Support NeoGAF

[spyroflame0487]

• Available for: Wii U | Xbox 360 | Xbox ONE | PS3| PS4
• Release dates: AUS/NZ on Oct 13th, UK on Oct 14th, NA on Oct 16th
• Developed by Toys for Bob

The story of Skylanders Imaginators takes place long ago when the Ancients used a mysterious power known as Mind Magic to create everything in Skylands. With it, they conjured into existence anything that they could imagine. However, they soon learned that in the wrong hands, it could be very dangerous, and so they sealed it away so that it could never be misused. After discovering this ancient secrete, Kaos has unleashed the power of Mind Magic into Skylands once again - and he is using it to create an unstoppable army of Doomlanders, the likes of which have never been seen! Now it's up to Portal Masters to create Skylanders Imaginators from their own imagination to stop Kaos and his evil Doomlanders before it is too late. And to help train them, Eon is sending the greatest mystic warriors of all time - the Senseis!

All your previous characters will work with Skylanders Superchargers. This time around the new gimmick is the “Imaginator” Skylanders; a mix and match create your own character deal where each figure is truly unique. Traps from Trap Team work the same way they did in Superchargers during the racing segment on compatible portals. Supercharger Racing levels are in the game apparently. The game seems to come with a Supercharger portal as well.


STARTER PACKS-
Regular- King Pen, Golden Queen, Fire CC, CC Stickers, Game, Poster, Portal
- $74.99
- at all retailers
- Xbox One/Xbox 360/Wii U/PS3/PS4

Dark- Dark King Pen, Dark Golden Queen, Dark Wolfgang, Fire CC, Life CC, Dark CC, Gold Chest, CC Stickers, Poster, Game, Portal
-$99.99
-Gamestop Exclusive in USA/EB Games Exclusive in CA
-Xbox One/Xbox 360/Wii U/PS4

Crash- King Pen, Golden Queen, Crash Bandicoot, Dr. Neo Cortex, Fire CC, CC Stickers, Game, Poster, Portal
-$99.99
-at all retailers
-PS3/PS4

Skylanders Imaginators Overview Trailer | Sensei Overview Trailer | Crash Bandicoot E3 Trailer | Creation Crystal Overview Trailer

SENSEIS- $14.99 each

Ambush (Life/Knight)
Barbella (Earth/Sentinel)
Chopscotch (Undead/Smasher)
Dr. Krankcase (Tech/Quickshot)
Tae Kwon Crow (Fire/Ninja)
Wolfgang (Undead/Bowslinger)

WAVE 2 SENSEIS- TIMED EXCLUSIVE TO TOYS R US

Aurora (Light/Swashbuckler)
Tri-Tip (Earth/Smasher)
Ember (Fire/Sentinel)
Starcast (Dark/Ninja)
Mysticat (Magic/Sorcerer)
Hood Sickle (Dark/Sentinel)

SENSEIS EXCLUSIVE TO CERTAIN STORES-

Steel Plated Hood Sickle (Dark/Sentinel)
Only at Best Buy

Legendary Tri-Tip (Earth/Smasher)
Only At TRU

Candy Coated Chopscotch (Undead/Smasher)
Timed at Gamestop (TBC)

CRYSTALS- $9.99 Each

Light
Magic
Undead
Tech
Earth
Water
Air
Life

ADVENTURE PACK- $29.99

Gryphon Park Observatory-
Air Strike, Earth CC, Level Piece

COMBO PACKS- $19.99 Each

Wolfgang + Undead Crystal

Mysticat + Magic Crystal

CC TRIPLES- $19.99 Each

Magic/Tech/Undead

Water/Life/Air

AMAZON SENSEI BUNDLES-

Hero 8 Pack- (Ambush, Chopscotch, Barbella, Ember, Aurora, Mysticat, Starcast, Tri-Tip)
$109.99

Girl Power 4 Pack- (Aurora, Barbella, Chopscotch, Ember)
$54.99

Villain 5 Pack- (Wolfgang, Hood Sickle, Tae Kwon Crow, Dr. Krankcase, Chompy Mage)
$69.99
TIMED EXCLUSIVITY TO CHOMPY MAGE

Tizoc has an awesome Review thread up over here
TheHDRoom

Skylanders Imaginators stands on its own as a pleasurable journey for kids and adults alike as the sixth entry in the Skylanders franchise and fourth from Toys For Bob. It is the quintessential AAA game for kids that adults can equally enjoy if they peel back layers of maturity built up over time and allow themselves some immature fun. Imagine that.

