Skylanders Trap Team Reviews
Heavy investment is required to maximise the game's potential, and the burning question is whether Skylanders: Trap Team is worth the various upgrades on offer. To its target audience of collectors and Skylanders fanatics, the answer is yes. This is another endearing and inventive addition to the fold, but those unwilling to delve into the game wholeheartedly should probably give it a miss.
Through incredibly slow improvements each Skylanders game gets better than the last and you've got to wonder how long Activision can keep this successful train going before it loses steam. Till then, Trap Team is the best Skylanders to play if you're interested in taking the plunge.
A good kid's game, film, or book is one that children can spend hours of time on. A great one is a game that children and adults can enjoy equally. Skylanders Trap Team is closer to Saturday Disney than Harry Potter, but that's not really a criticism of it. It's a highly focused game designed explicitly to fill up the Christmas list of the child in the household. But it is a well produced game, well above the standards of most children's games, and those miniatures are highly collectible stuff. The kids will love having this under that pine tree.
Skylanders: Trap Team is definitely fun, looks and sounds great, and offers up some clever new gimmicks on the old formula.
As well as the main story mode, Trap Team offers longevity in the form of a large number of redeeming quests for each villain, a silly amount of Arena battles that will put even the toughest Skylander veterans through their paces and the epic Kaos Doom Challenge. Part horde mode, part tower defence, it features 100 waves across nine different locations that proves that Activision's franchise is not just for kids. An enjoyable adventure, but it's really starting to show signs of fatigue.
Skylanders: Trap Team seems intent on forcing players to open their wallets if they want the full experience of what the game has to offer.
Overall, Skylanders Trap Team is a solid addition to the Skylanders series. Although the Trap Masters themselves aren't as big a gameplay addition as say, the Swap Force crew, the trappable villains are what really raise the enjoyment for this game. The New Kaos Doom Challenge is fun as well for folks looking for new diversions in Skylanders. If you have kids who enjoyed the previous Swap Force games, they're going to love Trap Team as well.
The cool trapping mechanics and the villains keep the Skylanders formula from going stale, but there are signs that the level designers are running short of new ideas, and the requirements in terms of new figures and trapping crystals feel a bit cynical. Skylanders is still the best of the Toys to Life games for action – and there's a real magic to trapping and taming those evil critters – but it needs more work to the core gameplay if the series wants to keep heading in the right direction.
Skylanders: Trap Team brings enough new tricks to keep Activision's cash cow entertaining for another year, but we sense that there may need to be some more meaningful changes next time around. For now, though, kids and adults alike are going to love this charming romp – even if wallets will be hit harder than ever before. It turns out that you can buy happiness after all.
Activision's toys-to-life series is still wonderfully entertaining, but Trap Team's relentless encouragement to buy new toys can be draining on your enthusiasm – and your wallet.
The gimmick is great, and playing as a villain works extremely well, but as a game this doesn't play as fair or as fun as previous instalments.
Skylanders: Trap Team is a mixed bag. The core gameplay is still enjoyable, and the new villains are some of the most charming, creative and fun characters in the franchise. There's a lot to like, and there's a great amount of content for your dollar. However, a few design decisions hold it back. The game feels less inviting than Swap Force due to an over-emphasis on combat and a lot of content being locked behind Trap Master-themed gates. The new toys are a bit lackluster, and villains aside, there isn't a lot that's really new about Trap Team. Additionally, the high cost of entry may make it a hard pill for parents to swallow. Kids who love Skylanders will still find it to be a treat, but it certainly feels staler than the previous entries.
Skylanders Trap Team's biggest surprises lie not in its gameplay, but in how it uses sound to completely sell its gimmick. It'll bleed you dry, but somehow, that doesn't seem so bad.
While I never really connected with the trap mechanic or the new Trap Master toys, Skylanders: Trap Team is still a well-oiled machine. On newer consoles it looks fantastic, the action gameplay is still exciting, and the charm is still there. I just hope that Activision and its ilk have more interesting concepts in mind for the next iteration.
Skylanders: Trap Team is a cute game for kids with a fun story, interesting characters, and plenty of heroes and now traps, to keep parents running back and forth from the toy store.
Skylanders: Trap Team is still a fun game, it's bright and breezy and easy to get the kids into. But so much is locked away and what is left is pretty familiar to be honest. The few new ideas are welcome but not enough to differentiate it from its predecessors.
It's this sort of cynicism that prevents Skylanders: Trap Team from getting close to a perfect score. No, you didn't misread that. The game itself is THAT good. Everything that the game does, it does with style.
Skylanders Trap Team may break the bank a little, but it's still a great game for kids, little and big alike. Just don't let the bright colors, sappy dialogue, and kid-friendly fighting fool you; it's only as easy as you want it to be, and sometimes, it's fun to sit back and play a light-hearted game, even if it is one made for kids.
Another fun-filled Skylanders adventure with a cool new twist
Part of a surprisingly strong series, Skylanders Trap Team is arguably the best iteration yet. Although Traps are a way to further increase merchandising, they add both a enjoyable layer of depth to gameplay and a fun new aspect of collectibility that will encourage players to trade/loan their captured villains amongst friends.