The Blogtastic Blogfest That Is Getmeoutofthis.net!

Look, fine, let’s finish up my Skylanders 3DS talk, okay? Let’s finish it.

I talked about general mechanics with the Portal of Power here, but I’m going to talk about things overall real quick.

Time limits suck.

I mean, I’m just going to say it: having these time limits on you to rush through levels where you are encouraged to collect all the little doodads about the level is pretty stupid! It really frustrates me, because the game is more FUN if I try to complete the special objectives, because it is not challenging. But if I do that, then I run out of this arbitrary time limit. My only option becomes to just run through the level, but that can be very boring. It’s just running forward and jumping very quickly without the combat challenges and searching for the hidden items and paths in the levels. It’s not that hard to do. It’s just less fun. But if you try to do most of the special objectives in one run, you can easily run out of time on the later levels, and you have to start all the way over. It’s annoying.

It also kind of bothers me how the game discourages having a huge fucking collection of Skylanders like I have. If you use a variety of Skylanders, they will NOT be leveled enough to take on later challenges without grinding, pure and simple. I mean, I understand that I am insane for owning like ALL SKYLANDERS but the 360 game gives you bonuses and XP boosts to help ALL your Skylanders be always viable, which is just smart. It lets you level at the perfect speed for the game no matter how many stupid figures you buy. The 3DS version offers nothing like that. You’re kind of penalized for not sticking with mostly two different Skylanders, though at the same time, if you only stick with two, you won’t be able to complete the elemental challenges. Basically, I had one Skylander of each element, at level one, for my play through the game, and I used what guys I had to in order to complete the challenges, and my guys were SO UNDER-LEVELED. Annoying.

Anyway, complaints. But the game itself is fun enough. It’s a solid action-platformer, and as I think I’ve said, many Skylanders who are kind of garbage in the 360 version are really way more relevant in the 3DS version, since they can jump to dodge enemy attacks. It’s fun! I recommend it if you, like me, wanted more Skylanders after the 360 game, and wanted to play with those toys some more. I would not recommend it as your first Skylanders experience. The lack of skill trees and equipment in the 3DS version just makes it so much less engaging. Play the “full” version first, if you’re just going to play one.