BioGamer Girl

Skylanders: Imaginators is once again a visually impressive masterpiece with its bright colors and cinematic cutscenes. The soundtrack manages to work alongside the gameplay perfectly and elevates your mood to just the right level rather it be intense battle or intrinsic puzzle-solving.

Hardcore Gamer

While last year’s iteration put a heavy emphasis on racing, Imaginators does an excellent job returning things to the realm of platforming. All of the levels are expertly designed and feature beautiful backgrounds and clever puzzles that feel right at home with the best in the genre.

Xbox Addict

I consider this one of the biggest games in the franchise to date, content wise. Along with custom Skylanders, and the Sensei characters, there is the game itself, and there is A LOT (caps added for emphasis) to do.

Digital Chumps

One thing that I think the game upped itself from previous versions are the boss and enemy battles. While there is always going to be a pattern to these things, mainly because it’s a kid’s game, so you don’t want to frustrate your main audience too much, the game has definitely turned up the challenge to 11, especially during boss battles.

COG Connected

Skylanders Imaginators is a dream for gamers who love to customize, platform, and just blow stuff up. The customization options are both easy to use for beginners and advanced enough to make some truly fantastic creations.

Financial Post

The rest of the game is what returning fans would expect. The cartoonish combat feels as good as ever (it’s still miles ahead of the now defunct Disney Infinity games) and makes for terrific couch co-op play.

PlayStation Nation

Much like the other Skylanders games on the PlayStation 4, this one’s a beauty. The bright, colorful graphics add to the cartoony wonder of the game. Lighting is actually really good at showing off the dark caves, water, and lightning strikes around the different levels and there isn’t even a hint of the jaggies.

Gaming Age

The gameplay is tight and better than it’s been in previous games. I appreciate this return to the series roots, but fans of the series that have huge collections of Skylanders from previous titles might be disappointed. Many of the gimmicks from previous games have been greatly neglected.

Digital Spy

Just when you might have expected the original Toys-to-Life franchise to be running out of steam, Activision has brought it back, revitalised and exciting. Imaginators might just be the best Skylanders yet.

The Sixth Axis

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.

Nintendo World Report

A bulk of the issues are technical ones - load times are abundant, graphical hitches occur often - but even the structure of the adventure seems like a step down from last year’s superb SuperChargers.

GameSpot

To its credit, the game doesn't limit your ability to change how your character looks at any point. Imaginators doesn't quite have the same level of customization depth as say, something like a WWE 2K17 or a Skyrim, but what is there is pretty expansive.

 

[Dragoshi1]

Awesome, I preordered the Crash edition from amazon, but they won't get it to me until Monday, so I guess its just the waiting game.

I DID make a really cool(IMO) Imaginator in the app and ordered it as a card.

So whatever I make using the creation crystals will just be to bide the time until my MVP gets here.

 

[Abylim]

My daughter and I love this. We spent an hour making two Skylanders and then gearing them up. When gear drops we both look through it and she decides if it's pretty enough or had good stats. I
Love it.

 

[KelpPlankton]

Here's some Imaginator creations I've seen around the web that I think people might dig:

And here's a few I made in the free app:

There's a lot of variety possible, it's pretty rad.

Worth mentioning: Body 'type' is linked to class. Most classes are normal bipedal things, but the 'Ninja' class all have no torso (instead they are giant heads with arms and legs), and the Swashbuckler class are all naga (snake body instead of legs). But there's a lot of different naga tail styles for them and they have a unique 'belt' piece instead of pants to add further customization.

 

[spyroflame0487]

Here's some Imaginator creations I've seen around the web that I think people might dig:

I have found my Imaginator I think.

