Review on Skylanders Trap Team Starter Pack Nintendo Computers & Tablets and Tablets by Cory Whitney

GOOD: The plot is a bit better than usual and the villains have a lot of personality. Kaos is great, but good things can be too much; Variety is important, and characters like Wolfgang and Crancase complement the universe perfectly. While you technically hunt down villains one at a time, it doesn't feel as repetitive as previous games in the series. (Author's tip: The lampshade the ship keeps shooting down doesn't make it any more creative.) It's cool that you can play the bad guys, even if it's relatively short. Some of them are very funny and would make great Skylanders (although that's not to be expected). To do this, you need a trap of the appropriate element; There are eleven of them, but most of them are pretty cheap to use, and it's not that much of a hassle. Some of the boss fights, notably Boss Pepper Jack and the Golden Queen, also keep you well on your toes. BAD: trap. The team feels sincere. unfinished. The puzzles are gone. Fully. Oh, there are things the game calls "puzzles" but they boil down to "there are three levers, pull all three in any order" or "push the blocks as you can". No thought or intellect is required; It's just tiring work. "Lock" puzzles still exist and are sometimes difficult, but they were never particularly interesting at first, and most of them can be easily solved through trial and error. There's a lot of emphasis on the academy getting bigger after each level, but that just means more rooms where nothing interesting happens - usually a trampoline with money floating above it, but if you're lucky you get another 2D- Jump'n'run scene. very similar to previous 2D platform scenes. The Skaletones minigame is great, but it's also the last big thing you unlock - and you unlock it really @#$@ early. Skystones Smash is a new main minigame and a slimmed down version of Magic: The Gathering. The bricks are very similar to each other and you get them automatically by collecting baddies, so there's not much strategy involved and the AI is terrible and can only be won by outright cheating. You're forced to play multiple times to open gates and such, but you get nothing but money for winning, so there's no point in playing. The trap system allows you to catch villains and then use them in the game. Villain quests replace the Heroic Trials of previous games, which are otherwise completely absent. But . Most quests only end with a short cutscene. The main characters also get into an accident. When you're given a task, it's usually very easy and takes a ridiculous amount of time. The strategy and difficulty of the old challenges is largely gone; the only one that's difficult at all is Brawl and Chain, and that's just because it's running. SO. SLOW. through the test, full return. Elemental Gates are back as always, but this time only certain Skylanders called Trap Masters can open them. The areas beyond are much smaller and less developed, and often one area contains half the level's goodies. There are also "Traptanium Crystals" that ANY Trapmaster can unlock. With the Giants and Swap Force, having a specific Skylander for specific things made sense since they were completely different; Trap Masters are simply molded from translucent plastic weapons. That's all. That's the whole difference. There is no PVP at all. no Two new elements are introduced, representing four new Skylanders. Elemental goals for these guys are everywhere, there are more of them than there should be. Oh, and the two new Skylanders from these elements ARE NOT TRAP MASTERS and cannot open Gates, meaning they require a *specific Skylander* to open them. There are also new elemental villains that require special traps to catch and they are NOT cheap. Expect to pay outrageous dollars to get them (I see them costing $50-$80 or more). The new elements are particularly annoying because if there's a difference in sensation between light and magic or between dark and undead, I can't see it. There was absolutely no need for that, and it's only made worse by the total lack of character select if you want to unlock everything. Battle with button presses and lovable cartoon characters. That's easy. slimmed down, and considering how intense Swap Force was, I have to wonder what the heck happened here. The pay for completing the game is also impressive for this series, and the requirement to have specific pieces to get into the all-too-common Unknown Gate is frustrating.