in general, but this release, but heck looking at my own experience, I have a couple characters I bought at launch that I have not even put on the portal yet. (I used Smash It for the first time last night, for about 30 seconds as earth was strong in the zone and then 'bam' vehicle section).

It's beyond whether the racing sections are even good or not (because of controls strictly I vote no, I struggle to wrap my head around the controls and I'm grown) - its a completely different game inside of the game, and unlike the Swap Zones, you are forced to do some of them every level.
- Unreall

On the HD games the Vehicle- and Skylanders combat are greatest. The racing mode and Superchargers combo (SC Skylanders+Vehicles) are the lacklusters and sometimes forced. They should have complete removed the Racing mode,
improve the Superchargers Combo and more combat oriented.

On the 3DS/Wii Skylanders SC Racing other way around handle better the Combo and Racing.

The only thing that I hate about the vehicles is when you fully upgrade them, gearbits become pointless. I wish that they could be converted into gold, which would actually make them useful to your skylanders as it would be a way to make more gold. Although I do agree that they should not have focused so much on racing, I honestly think that the core vehicle gameplay is fun. Honestly I don't see why people hate the controls... it could be that they are using the default control scheme... which blows. Use the one where you can use both the control stick and triggers in the Twisted Metal-esq sections; it makes it so much easier .

Unreallyistic said it best.

Almost every level in SC goes from typical Skylander game (not a bad thing), to some kind of off brand racing game, with uninspired driving either on rails or in huge circular areas.

As I've said, this game did two things right that I hope all future Skylander games retain, those being -

- Skylanders Tutor
- can achieve +35 speed for ALL Skylanders without the need of hats, that while fun to collect, look downright silly.

Those two things added to what made past Skylanders games are what will make me happy. I miss not having side stories with Adventure Packs, I miss exploration and finding my Soul Gems, Winged Sapphires, Hats, Legendary Treasures, etc. I also miss all of the extra stuff Swap Force provided like Bonus Missions and Survival Mode (which were better than Brock's form of Survival Arenas as it felt more arcadey), Score and Time Attack Modes.

Oh, and your Skylanders didn't feel like second fiddle like they do in SC.

Whatever it is, it's not doing as good as the previous titles if they got some of wave 3 out already.
I've heard that DI and LD are doing much better, despite LD's cost.

^ The game was releases a whole month early...there's no conspiracy going on. I'm thankful I can get wave 3 without resorting to international sites.

The problem I have with the vehicle figures is that, you know next year's Skylanders game will not have any racing levels and therefore won't require you to use the vehicles, much like how unless TT's traps are in SC. The difference is that vehicles cost much more than traps, and they will become useless in a year.

Quote: Insane01

Whatever it is, it's not doing as good as the previous titles if they got some of wave 3 out already.
I've heard that DI and LD are doing much better, despite LD's cost.

Yeah but if I recall, it was pretty much the same schedule last year, just moved up a month, released a month earlier than last year, and wave 3 part 1 came out around the middle of December with the rest coming out a couple weeks after the new years, so we are on track for the same thing, with the first part of Wave one hitting them iddle of Novmber and the second most likely hitting that Dec 13 or 18th date (US).

Due to cost and new market peetration it would be hard to pierce true sales data without actual unit sold numbers. I don't want to hear about profits and the such as those are going to be skewed towards LD & SC, while DI went the cheap route this time...at least for starters.

Frankly, I have a feeling SC is losing a bunch of steam, but it has to do with overall units already sold and being worn thin. The game no longer has that 'magic' as its like 5 games in. LD is 'new' (though really its just Lego The Movie with physical DLC), and DI seems to have FINALLY hit its stride. They just need to let me download 1.0 and 2.0 content to 3.0 so that I can use all my crystal thingies without changing consoles and disc.
- Unreall

Quote: Solaris

The problem I have with the vehicle figures is that, you know next year's Skylanders game will not have any racing levels and therefore won't require you to use the vehicles, much like how unless TT's traps are in SC. The difference is that vehicles cost much more than traps, and they will become useless in a year.

This is precisely why I no longer will condone or purchase "one and out" gimmicks. It's either about skylanders, or they make sure they can adopt it in ALL games moving forward.

Quote: Solaris

The problem I have with the vehicle figures is that, you know next year's Skylanders game will not have any racing levels and therefore won't require you to use the vehicles, much like how unless TT's traps are in SC. The difference is that vehicles cost much more than traps, and they will become useless in a year.

Not entirely. If TfB is smart they will still incorporate vehicles when you are playing with a SuperCharger skylander. Having the matching vehicle will most likely still give the skylander the same stat boost and be considered "supercharged".

And also, traps are not useless in SuperChargers. The abilities that come with them are actually pretty nice.

Honestly, I like Drek's idea of making Skylanders 6 open world and allowing Portal Masters to use the vehicles to make travel easier. Like how they used vehicles in LEGO Dimensions. And, of course, they'd still have to give their corresponding Supercharger an attack boost.

Either that or they make them Legendary Treasures.

...Yeah, I hope the former.

IMO, they could've escaped the vehicle being "forced" if they went open world in THIS game. Game itself needs some re-inventing, but go back to skylander brawl bashing basics.

Quote: TJRedeemer

Quote: Solaris

The problem I have with the vehicle figures is that, you know next year's Skylanders game will not have any racing levels and therefore won't require you to use the vehicles, much like how unless TT's traps are in SC. The difference is that vehicles cost much more than traps, and they will become useless in a year.

Not entirely. If TfB is smart they will still incorporate vehicles when you are playing with a SuperCharger skylander. Having the matching vehicle will most likely still give the skylander the same stat boost and be considered "supercharged".

And also, traps are not useless in SuperChargers. The abilities that come with them are actually pretty nice.

Yeah, they give you a weapon and a skystone.....where as used to we got playable characters with them. Whoopee for weapons.

Quote: GaiaMemories

Quote: TJRedeemer

Quote: Solaris

The problem I have with the vehicle figures is that, you know next year's Skylanders game will not have any racing levels and therefore won't require you to use the vehicles, much like how unless TT's traps are in SC. The difference is that vehicles cost much more than traps, and they will become useless in a year.

Not entirely. If TfB is smart they will still incorporate vehicles when you are playing with a SuperCharger skylander. Having the matching vehicle will most likely still give the skylander the same stat boost and be considered "supercharged".

And also, traps are not useless in SuperChargers. The abilities that come with them are actually pretty nice.

Yeah, they give you a weapon and a skystone.....where as used to we got playable characters with them. Whoopee for weapons.

I know right? Weapons for the win!

...oh wait, that was sarcasm. Yeah, maybe not so great, but hey, it's better than nothing.