 

[Dragoshi1]

The Creator App IS amazing, I keep playing around with it, it's a shame you can't import your dudes from it to the game without ordering a card or figure(I think, overseas peeps fill me in if it IS possible).


And I made a bit more than the one I ordered(Rapterra/Ripper).

 

[wrestleman]

 

[Hero of Legend]

Any Wii U footage yet? Or better, Wii U footage with DK? Curious how he is in Imaginators, especially teamed up with Crash.

 

[KelpPlankton]

Been messing around with the iOS/Android Creator app a lot and I think I figured out what figure I want to buy.

either her or

her

I just need to get more thematic weapons for them and then I can figure out which one I want more. Or maybe I'll treat myself and drop the $100 on getting two figures, because lol at making good financial decisions

 

[PSqueak]

Any date for stand alone crash and cortex?

Im not really interested in the franchise but just like bowser and DK i want Crash and Cortex for collecting purposes.

 

[KelpPlankton]

Any date for stand alone crash and cortex?

Im not really interested in the franchise but just like bowser and DK i want Crash and Cortex for collecting purposes.

$30 pack that contains them both is a "holiday release". No specific date I've found, but it sounds like before Christmas.

 

[r3n4ud]

Think I'll pick up the Crash ps4 version and skip out on the other figurines. I'm not going down the rabbit hole this time around.

Building your own Skylanders can get daaaamn pricey :/

 

[fernoca]

Jumping on this as usual, but in a later date since budget is tight.

Really like that you can even buy a 3D print of your custom character and use it in the portal like any other figure or as a card even.

 

[Chairhome]

Any Wii U footage yet? Or better, Wii U footage with DK? Curious how he is in Imaginators, especially teamed up with Crash.

I think Crash only works on PS platforms, and DK/Bowser only work on Wii U?

 

[fernoca]

I think Crash only works on PS platforms, and DK/Bowser only work on Wii U?

Crash and Cortex work on all, DK and Bowser only on Wii U.

The Crash and Cortex figures will be exclusive to the Crash bundle in PS4/PS3 until this holiday season.

 

[closer013]

Don't know if you guys have read or heard about this yet but I'm soooooo happy there's a way to give Activision the middle finger.

How to FULLY RESET (yes, really) Creation Crystals:

Have a 3DS portal (any kind) and Spyro's Adventure on the 3DS (if you don't have the game it goes for super cheap, especially preowned)

Talk to Wendel and he'll prompt you to place a Skylander on the portal.

Put the crystal on the portal and it won't recognize the toy due to it being a newer one.

A message will pop up claiming the toy seems to be corrupted and will ask you if you want to reset it. Click yes.

Once reset, try it out in Imaginators and it should be without a battle class once again!

Spoiler

Shamelessly stolen from reddit

 

[KelpPlankton]

I figured out who I'm making first once the game arrives

 

[Tizoc]

Ah I made a review thread for it
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?p=220205463#post220205463
I'll link the other reviews in here to it later if that's OK?

 

[ostrichKing]

Heads up...Target's free cartwheel app has 20% off all figures and crystals...probably the best deal for launch for the figures...

 

[U2NUMB]

Heads up...Target's free cartwheel app has 20% off all figures and crystals...probably the best deal for launch for the figures...

Also note that best buys gamers unlocked also does this on top of the main game.

My best buy.. which is a major suburb of Minneapolis did not even bother to put the new stuff out.

We did end up getting the game and every character they had.. saved $140 with discounts and reward money. Excited to play with my son.

Also nobody else was there for the 45 min it took to get the stuff. A guy did show up I think from Activision and he was pissed that the new stuff was not out. Tore into a couple employees right in front of us which I thought was not fair.

Will update with a pic of our haul..

EDIT:

 

[Dragoshi1]

Funny thing; Target didn't have the stuff out either. They had a sign out saying the game+figures wouldn't be available until today, and that employees needed to take the sign down and stock before the store opens, yet I had to wait 10 minutes for them to go in the back and find everything.

All I wanted was some extra creation crystals, got myself an Earth one.

