Skylanders Imaginators (Wii U) Review

Guess who's back? Yup, it's Kaos, and you won't believe this: he's planning to take over the Skylands! Yeah, the story is not going to win any awards, but it serves its purpose in giving a backdrop to the action. This time, the portal master is led to the place from whence all Skylands were originally created by a race of gods known as the Ancients. This land had been locked away, but, now, Kaos has found a way to get there and is using the Ancients' Mind Magic to create his own version of Skylanders, known as Doomlanders. To defeat Kaos and his Doomlanders, the portal master must create his own new Skylanders, the titular Imaginators.

These new customisable Skylanders are the gimmick of this iteration, allowing the player to come up with their own custom creation in game and binding it to a Skylanders toy called an "Imaginator Crystal." There are ten types of these crystals—one for each element—and each can be used to store an Imaginator of that element. This Imaginator has ten different classes to choose from; it can be a shuriken throwing Ninja, a heavy weapons Bazooker, a dual-wielding Swashbuckler, and more. Each class has its own special equipment and abilities, and each manages to feel different enough to justify a few crystals.

Annoyingly, once a class has been chosen, it cannot be altered. Other than the class, though, the Imaginators can be edited freely and are completely customisable, and there is a gargantuan amount of unlockables to build them. There are hundreds of cosmetic choices for each body part, weapons and armour for each slot, and even the music that plays when the Imaginator is in action can be chosen. These Imaginators can even be made in an app and transferred to the main game. Not only that, but Activision has also announced on-demand printing of your creations. Make your own character, then have it either printed to a card, a t-shirt or a fully-fledged 3D toy!

The Imaginators are a fun addition to the series, but their toys are not exactly exciting, so this instalment needed a little something else—something to show off the toys. Enter the Senseis. Billed as some of the most powerful Skylanders in history, these huge characters come with impressive designs and even more impressive larger toys. There are some great new faces and some surprising returns, as the villains from Trap Team are back as Sensei characters, too. There are eleven Sensei Villains to collect—one for each element—and then the eleventh is possibly the most requested Skylanders toy to date. Kaos is finally getting released! If that wasn't enough, two new Sensei, in particular, will cause quite a bit of excitement in the old-school PlayStation gamers out there, as Crash Bandicoot and Dr. Neo Cortex join the ranks of the Skylanders.

It was a big mistake adding Crash Bandicoot. Any fan of the original Crash games: be prepared to let the rest of your Skylanders gather dust as you spin your way through every stage. Crash is back and looks better than ever, fantastically realised in this new form, but filled with his signature style, spinning through enemies and bouncing off crates. There are nice little extra features while playing as Crash, too. Even his idle animation remains the same as the good old days. Crash gets his own stage here, in Thumpin' Wumpa Islands—a faithful adaptation of the iconic series, filled with insider jokes and charm. There are even Chilli Pepper areas in there, including one sprinting towards the screen and smashing through boxes as a boulder comes tumbling behind!

Whether Sensei or Imaginator, the Skylanders are sent out into the Mysterious Ancient Place (or M.A.P), a new overworld area that links each of the new stages together, while also including portals to the old home of Skylanders Academy, along with some hidden side activities. From here, there are ten stages to play through, and each is filled to bursting with the familiar Skylanders gameplay—3D platformer stages with the occasional puzzle, plenty of fantastical enemies to take out, and tons of collectibles to hunt down. The collectibles, this time, are "Imaginite chests," which give new parts to build your Imaginators from, along with soul gems to unlock special moves for all other characters.

Skylanders has got its formulae down to a tee, now, and the levels are a joy to play through—not to mention there are plenty of extra stages and mini-games to keep things interesting. This includes taking charge of a huge airship and using it in a strafing missile attack against a gargantuan Guacamole monster, or taking on the Doomlanders at the end of each stage, all culminating in the best final boss battle in Skylanders history, although, perhaps the developers are giving away their love of Dragon Ball Super here!

There are plenty of side attractions, too. After the previous instalment, Skylanders SuperChargers, focused on racing and vehicles, this version adds the "Skylanders Raceway" to the M.A.P. From here, all of the SuperCharger vehicles can be used once more to take part in races on land, in air and in water. A new version of Skystones is introduced in this version, as well, entitled Creation Clash. This seems very exciting at first, as it's basically a version of one of the finest in-game card games ever, Triple Triad of Final Fantasy VIII. Ultimately, though, it's a huge let-down. A set deck is used throughout the game, instead of having new cards to win and unlock, and there is no deck building or challenging opponents. It's a real missed opportunity.

As with all Skylanders titles, Imaginators does have some content locked behind paywalls. Within the M.A.P there are portals to Sensei Realms, one for each Sensei element, each with exclusive Imaginator parts to unlock. There are ten in total; the starter pack comes with the ability to access two, while the Crash Bandicoot Edition pack has the ability to access four. To access the rest will require a considerable amount of cash. There are also Adventure Packs returning. For those without the Crash Edition, there's the Crash pack, containing Neo and Crash, which gives access to Thumpin' Wumpa Islands, along with a "Gryphon Park Observatory" and "Enchanted Elven Forest" pack coming. Stay with us here at Cubed3 when they're released to see what they add.