The third sequel in the billion-dollar Activision franchise, Skylanders Trap Team on the Nintendo 3DS gives Portal Masters a chance to have fun with all of their favorite new figures on-the-go. It’s worth noting there are a number of differences between this version of the game and the home console release of Skylanders Trap Team, so even veteran fans have something new to look forward to.
Rather than rounding up the villains that Kaos freed from Cloudcraker Prison as you do in the console versions, Skylanders Trap Team on the Nintendo 3DS sees players hunting down the nightmares that Hugo, Master Eon’s assistant, accidentally let out after reading “The Most Boring Book Ever.” Dream Sheep, the most devious of these villainous nightmares, has magically put the world to sleep and it’s up to you to wake everyone and defeat this “baaad” guy.
Platforming is the name of the game here, and you’ll need to perfect your double-jumping and sprinting if you want to find the three legendary magic bells you need to wake everyone up and win. While capturing villains is still an important aspect, they aren’t playable as they are on the console version of Skylanders Trap Team. Instead, the 14 unique villains can be poked, petted, and summoned to release powerful special attacks and are only playable in the Villain Boot Camp stages. Surprisingly, even though it’s in its name, trap crystals are also not used in this release. That being said, there are a few upsides.
So, Trap Team with no traps sounds like a bummer, right? Well, not quite. One of the big trade-offs, and my favorite functionality of the game, is that you only have to scan your Skylanders ONCE on the included Portal of Power for them to come to life and remain in your game FOREVER! Sure it’s important to have your huge collection of figures nearby when playing at home, especially since you’ll have lots of Trap Masters and Minis to choose from, but it can be a real pain to carry all of those around on rides to school and road trips. When playing on the 3DS, your scanned and saved Skylanders appear on the lower touch screen of the system to use when you want… that’s it!
Another really cool part of playing Skylanders Trap Team on Nintendo 3DS is the game’s integration with the system’s StreetPass feature. After you StreetPass with other Portal Masters, you can use one of their Skylanders for one level to see if you’d like to buy that figure and use it during your own adventure. It’s a really neat way to see what awesome figures there are available and what you should be looking for on your next visit to a toy store or game shop.
Skylanders Trap Team is a really fun portable gaming experience that fans of the franchise should definitely try. The Nintendo 3DS Starter Pack comes with a Gusto Trap Master, a Barkley Mini, a copy of the game, and a Portal of Power, which is a really good value. Though there are notable variances between this version of the game and console iterations, there’s enough replay value to make it worth checking out.
Skylanders Trap Team is available now on Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Android, and iOS.
Skylanders Trap Team 3DS Unboxing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sF93-9brj1c