And the free Kaos figure offer is there with Amazon, but mine is being shipped separately. So Crash edition tomorrow, and Kaos on Tuesday.

 

[Karak]

My review for ACG https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eb9kLytb45I

Absolutely loved this one. Some oddities here or there.


For me I got a good number of crystals and most of the characters I wanted. Funny enough I am still diving into all the races.

 

[User 479360]

I want to play it, but I'll only play through it once and don't feel like spending $100 for that. Maybe I'll pick it up then sell it, but I don't know what the resale market would be like, or what to expect to get.

 

[Chronospherics]

I've been having fun with it so far. Crash is a really fun Skylander to play as. In fact, I would go as far as to say that Crash is the most enjoyable Skylander I own. His moveset is incredibly polished, with neat visual effects and animations accompanying all of his moves. More significantly, they've captivated the gameplay style that the Crash games are known for, Crash moves into and out of all of his moves fluidly, chaining the attacks that he's known for as he wrecks shop across the battlefield. Not to mention the life system that's unique to the character, keeping the sense of high risk gameplay that the original Crash games were renowned for.

The imaginators creation stuff is okay, it's a shame that it doesn't feel like they have much of a progression tree though. I got all of the abilities that I want for my imaginator within two levels, and after that there's no sense of progression. I don't think that's very good for the user created characters. At least I can still upgrade him with armour and whatnot, getting new body parts and switching them out is fun.

Overall it's a pretty decent Skylanders game. I would say it's more entertaining than Superchargers because it's much more combat focused. Though it does include all of the races from Super Chargers for those who want that (they're pretty fun, I just didn't like them all that much when integrated into the campaign). I would say that Swap Force is still by far the best Skylanders title, but this is a somewhat close second for me.

 

[KelpPlankton]

Still waiting for the game itself (dark edition + kaos) to arrive in the mail. But I hit up Toys R Us to get the adventure pack + free creation crystal since that was a good deal, and then Best Buy to use mt GCU discount and a $5 reward to get a cheap sensei. Wanted Krankcase but picked up Ember who is also cool.

Toys R Us apparently moved everything toys-to-life into it's own huge aisle (left side is all lego dimensions, right side is all skylanders, small thing in the middle is clearanced disney infinity) and had tons of everything... except Ember? Which was weird. But everything else, lots of it. Just no Ember.

Best Buy didn't even have the shelves stocked yet when I got there. The space was cleared out and there was some promo material up but they hadn't put up price tags or anything. They were selling the figures directly out of the shipping boxes up at the front register, which was weird. Doubly weird: they didn't get any creation crystals. Or villains. Just the senseis (and the best buy exclusive steel plated villain)

But between all that and the dark edition starter I'm at 6 Skylanders and 5 Imaginators, as well as one extra level, so I'm pretty happy with that. Only major wants left are Krankcase and the Crash duo. Well, and more crystals.

 

[Stanng243]

Did anyone actually get their crash edition from best buy? My store never got any..

 

[Onaco]

Did anyone actually get their crash edition from best buy? My store never got any..

Yours too? I went to GS when mine didn't get it.

 

[Stanng243]

Yours too? I went to GS when mine didn't get it.

It's not worth me paying the extra 20$. I hope best buy fixes it soon.

 

[KelpPlankton]

My release-day delivery from Gamestop still hasn't shown up and has just been sitting at one location since thursday. I don't know what's up but I hope there's no issues. Says it'll arrive tomorrow and I hope it's correct.

In the meantime I took advantage of the Target 20% off sales and the Toys R Us "free crystal with adventure pack" sale and got some stuff while I wait. The adventure pack (air sensei + earth crystal + level), a water crystal, a light crystal, the dark ninja sensei, Dr Krankcase, and Ember. The figures this year look really nice, Dr. Krankcase in particular is really awesome. Some sloppy paint jobs like I've come to expect occasionally from Skylanders but the molds themselves look better than ever. Tons of personality in these poses and the designs are almost all really fun.

