Skylanders is definitely still the geekson’s very favourite series of games to play on the Wii U. I bought him the latest incarnation, Skylanders Superchargers, to keep him entertained whilst he was recovering from minor surgery at the end of last year, and it most definitely worked. He played through most of the adventure mode during his week off school, and had completed the adventure before Christmas! Thankfully there are still plenty of things he can do in the game, and he still goes back and plays as often as he can.
The new feature in Skylanders Superchargers is the addition of vehicles, which you place on the portal alongside your chosen Skylander to have them drive around in game. The Skylanders figures have always been really well made, and worthy toys in their own right, but with the vehicles I feel that Activision have taken a huge leap forward in providing toys to play with away from the screen as well as in front of it. The detail in the models is great, and they don’t have any kind of attached base, which gives much more potential for moving wheels, and a toy that exists out of the game in its own right. In fact, whenever the geekson gets a new vehicle the first thing he does is examine it to see which part(s) move, and for the most part they all have something.
There was much excitement in our house when the Skylanders team sent us a selection of the new Superchargers figures and vehicles which have just been released. Whilst you can use any vehicle with any Skylander figure (including those from all previous Skylanders games), the geekson tells me the best thing is when you “supercharge” a vehicle by pairing it with its matching Skylander, which gives the vehicle an upgraded appearance in game and extra abilities. So, for example, Spat, the feisty fawn who is a Magic element Skylander, supercharges the the Splatter Splasher Magic Sea vehicle.
The newly-released Skylanders and vehicles include the following:
SPLAT (Magic element)
Splat is a new character for Superchargers, and so there is a little bit of back story to go with her. She is a feisty faun who is primed and ready to unleash her fury with maximum flare! Splat grew up in a typical faun village, which was perfectly manicured and orderly. Every day in school, she and her classmates would recite the same poems, play the same music, and paint the same picture – which was always a portrait of their great ancestor, Fluty Hoofdancer. But this didn’t suit Splat. The only art she wanted to learn was the art of war! After school, she would sneak off to the river and practice her own free form fighting technique against Chompies and other creatures that were causing trouble. When the elder fauns learned of this, they were outraged. But soon thereafter, a band of Drow attacked the village to steal their valuable art, and while the other fauns cowered in fear, Splat stood her ground. Unleashing her self-taught fighting style, she defended her village and sent the Drow running. Now as a member of the Skylanders, Splat makes quite the impression wherever she goes!
BIG BUBBLE POP FIZZ (Magic element)
Pop Fizz is back in action with his Big Bubble blaster and ferocious new powers!
LAVA LANCE ERUPTOR (Fire element)
Eruptor is molten mass of flaming steel and he’s fired up to fight evil with his brand new fire-forged Lava Lance!
THUMP TRUCK (Land vehicle, Earth element)
Thump Truck is Smash Hit’s personal wrecking machine that was built for one purpose – total destruction! It has been heavily modified with earth crunching iron jaws, a gravel exhaust port, and armoured steel plating for ultimate toughness!
Supercharges with: Smash Hit
SHIELD STRIKER (Land vehicle, Tech element)
The Shield Striker is the ultimate weapon against evil. Heavily armoured and surging with electricity, High-Volt’s high-powered machine is geared up to enforce justice on anything that stands in its way!
Supercharges with: High Volt
SPLATTER SPLASHER (Sea vehicle, Magic element)
The Splatter Splasher is a high speed hydro-craft that leaves evil floating in its wake! With its ultra-slick armour and underwater enchantment, Splat’s custom ride is a force to be reckoned with above and below the surface!
Supercharges with: Splat
Whilst you don’t have to buy every single Skylander, no matter what your children might tell you to the contrary, it’s always good to know that if you do buy additional figures and/or vehicles they are all made to the same standards, and all represent a good investment for hours of play. The geekson has really enjoyed playing with these new characters, and I am sure he will continue to play with them for a while to come!
Skylanders figures and vehicles are available in a range of online and bricks & mortar toy stores. I generally buy ours from Amazon!
Disclosure: We were sent a selection of Skylanders figures and vehicles for review purposes. Some text in this post has come from the Skylanders press release I was sent.
Hi Ruth just listened to your podcast where you mentioned you were reading your son a series of Skylanders books. Could you supply more details or a link to these books? I have two boys aged 5 and 3 who are huge Skylanders fans although they only have played Trap Team and Superchargers. The books you mentioned seem ideal for bedtime. I like the fact Skylanders has a two player option and the boys play together. Keep up the good work with the c25k running and keep us posted how it’s going I need inspiration to start exercising myself.
Hi Christine, thank you so much for the lovely comment. The series of books we’re reading with my son is the “Mask of Power” series. Here’s a link to book 1. Good to hear your boys play Skylanders together – my two have tried to play together, but it usually ends up in an argument when they want to go different ways!