Review: Skylanders: Trap Team (PS3)

"We have seen the evil of the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors in our midst; let us try prohibition and see what this will do for us."

- Thomas Jordan Jarvis

Swap out "intoxicating liquors" for "Skylanders" and you'll know where I'm going with this review of Skylanders: Trap Team. In fact, I really wanted to write this review in the spirit of a 1920's speech on the evils of liquor and the shortfalls of Prohibition because this is the era that Skylanders has started to conjure in my mind. Not just for the addiction angle and the corruption of youth, but because it would be pretty interesting to see what homebrew figures would look like.

As it is, Toys for Bob still manages to design some interesting (and often, very collectible) figures for the Skylanders series. The wrinkle with this edition of Skylanders is the "Trap" which allows players to nab defeated enemies for later use in battle.

Like the Skylanders themselves, the Traps are elemental, which means only Traps that match the elemental grouping of the enemy are able to be used to capture that enemy. In practice this means that if you're going to capture a Magic type but don't have a Magic trap, too bad. Of course, you can always run out to your local retailer and purchase traps!

This feels like the turning point for Skylanders in that for the first time it really feels like a lot of the game is somehow walled off behind pay walls in the form of more figures. That players are required to shell out some extra bucks to get the full experience.

The same can be said for the way the figures are implemented. The basic game comes with a portal, the game, a couple of traps (Water and Life elements) and two Trap Team figures, Food Fight and Snap Shot. If this is your first rodeo with Skylanders there will be some areas of the game that are just not available. I should emphasize that it is possible to complete the game with the basics available, at least as far as I can figure. After three games and upwards of 30 figures, my household is definitely suited to ensure that no door is left unavailable.

It comes back to acquiring more Traps.

The game comes with a cardboard sleeve to "store" the Traps. There are 47 spots for Traps so when there's only a few installed in the sleeve, it's just begging to the plugged up with more Traps. A three-pack can go for $14.99, so that can hit the ol' wallet pretty hard.

The figures can go for as $14.99 for a single figure or almost $30. Then there are the two-pack mini-figures for $13.99... suddenly there are those teetotalism voices ringing in my ears and I start to wonder what jobs are available to a 6-year old to support a collectible habit. (According to Craigslist, there are no jobs fro 6-year olds.)

When it comes to the actual game, it's rote stuff for adults and teenagers, but the pre-teen crown responds really well to the story, which involves the Golden Queen and a rabble of Kaos goons wreaking general havoc and eventually, in a snapping of the 4th wall, set their sights on Earth. What's sure to be a draw for the younger set is the chance to capture and play as Kaos. Really, that's all the excuse my 6-year old needed.

Skylanders has never looked better and the backwards compatibility with the previous iterations of Skylander figures, makes it a no-brainer purchase for fans because there's a lot of life in the series and the Traps do offer a bit of a change-up. While not as intoxicating as liquor, the collectible aspect could definitely put a dent in your wallet like over-priced speakeasy booze.

- Aaron Simmer

Follow @EmpireArmchair

The Good:
- All previous Skylanders figures are compatible with Trap Team
- The Traps actually do add some interesting wrinkles to the game
- Has never looked better
- Kids dig it!

The Bad:
- Some of the game feels hidden behind walls unless you have the proper character type
- Prepare to spend more dough on Traps