Barbella, Chopscotch, and Tae Kwon Crow are the only ones of the current wave left that I think I really want to get. But there's a bunch of unreleased folks I would like. Just gotta wait I guess!

I think I'm going to make Pit of Kid Icarus for my Light Crystal Skylander (bowslinger of course), and Vegeta's my Fire Crystal guy. But I don't know what I'll do with my Life, Dark, Water, and Earth ones yet.

edit: bonus lightbulb man

 

[RobbieNick]

My release-day delivery from Gamestop still hasn't shown up and has just been sitting at one location since thursday. I don't know what's up but I hope there's no issues. Says it'll arrive tomorrow and I hope it's correct.

In the meantime I took advantage of the Target 20% off sales and the Toys R Us "free crystal with adventure pack" sale and got some stuff while I wait. The adventure pack (air sensei + earth crystal + level), a water crystal, a light crystal, the dark ninja sensei, Dr Krankcase, and Ember. The figures this year look really nice, Dr. Krankcase in particular is really awesome. Some sloppy paint jobs like I've come to expect occasionally from Skylanders but the molds themselves look better than ever. Tons of personality in these poses and the designs are almost all really fun.

Barbella, Chopscotch, and Tae Kwon Crow are the only ones of the current wave left that I think I really want to get. But there's a bunch of unreleased folks I would like. Just gotta wait I guess!

I think I'm going to make Pit of Kid Icarus for my Light Crystal Skylander (bowslinger of course), and Vegeta's my Fire Crystal guy. But I don't know what I'll do with my Life, Dark, Water, and Earth ones yet.

edit: bonus lightbulb man

The cowboy hat is a great touch.

Anybody else kinda pissed that Activision added microtransactions to the game? I know it's on the side and completely optional, but still, I pay a TON in toys and you want more money from me?

 

[KelpPlankton]

The microtransactions in-game don't bother me because it's just a time-saver thing. You're not getting anything you can't just go earn anyway.

What I think is kind of gross is the physical microtransations, those one-time-use chest toys with blindbagged rarity. I don't even know if kids are going to want those, they're not super interesting as toys themselves and they can only be used once (per profile).

 

[Lucifon]

So as someone who's never played any Skylanders games I'm confused by what I need to get started. The starter pack only comes with a fire crystal, so I can only create a character that is of the fire element right? What effect does that have on gameplay?

Not sure whether just to hold off until black friday to jump in.

 

[frankie_baby]

my little boy wants it on the wii u for Christmas, he got superchargers last year (none before that though) do they not do a pack without a portal? seems a bit wasteful to have yet more plastic crap

 

[KelpPlankton]

So as someone who's never played any Skylanders games I'm confused by what I need to get started. The starter pack only comes with a fire crystal, so I can only create a character that is of the fire element right? What effect does that have on gameplay?

Not sure whether just to hold off until black friday to jump in.

All you need is the starter pack to play the game. If you want to make more custom characters you'll need to buy more creation crystals of whatever element you'd like to make a character for.

Imaginators themselves aren't required for any particular gameplay aspect, but they're generally stronger against bosses than normal skylanders.

my little boy wants it on the wii u for Christmas, he got superchargers last year (none before that though) do they not do a pack without a portal? seems a bit wasteful to have yet more plastic crap

Yeah there's no portal owner's pack this year unfortunately. I'm guessing the demand for those was too low for them to bother producing it.

 

[Lucifon]

All you need is the starter pack to play the game. If you want to make more custom characters you'll need to buy more creation crystals of whatever element you'd like to make a character for.

Imaginators themselves aren't required for any particular gameplay aspect, but they're generally stronger against bosses than normal skylanders.





Yeah there's no portal owner's pack this year unfortunately. I'm guessing the demand for those was too low for them to bother producing it.

But the starter pack only includes a fire element crystal to make a fire character right? Does that effect the skills I use or characters aesthetically etc? There's a real lack of explanation online about what does what ingame.

 

[jwk94]

So what's post launch support like for this series? Disney Infinity and Lego Dimensions each released new characters and expansions to their campaign before the release of the next entry in the series. Should I expect the same from this?

