With Skylanders Trap Team soon to be released it's time for parents to scratch their heads and wonder why the game is so popular and how to get good value from it for their children.

With each new release of Skylanders the level of complexity grows both in terms of functionality and compatibility.


To shed some light on the matter here's my Trap Team guide based on questions parents ask me about the game.

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Background

Skylanders Trap Team is an action platforming game where players explore a level-based world to defeat the Doom Raider villains. This plays a little like the Lego video games with shooting and hitting to kill enemies and a variety of puzzles to solve.

As with previous Skylanders games, characters are unlocked for on-screen play when a toy figurine is placed on the portal peripheral. The starter pack provides the required (new) portal for Trap Team along with two toy characters and two traps. The traps are this year's novelty allowing players to capture any of the 40 villains and then play as them.


The Starter Pack enables players to complete the main game but not access all the Traptanium Elemental zones, which hide special items -- additional Trap Masters in each of the eight elements are required to see those. Also additional Traps in each of the eight elements are required to trap all of the villains and access their related challenges.

The final additions this year are the Minis, fully featured miniature versions of the big Skylander characters.

Unlike the previously released Sidekicks these are fully upgradeable and playable characters in the game. Owners of Sidekicks from Giants can use them as Minis in Trap Team.

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Developer

Skylanders Trap Team is developed by Toys for Bob, which created the first two games, Spyro's Adventures and Giants. Last year's game was developed by Vicarious Visions.


Toys for Bob developed the games for the Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360.

Beenox handled development of Wii U, XBox One, PlayStation 4 and 3DS offerings. Vicarious Visions develops the iOS and Android version.

Formats

Skylanders Trap Team is available on pretty much every format. Support for the Wii is notable as Disney Infinity has now dropped this older platform, forcing families to upgrade.

Buying the Wii game also provides a free download for the Wii U, offering an easy upgrade to that system reusing the Wii portal.

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Formats available: Wii, Wii U, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One. The game is also available on a range of high end tablet devices including the iPad (iPad 3, 4, Air, iPad Mini w/ Retina; iPad Mini, iPad and iPad 2 not supported) and Android.

A 3DS version is also available but offers a less complex experience. It does however provide a local multiplayer version of

Skystones Smash (a popular aspect of Skylanders that is a tile-based strategy game for two players).

Cost

A Trap Team starter pack will cost around £52 with the special edition Dark Starter Pack coming in at £72.99. Trap Masters will cost in the region of £14.99 and Minis Pack £12.99. New Core

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Skylanders are around £8.99 and Traps will be about £5.99. The game and figures can usually be found discounted if you hunt around different retailers.

A good way to keep costs down is to reuse any

Skylanders you own from previous games as Trap Team supports all of these characters.

The Tablet version of the game is a great way to try Trap Team out for free. You can play one whole level without paying anything, and then choose whether to buy Digital or Physical Starter Packs to proceed.

Duration

Skylanders Trap Team will take competent players around ten hours to complete, although there will still be plenty of side-quests and other things to go back and do. Also, the game offers different difficulty levels that encourage multiple play-throughs.

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Purchasing additional characters will again encourage players to revisit the main game as well as providing character challenges.

Adventure packs will also unlock new chapters to play, as well as two new Sun-Light/Moon-Dark elements.

Characters and Traps are released in waves through the year, which again stretches the duration it will be played in a family provided additional money is spent on each new wave of toys.

Ratings

Trap Team follows a traditional "heroes in peril" plot similar to kid's movies. Some villains, although presented as a cartoon, characterise scary monsters or mechanical creations with flip-up faces and chainsaw attacks. The Undead element areas include skeletons and skulls.

From retail packaging we can see that PEGI have rated

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Skylanders Trap Team as PEGI 7 for Fear and Violence.

Similar to previous Skylanders games this is likely because it includes "Non realistic looking violence towards fantasy characters -- Violence that is set in a cartoon, slapstick or child-like setting that could be upsetting to very young children -- Pictures or sounds likely to be scary to young children."

UK packaging also notes the game's toys represent a choke hazard to children three and under. Rough treatment on the toys can result in small parts becoming detached.

In the US Trap Team is rated ESRB 10 for comic violence and comic mischief. Again, it contains similar content to Swap Force and Giants. ESRB previously said about the series "Some characters use 'cartoony' tools/weapons (e.g., giant hammers, blasters, bombs) against enemies, resulting in small explosions and comical yelps" however, "enemies generally disappear amid colourful puffs of smoke when defeated". Players can also "mount turrets and blast projectiles at flying vehicles/machines".

Common Sense media suggests that the game is suitable for children aged ten and over. Parents should know that "the cartoon violence is frequent but relatively mild. Characters use weapons including swords, guns, and magic in their attacks, but defeated enemies simply fall to the ground and disappear." They also note that "Skylanders: Trap Team will tempt kids to buy additional toys to enhance the game experience", but that "Kids can use their existing collection of Skylanders toys from previous games to help limit costs". In costs they suggest that kids will "need to spend at least $125 (£78) beyond the price of the starter pack to be able to unlock all of the game's secret areas and special quests."


Overview

The combination of a collectable toy-line and video game is compelling for young players. Skylanders Trap Team balances the requirement to buy new toys and being able to reuse your existing collection. Extending the in-game adventures to the living room carpet creates a magical experience for families. The toy and in-game character designs are exceedingly high quality. Being created by a small team of artisan designers they escape feeling overly commercial and buck the blue-pink or buff-slender gender pitfalls.

Providing parents are willing to say no to requests at supermarket checkouts for more toys, Skylanders Trap Team is a great game offering a lot of value.

Andy Robertson is a freelance family gaming expert for the BBC and runs Family Gamer TV on YouTube.