I was created by he who calls himself Portal Master. He created everything I am today, from the size of my muscles to the tone of my voice. I wouldn’t exist without the help of the Portal Master, I am thankful for his time but I’m wondering why I woke up in such a violent world. This world of Skylanders isn’t at peace, I must defeat a lot of others while I’m still learning how to use new skills. Lucky for me, there are plenty of wise sensei, willing to teach me secret skills.
Create your own hero
The playable demo started with the creation of your own Imaginator. In order to do so, you´ll have a lot of menus with a lot of possibilities. Everything you see and hear can be changed using the enormous creator. Before I knew it, I was losing myself in the options in search of the perfect hero for my adventures. The best part about the creator is perhaps even the ability to change the voice and personality of your new hero. Just like the aesthetics, there are a lot of voice options and a lot of extra unlockable. During your adventure, you´ll be able to gain more options to customize your hero. The best part about it all is that you can change the appearance of your hero anytime you want, with just one push of the button, you´ll jump back into the editor in no time, enabling you to constantly improve your hero.
Meet your Sensei
So now that you’re able to create your own Imaginator, you might wonder if Activision is dropping the whole toys-to-life idea since you can’t buy your own Imaginator in stores. Well, you don’t need to worry about that since Activision added the Sensei to keep their toys-to-life market going. The Sensei are famous characters, both good or evil, that you can use in the game. Not only will you control the Sensei once it is scanned, each Sensei will also increase the maximum level of your Imaginator and will unlock a certain skill for your Imaginator. Depending on the class of your hero, you’ll gain a specific skill to aid you in combat. There are a lot of playable Sensei but during the demo, I focussed on the three most interesting ones:
Kaos: Revealed at Gamescom for the first time and a true surprise is the addition of Kaos as Sensei and playable character. Kaos has always been the nemesis of the Skylanders but due to some weird twists of faith, he ends up helping the Imaginators. The reason why is because Kaos created a clone of himself that needs to be stopped no matter the cost. Needless to say, Kaos is a very powerful character since he´s the only one able to perform attacks from every class. This means you can combine a nice set of attacks into one big combo. Each Sensei also has a special attack, Kaos transforms into a giant laser-shooting flying head, raining down madness on his enemies. He feels overpowered for sure but it´s a great character to control.
Crash Bandicoot: The second important Sensei is Crash Bandicoot, to celebrate his anniversary, the former PlayStation mascot decided to join this Skylanders game as a guest. The developers really honored the original character and made sure they added all of his signature moves. There’s something great about scanning that amazing new figurine and see the iconic character come back to life after all those years. It’s a very nostalgic trip that only got bigger thanks to the special Thumpin’ Wanda Islands level. This level is an homage to the original game and it feels great to play it as Crash. You are allowed to play the level with other characters but you’ll miss out on certain Crash exclusive missions. Bringing back Crash and the Wanda Islands is perhaps the best thing about this Imaginators.
Dr. Neo Cortex: A Bandicoot reunion without the nemesis wouldn´t be a true reunion right? No need to worry since Dr. Neo Cortex also made the jump to Skylanders as a Sensei. He´s using his guns as main weapon so you´ll need a different kind of strategy playing as him but it’s a lot of fun without a doubt. His special attack enables him to bring down the thunder on his opponents, leaving the opponents wishing they never crossed paths.
Early conclusion:
Skylanders: Imaginators is shaping up to be a great addition to the franchise. Thanks to the ability to create your own character, Activision made sure everybody can create and control a character they’ll really like. Also note that this game marks to return of Crash Bandicoot with two special Sensei figurines and a custom level. This is the perfect game to play if you’re desperately waiting for the Crash Bandicoot reboot. We had a lot of fun playing it here at Gamescom and are convinced this game will be a huge success once it releases in stores.