 

[frankie_baby]

Yeah there's no portal owner's pack this year unfortunately. I'm guessing the demand for those was too low for them to bother producing it.

thanks that's a bit shit

 

[Stanng243]

Is there no digital way to buy this? I was considering getting the PS3 crash version as best buy has that, and getting the game digitally on PS4.

 

[Onaco]

my little boy wants it on the wii u for Christmas, he got superchargers last year (none before that though) do they not do a pack without a portal? seems a bit wasteful to have yet more plastic crap

It would be best to buy a starter pack, seeing that the game has a huge focus on the new types of Skylanders and sort of ignores the older ones. The Senseis are the characters you see on store shelves, while the Imaginators are the ones you create and store on crystals you purchase for $9.99. Senseis being scanned allow Imaginators to level up higher, otherwise they're locked to lower levels, making the game harder. The included one is the fire element creator crystal, but no fire element is available in the starter pack, so it would be best to also pick out a fire element like Ember for him. I also HIGHLY recommend Crash and Cortex. The game is fully playable without using other Skylanders, but when you die (or when Crash loses all of his lives), you have to either put on a new Skylander or restart the level. You may use old Skylanders, but I don't know exactly how underpowered or leveled they are. Someone else would have to confirm that.

The extra portal is simply going to be a backup now. You can use the Wii U one with the Wii, PS3, and PS4.

One thing to be worried about is that the Wii U version is reported to perform poorly. The PS4 version I've been playing has slowdown, but not as bad supposedly compared to the Wii U version. This may reflect on PS3/360, too.

 

[frankie_baby]

It would be best to buy a starter pack, seeing that the game has a huge focus on the new types of Skylanders and sort of ignores the older ones. The Senseis are the characters you see on store shelves, while the Imaginators are the ones you create and store on crystals you purchase for $9.99. Senseis being scanned allow Imaginators to level up higher, otherwise they're locked to lower levels, making the game harder. The included one is the fire element creator crystal, but no fire element is available in the starter pack, so it would be best to also pick out a fire element like Ember for him. I also HIGHLY recommend Crash and Cortex. The game is fully playable without using other Skylanders, but when you die (or when Crash loses all of his lives), you have to either put on a new Skylander or restart the level. You may use old Skylanders, but I don't know exactly how underpowered or leveled they are. Someone else would have to confirm that.

The extra portal is simply going to be a backup now. You can use the Wii U one with the Wii, PS3, and PS4.

One thing to be worried about is that the Wii U version is reported to perform poorly. The PS4 version I've been playing has slowdown, but not as bad supposedly compared to the Wii U version. This may reflect on PS3/360, too.

don't think he'll care about slowdown, its not the sort of thing that bothers 10 year old I don't think

 

[Chronospherics]

So as someone who's never played any Skylanders games I'm confused by what I need to get started. The starter pack only comes with a fire crystal, so I can only create a character that is of the fire element right? What effect does that have on gameplay?

Not sure whether just to hold off until black friday to jump in.

Personally if you're just getting into Skylanders I would recommend picking up Swap Force instead. It's a better game, that you can pick up incredibly cheaply at this time. A new Skylanders game is a big investment and they don't get all that cheap throughout the year, until the next annual instalment.

Not that imaginators isn't a lot of fun, though. It's just you can get the equivalent for $50 in Swap Force that you can for $300 here, and it'd give you a really good taste of the gameplay and what to expect from the series, how the toys work, how not having certain toys influences the experience, etc.

 

[Hero of Legend]

We finally have the images of Crash and Cortex with DK and Bowser::

That is surreal.

 

[Jeff Albertson]

So I got the crash edition from GameStop in the U.K after the said it would come with the Kaos figure they sent a Kaos Trophy instead claiming it was what was promised then admitted they didn't get any figures from the vendor. Luckily my nearest toys r us had some Kaos figures left for £5 so I got that and GameStop are sending a free light crystal instead.

I'm hearing you can only create one skylander per crystal - does that mean you can never overwrite it and can only create a character once?

