Activision is giving new meaning to the phrase "bring to life" as it introduces "Skylanders Trap Team," the latest installment in its best-selling "Skylanders" franchise. It lets children pull characters from their screens and into the physical world in the form of action figures.
"Skylanders Trap Team," which was created by the original series developer Toys for Bob, works on the big idea of trap-'em-all. It somewhat works like "Pokemon," where players have to catch all the villains to win the game.
In the latest "Skylanders" installment, Kaos finds the Cloudcracker Prison, which is made entirely from a magical material called Traptanium. In his quest to build his own army and take over all of Skyland, Kaos destroys the prison and sends all the baddies and pieces of Traptanium to Earth.
Players aim to find all the villains and "trap" them into toy crystals using the Traptanium Portal, a nifty device that uses radio frequency identification to figure out which villain is trapped in the crystal. They can also send the villains back to Skyland to fight for or against the goodies, the Trap Masters.
The Traptanium Portal also comes with built-in audio speakers so that children can hear the villains struggle inside the trap.
"Skylanders Trap Team" brings back 175 characters from previous games and introduces up to 50 new figures. Out of more than 200 characters, children can collect up to 40 trappable villains, including Kaos.
The game is not yet on the market, but one Toys*R*Us executive already believes that Activision, which has made more than $2 billion in "Skylanders" sales, has introduced yet another of its prize-winning titles.
"When Activision first introduced the 'Skylanders' franchise in 2011, it promised to redefine play by merging the physical and digital worlds. The company delivered on that pledge with three blockbuster titles -- all of which have been named to the annual Toys*R*Us Holiday Hot Toy List -- and is now poised to do it again with the introduction of 'Skylanders Trap Team'," says Richard Barry, Toys*R*Us chief merchandising officer and executive vice president.
The game will be available on Oct. 5 across many platforms, including Nintendo 3DS, the Wii, Wii U, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One.
The traps can also be used on a variety of consoles. For instance, a child who plays on a PlayStation 3 at home can take his traps and characters to his friend's house and play on the friend's Xbox One.
Skylanders Trap Team Starter Pack, which includes the Traptanium Portal, a Portal Master and two new trappable characters, retails for $110 for the Wii U, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 and $100 for the Wii and Nintendo 3DS.
Below is the official trailer of "Skylanders Trap Team."
