The Skylanders franchise takes its biggest evolutionary step forward yet in Skylanders SuperChargers, the fifth game in the toys-to-life series and first that unapologetically leaves the achievements of its predecessors in the dust after driving a few donuts around them for good measure.
This Skylanders SuperChargers Dark Edition review marks the first time I’ve had the pleasure of digging into a Dark Edition Starter Pack. Even for my previous favorite game in the franchise, Skylanders Swap Force from not ironically SuperChargers developer Vicarious Visions (VV), I played and enjoyed the traditional Starter Pack.
Dark Edition versions of Super Shot Stealth Elf, Spitfire and Hot Streak are visually superior to their standard counterparts thanks to silver metallic paint that looks sharp both on the toys and the in-game models. Dark Sea Shadow, an organically-designed submarine, is also included and only available outside a Starter Pack in its regular paint scheme. For this submarine the standard version is aesthetically superior with metallic paint versus a more muted matte finish on the Dark Edition.
Exclusive to the Dark Edition Starter Pack is a Kaos Trophy that trumps the Kaos Trap from Skylanders Trap Team. Whereas the Kaos Trap only looked good when placed in the Portal given its inability to stand up, the Kaos Trophy stands tall by itself and demands attention even if its only purpose in-game is to allow players to race as Kaos in his super evil plane.
Unfortunately the SuperChargers Portal of Power isn’t as interesting as Trap Team’s with its swirling lights, but serves the purpose of extending the toy surface so that multiple figures and vehicles can simultaneously fit.
I dinged Skylanders Trap Team in my review for ratcheting back the difficulty from Swap Force and catering too heavily toward a younger audience company to Swap Force. The introduction of playable vehicles to Skylands in SuperChargers not only alleviates this issue but balances innovation that had previously tipped the scales in favor of toys versus gameplay year in and year out.
Vicarious Visions has successfully tapped into the tight controls of Mario Kart for all the vehicle segments while integrating vehicle components directly into the classic platforming elements of the Skylanders franchise without missing a beat. There are two games-in-one in SuperChargers and either one would stand firmly on its own feet.
My fears of vehicle gameplay taking away from the traditional platforming adventure were not only put to rest but buried deep into the ground. Vehicles in no way detract from the Skylanders experience fans already know and love. If anything the dramatic variation in platforming gameplay from one cluster of chapters to the next advances the franchise as much if not more than the introduction of vehicles, even if Kaos oddly finds himself overshadowed by a more powerful villain so soon after squabbling with the Golden Queen.
Thanks to a two-year development cycle on PS4 and Xbox One, the first true new-generation game from VV visually blows the other games out of the water as evidenced by the predominant visual cue: clouds and smoke. One or the other plays a role in just about every level of the campaign and they look as good as you would expect atmospheric effects to look in a photorealistic video game. With cut-scenes now all rendered out of the in-game engine rather than a mix of in-game and pre-rendered, a major distraction from the previous two Skylanders game is now gone.
SuperChargers is easily the best looking Skylanders game yet but not without a couple small flaws. I stumbled into an instance of not being able to reach a piece of loot, an enemy frozen still that I could stand next to and easily defeat without him moving, and Fist Bump’s mouth only moving through half the dialogue of his character intro. These small blemishes in no way detract from an otherwise polished and sharp game, yet at the same time I would have rather not encountered them at all.
One of the main complaints about VV’s Swap Force are the unusually long chapters without the ability to save within them. SuperChargers partially addresses this problem by extending the number of chapters from the teens to over 50. To do this they’ve grouped several chapters into larger levels, thus crossing into a new chapter saves in the background. I’d still personally prefer more obvious checkpoints but at least the shorter chapters are a step in the right direction.
Gone are the checklists at the conclusion of each chapter to alert players what goodies they had found and what was missed. I miss this feature and am sad to see it replaced by a more simplistic three-star rating that lets you know if you completed the Land, Sea and Air sections of each level; only Land is required. The only other measure of success is how many treasure chest slot machines were found.
The campaign is only the beginning of the Skylanders SuperChargers experience. Online play has arrived in Skylands following several years of vocal fan requests in the form of cooperative campaign play and adversarial racing that will test the mettle of experienced drivers as they get drilled by a lethal weapon shot within eye shot of the finish line.
There’s still quite a bit to do in SuperChargers even after defeating the challenging final boss fight — at least on Nightmare Difficulty that is finally available without having to unlock it. In the expansive Skylanders Academy hub, Hugo and Tessa will pass along daily mission in addition to numerous Land, Sea and Air races that will require perfection to beat on the Hard Difficulty selection. I was tricked once into a “mission” from Hugo that turned into replaying the final four chapters of the game for the sole reward of a hat. How disappointing.
Legendary Treasures are now an interactive element that allows players to use them as decorations in the hub. This also brings purpose to all those old magic items and expansion pack pieces that come to life as little statues hiding lucrative secrets, while Traps deliver a villain Skystone to use in the relatively easy updated Skystones Smash game. The attention to detail, not to mention full backward compatibility with all previous Skylanders figures and accessories, is simply mind boggling.
About the only thing missing from Skylanders SuperChargers is an accompanying influential television show or movie that its competition is able to dovetail off of. It’s a shame that many seasoned gamers might pass on SuperChargers and write it off as just another “kids game.” Maybe Trap Team was, but if SuperChargers is then so is Mario Kart and most every other high profile Nintendo game seen regularly in college dorm rooms.
Skylanders SuperChargers is deep, detailed, diverse, polished, gorgeous to look at and incredibly fun to play. Good luck topping it, Toys for Bob.
Skylanders SuperChargers is available now for Playstation 4, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii U and mobile. This review is based off a Skylanders SuperChargers Dark Edition Starter Pack for the PS4 provided by Activision.
