In the world of console gaming, the Skylanders franchise – spun off from the once-popular Spyro the Dragon series – has been one of the biggest surprises over the last couple of years, enthralling kids and adults alike by letting them collect physical figurines that can be imported into the game using a portal peripheral. Following a couple of digital-only iOS entries, Skylanders Battlegrounds finally brings a similar experience to iPhone and iPad, though while the toys and process are much the same, the game built around it struggles to captivate.
While Skylanders Battlegrounds can be downloaded from the App Store and used on its own, the complete experience comes in a $50 physical box, which includes a Bluetooth-enabled Portal of Power, three character figurines (plus a treasure chest), and a download code for the universal app. Syncing the battery-powered portal is a breeze, and once the app is running, you can easily pull the colorful heroes into the game at any time by setting one atop the lighted platform.
Like the other versions, Battlegrounds uses the built-in RFID chips in the figures to recognize and call them into action, but this entry stores them permanently as digital characters, making the portal less essential after initial use – though if you fall in battle, it does let you drop in another character without using in-game funds. All of the figures released for the console games work here, including the powerful Giants and the LightCore creatures with illuminated features.
Collecting the colorful toys is enjoyable, but the actual game lacks the ambition of its console brethren, and isn't interesting enough to warrant such investment. Unlike the large, narrative-led adventures we've seen before, Battlegrounds sends players on a series of simplistic battles peppered around enemy-populated hex boards. The objectives range from defeating certain types of foes to collecting items, but despite changing terrain and amassing new characters along the way, the game loses steam quickly in the dull skirmishes.
Each fight amounts to little more than drawing a line from your two fighters to any of the nearby enemies and occasionally tapping ability buttons, but without combat variety or skilled opponents, the repetitive action flatlines after just a handful of showdowns. And it doesn't help that this paid app has a freemium-like complex, locking upgrades and items behind gems that prove scarce and costly.
The bottom line. Skylanders' appeal on consoles comes from making stellar games even better with a Pokémon-like collectable aspect. While slickly produced and keeping with the spirit of the franchise, this iOS package fails to deliver a game worthy of such investment and dedication.
Source: http://www.maclife.com/article/reviews/skylanders_battlegrounds_review
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