Why You Can Trust CNET Skylanders Trap Team Starter Pack - Android, iOS review: Traps and tablets keep the franchise fresh
The fourth main game in Activision's Skylanders series brings some fantastic new features, including the entire game on iPad -- but also a new hit on the hip pocket.
First came Spyro's Adventure, and it was good. Then came Giants, introducing a new element into the tried-and-true Skylanders gameplay formula; it, too, was good. Then followed Swap Force, and suddenly the game, which was already balancing a fine line of fiddliness, what with having to pause and switch out the figurines, became prohibitively complicated, where time spent configuring the Skylanders detracted from the gameplay.
Skylanders Trap Team Starter Pack - Android, iOS
The Good
The Bad
The Bottom Line
Whereas in the previous two games, you had to switch out the real-world NFC-enabled figurines -- each of which allows you to play that character in-game by placing it on the Skylanders "portal" peripheral, connected to your console via USB -- Swap Force introduced characters held togetehr at the waist by magnets, which could be mixed-and-matched for a much wider range of configurations.
With Trap Team, Activision seems to have learnt its lesson. Gone are the mix-and-match Skylanders, replaced with a new set of heroes and a new mechanic: Traps. These are pegs that you place in an aperture in the new portal that allow you capture certain enemies -- which you can then play as in addition to your Skylander, switching between the two.
The game also introduces Trap Masters. Like Giants, these Skylanders allow you to access certain underground areas; instead of jumping through the ground, though, the Trap Master smashes Traptanium crystals, which restores, piece by piece, the universe's bad-guy prison.
First, the bad news: although you can get away with playing the game with just one Trap Master and as few traps as you like (you don't have to trap enemies), in order to complete the game, you'll have to make some significant purchases. Like the Skylanders, the enemies you can trap have elemental types, so you'll need at least eight traps, as well as the Trap Master portal.
Also, unlike Spyro's Adventure, Giants and Swap Force, where gated elemental zones could be opened by any Skylander of the corresponding element, the gated elemental zones in Trap Team can only be opened by Trap Masters of the corresponding element. This means that you'll need to purchase at least eight of the premium Trap Master Skylander figures if you want access to those zones.
It's a curious choice to enforce the purchase in that way, considering that fans would likely want to purchase a selection of the figures anyway; we imagine there will be plenty of parents, who have already spent a fair amount of money on the toys, vexed that their investment hasn't carried through in the way it had for previous games. (Old Skylanders can still be used to play the game, just not to access the locked areas.)
The other thing that Activision has brought to the table, though, is magnificent: a tablet version of the game for Android, Fire OS and iOS, complete with a portal with a built-in tablet stand and compatible controller that packs away into the base of the portal. This is not a completely different game, like Cloud Patrol, Battlegrounds or Lost Islands; nor is it a scaled-down version. It is a direct port of the full game, with only a few minor cosmetic differences. Bear in mind that the full game comes to 6GB, although a "lite" version can be downloaded and played.
This makes the game much easier to pack up and bring along on a car ride or a family trip; and, with both portal and controller running on AA batteries, it is not dependant on charging. For shorter trips, the portal and controller aren't even necessary: the game can be played directly on the tablet using on-screen controls -- a floating D-pad on the left and fixed action buttons on the right -- and two Skylanders built in, life Skylander Food Fight and water Trap Master Snap Shot.
The game follows a familiar pattern of perennial bad guy Kaos causing mischief and the player setting the world to rights: Kaos blows up Cloudcracker Prison, unleashing a host of enemies to wreak mischief on the Skylands. This introduces a new set of enemies and bosses, and still allows you to beat Kaos. You can also, with a special trap just for the purpose, capture (and play as) Kaos for the first time; and new "Skylanders Minis", available in packs of two, let you play as adorable baby versions of the core Skylanders characters.
The gameplay, of course, is its familiar, accessible self: action melee combat, with three buttons assigned to combat moves, upgraded by collecting treasure and buying the upgrades from Persephone the fairy. Each Skylander can still be levelled up to 10, and your old Skylanders retain their levels, upgrades and hats. You can still also collect Skystones for the in-game tabletop-style minigame.
There is even a boost for Skylanders collectors: for each Skylander you play in the game of a certain element, you get an elemental boost in the game for every Skylander of that element. Playing two different life characters, for instance, means that life power is boosted for all characters. It's a nice way to reward long-time fans and collectors.
CNET Verdict: Proof that Skylanders is here to stay
After the hiccup of Swap Force, Trap Team is evidence of a few things. First, that the game can move with the times -- the tablet edition is a seriously impressive step up. Second, that it will be able to move forward in a way that accommodates Skylanders veterans -- even, perhaps, in spite of a rather obvious attempt to shoehorn those fans into buying more toys. Finally, that its gameplay is timeless. We rather expect Skylanders will be around for years to come.
Raise your hands, though, if you have no idea what to do with all those outdated portals.