 

[Diggeh]

I've been trying to order a Imaginator 3D Printed Figue ever since it went up. Apparently at least a thousand orders have been placed, but it's always "out of stock" whenever I try. Activision pls

 

[ostrichKing]

So I got the crash edition from GameStop in the U.K after the said it would come with the Kaos figure they sent a Kaos Trophy instead claiming it was what was promised then admitted they didn't get any figures from the vendor. Luckily my nearest toys r us had some Kaos figures left for £5 so I got that and GameStop are sending a free light crystal instead.

I'm hearing you can only create one skylander per crystal - does that mean you can never overwrite it and can only create a character once?

You can overwrite it (the battle class)...but you need the 3ds version of one of the older games to reset it...it's dumb...everything else is changeable...

That being said...this might be my favorite game in the series...really really solid and my daughter is LOVING creating her own skylander...

 

[User 479360]

I had some credit, so I bought the game today. I look forward to playing through it over the next week or two.

I probably won't keep it afterwards, but it will be fun to play through once, like the others.

 

[KelpPlankton]

Game finally arrived last night and I'm having a ton of fun with it. Only about three levels deep but I'm honestly enjoying this much more than any other Skylanders game I've played.

The character creation feels really nice and there's a good sense of progression to finding new kinds of gear and parts as you level. The new characters all feel really good too, Dr. Krankcase is as fun as I was hoping he'd be and even ones I expected to be kind of bland like Ember have a really good feel to the way they fight.

I think making this game's gimmick be 'make your own skylanders' really let them focus on making the core Skylanders experience more solid than in some of the past games like Superchargers or Trap Team. I was expecting the game to suffer from the development weight of a character creation system but honestly I think it only benefitted from it- having loot as rewards feels more satisfying than any previous Skylanders game.

I hope that in future Skylanders games they expand the loot system to be for all characters and not just for Imaginators. I think that would be the best way to improve on this new formula and make the game as a whole have more satisfying reward systems than it used to.

 

[Lucifon]

Personally if you're just getting into Skylanders I would recommend picking up Swap Force instead. It's a better game, that you can pick up incredibly cheaply at this time. A new Skylanders game is a big investment and they don't get all that cheap throughout the year, until the next annual instalment.

Not that imaginators isn't a lot of fun, though. It's just you can get the equivalent for $50 in Swap Force that you can for $300 here, and it'd give you a really good taste of the gameplay and what to expect from the series, how the toys work, how not having certain toys influences the experience, etc.

It's the loot and appeal of making a character that appeal to me about the game - it adds a dungeon crawler element which is the only reason my ears perked up when hearing about the game. Usually I've had no interest in Skylanders.

So does the element of a crystal have any actual gameplay effect? Also can you try out different classes or are you locked in?

 

[KelpPlankton]

It's the loot and appeal of making a character that appeal to me about the game - it adds a dungeon crawler element which is the only reason my ears perked up when hearing about the game. Usually I've had no interest in Skylanders.

So does the element of a crystal have any actual gameplay effect? Also can you try out different classes or are you locked in?

Basically you get 2 abilities based on the class you choose, one based on the element of the crystal, and a super move based on the class. So it does make an impact beyond flavor. You pick each of these abilities from a few different unlockable options in each category so there's a little bit of a Diablo-lite aspect to it.

Once you pick a class, that Crystal is permanently locked to it (unless you use an exploit involving an old 3DS Skylanders game to reset it entirely) and to play other classes you'll need other crystals.

 

[Lucifon]

Basically you get 2 abilities based on the class you choose, one based on the element of the crystal, and a super move based on the class. So it does make an impact beyond flavor. You pick each of these abilities from a few different unlockable options in each category so there's a little bit of a Diablo-lite aspect to it.

Once you pick a class, that Crystal is permanently locked to it (unless you use an exploit involving an old 3DS Skylanders game to reset it entirely) and to play other classes you'll need other crystals.

That's a pretty big killer for me. Not being able to play around with classes and having abilities tied to those crystals seems like a bit of a joke in terms of locking things away behind pretty overpriced paywalls. That's really disappointing Especially considering the game is already pricier than most.