Skylanders Trap Team: Review

Overview

Kaos, the evil portal master, returns again. This time he has freed a team of Villains called the "Doom Raiders" from Cloudcracker Prison. It's up to the Skylanders and the elite Trap Team to capture all of the Villains and bring them to justice.

Skylanders Trap Team is the Fourth Console Game in the Skylanders Series. It uses collectible characters that you place on a 'Portal' to send them into the game world. In the earlier games you have been able to play as many different Skylanders, however this time you will get the chance to play as some of the baddies as well. That is once you trap them and make them good.

There are two versions of the game for consoles. These are the Normal and Dark editions. They will both be available for all major consoles with the latter only available from selected retailers.

Equipment

The game comes with everything you need to start playing straight away. You will receive a new portal that can take the old and new characters and has slots for the Traps that you need to trap and play as the baddies. There are two traps in the pack. You will also receive two new characters, One Trap Master and one standard Skylander.

Portal

The old Portals will not work with Trap Team as the new trap feature is not supported by them. However you use the Traptanium Portal while playing the older games although the trap feature will not work.

Characters

There are many new characters to play as each with their own unique abilities. They can be bought individually or in packs of three.

Food Fight/ Dark Food Fight

Food Fight is the character that you will get in your starter pack and it depends on the version you choose to what its stats will be. The version that comes in the dark edition is black and silver and has slightly better stats than the normal one.

Trap Masters

Trap masters are equipped with powerful Traptanium weapons that they use to hunt and capture enemies for you.

Snap Shot/ Dark Snap Shot

This is the Trap Master that comes with both the Normal and Dark Editions of the Game. The only difference is that the Dark edition is probably a black figure.

Wildfire/ Dark Wildfire

This is a Trap Master that can be purchased individually. However the Dark Edition is packaged into the Dark Edition of the Game giving you an extra character to get started. As with Food Fight Dark Wildfires stats are better than the normal versions.

Minis

Originally known as Sidekicks these small cute Skylanders will make you go aahh.

Once designed to work only along side normal characters these little cuties are now capable of going it alone. They come in element based packs of two characters.

Magic

Spry

Mini Jini

Tech

Trigger Snappy

Drobit

Undead

Hijinx

Eye Small

Earth

Bop

Terrabite

They are a great addition to any skylander collection and the young kids will love them. (My daughter made me buy the magic pack that contains Spry and Mini Jini.)

Traps

Each trap can only hold one captured baddie at a time and each one can only trap baddies that match its element properties. The starter pack comes with a Water and a Life Trap to get you started and they can be purchased like the characters so you can easily get your hand on more of them. The Dark Edition comes with a Kaos Trap as well.

They come in packs of three and individually.

I've given Trap Team a 4 out of 5 as there is always room for improvement and as while the game is playable and fun it is costly in the long run with characters and traps ranging in price from £6 - £25.The game itself is £45-£80.

You the Portal Master have been summoned once again to defend Skylands from the Evil Portal Master Kaos.

Kaos has freed the Doom Raiders from Cloudcracker Prison and you must capture them using your Traps and Trap Masters and bring them to justice.

If you are familiar with the earlier Skylanders games then you should have no problem getting used to Trap Team's game play. Like the first three you place a character on the Portal to transport them into the Skylands Universe where you can play them. The main difference is the addition of the Traps that you use to hold baddies so you can use them on the side of good. To trap a baddie you will need a Trap of the corresponding element. Trap masters are stronger characters but you can defeat an enemy with any character in order to trap them.

Starting Out

At the start of the game Eon introduces himself and gives you a little information about your quest. The first part of the game is designed to introduce you to how it works and how you trap baddies. This cut scene is designed so that anyone who is new to the Skylanders Universe gets a proper introduction to the game. There are two baddies to trap in the first part of the game. These baddies correspond to the two traps that came with the game. meaning you don't need to go out and buy more straight away.

As you move through the level you will come across Elemental Gates like in the previous versions. To enter the areas beyond these gates you will need a Trap Master of the corresponding element. The first on you come across is a Water gate and this is accessible straight away using Snap Shot. There is also a Life and Tech gate which you will need to purchase the corresponding Trap Master to access and a mystery element gate which you need to find the right element for.

Once you have learned about trapping you will find yourself at The Skylanders Academy. Here you can check up on which baddies you have captured and also enter the arena to train your Skylanders.

Extend Your Game Play

Each character like the others from earlier games comes with a unique code that can be used to port that character into the Tablet Game Skylanders Lots Islands. This gives you the chance to extend your game play. You can also use older characters in Trap Team to boost your chances of winning.