Skylanders Imaginators Reviews
The increased role-playing elements add another interesting angle to an already accomplished franchise, but the cynical attempts to fleece parents’ wallets are hard to defend.
Skylanders Imaginators is rich with customisation options, and a genuine sense of fun makes this a brilliant addition to the series.
A strange deviation from the traditional, action-figured based formula that succeeds in rewarding players, but comes up short in story, levels, and collectability
Skylanders Imaginators is saved by its focus on character customisation.
After a dozen hours romping around the Skylands with Faemily, Seamusbot, Archer Rex, Bird Kirkilton and Dadcat Robot, it feels like I’ve made the game my own. This is my Skylanders.
Even with a few uninspired stages, Skylanders Imaginators manages to nail the childlike whimsy of the beat-'em-up genre so many of us grew up with. It's still a blast with friends, and even more-so now that you can share your creations and tweak them together. The series has shown signs of slowing down in recent years here and there, but it's not done yet.
Skylanders Imaginators introduces at last the character customization, which gives the player lots of possibilities and entertainment. Apart from this and the Skylanders Supercharger, there are no other improvements in this new installment.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Compared to last year’s Superchargers, Imaginators is certainly a step in the right direction. Instead of bolting something onto the existing formula, Toys For Bob have instead gone for reinvention. Being able to construct and share your own Skylanders isn’t a massive game changer, but it feels far more considered than other gimmicks.
This is a franchise that keeps getting better each year, but has made a real evolutionary leap and become something far more stimulating and creative than in years past in 2016. That’s pretty neat.
Maybe as a result of the sheer growing mass of Skylanders games, though, the level design here is particularly uninspired. Most maps are simple A-to-B affairs, with some simplistic puzzles dotting the landscape. It carries some legacy issues, like the frustratingly slow block-pushing puzzles, and the inability to easily read ahead when characters are slowly delivering their dialogue points. Plus the central hub, called M.A.P.S., is a bit more confusing than most of the past hub worlds, since it consists of several floating islands without obvious paths between them.
With Imaginators, young players can have fun creating a wide roster of characters, but playing with a bunch of crystals is not the same thing of having actual characters in the real world, so some magic is lost in the process. The game is the usual action-platform-adventure and can delivery an enjoyable experience for the sixth year in a row, but the formula seems now in need of some rethinking.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Despite its simplification in the plot and the mechanics of the Story Mode, kids will finally unleash their imagination.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Skylanders Imaginators remains the same great game on Nintendo Switch as it was on other consoles, but with a few drawbacks and additions.
With other toys-to-life franchises seemingly folding by the day, it’s amazing that Skylanders has managed to stay not only wildly successful, but also so fresh and entertaining year after year.
The core gameplay is still a lot of fun and the level of customization with the new Imaginators is quite impressive, but a few decisions prevent Skylanders Imaginators from taking the series to the next level.
A huge, bright, and endlessly charming adventure filled with things to do and stuff to unlock.
While the Wii U version is undoubtedly inferior to the PS4 and Xbox One offerings in terms of presentation, there's no denying that the Skylanders Imaginators offers a lot of value thanks to its character creation mode. While some might argue that this focus on virtual creatures goes against the tactile experience so beloved of toys to life players, it's an interesting new direction for a series which needed a change to maintain consumer interest. If you're a long-standing follower of Skylanders then you'll find a lot to like here.
Now six years old, Activision’s toys-to-life series remains fun and fresh by giving kids an opportunity to get creative
This port casts a glaring spotlight on Switch's comparatively weak specs, but also acts as an ad for the console's handheld and tabletop modes
The sixth installment of Activision's Skylanders toys-to-life series just might be the best one yet.