Vehicles star in upcoming ‘Skylanders SuperChargers'

Making a new video game every year sounds difficult. Making a new Skylanders sounds impossible.

You can’t just dream up some characters, whip up a plot, and send them off on another wacky adventure — you have to do all of that, plus invent a few dozen toys and a crazy new interactive hook bringing it all together. Oh, and all the old stuff has to work with it, too.

Surprisingly, Activision’s managed to pull this off a few times already. Skylanders Giants featured plus-sized beasts. Swap Force let you mix and match parts to create new characters. Last year’s Trap Team was about capturing bad guys in little plastic trinkets. Each game has delivered something legitimately new, and Activision’s taken that creative streak to the bank.

The company will try to keep the money train rolling with their next entry, Skylander SuperChargers, by quite literally making it roll.

Due out September 20 for most home consoles, the fifth Skylanders game introduces vehicles to the series. They’ll come in land, sea, and sky varieties, so expect a colorful assortment of tanks, dragsters, submarines, choppers, and jets to clutter up your living room this fall.

They work just like regular characters: you place them on a portal and whisk them into the game. Unlike the rest of the Skylanders family, however, the vehicles aren't stuck on little bases. They look and feel just like regular toys — complete with moving parts, another Skylanders first. The wheels on the volcanic hot rod Hot Streak actually rotate, for instance. You can roll it across the floor like a Matchbox Camaro.

Otherwise, the 20 new vehicles function like typical Skylanders. You can customize them with upgradeable mods and weapons found in the game, save those goodies directy to the toys, and bring them to a friend's house, stats intact.

The vehicles also change up the gameplay. During a brief demo, I watched a producer hop into Hot Streak and zip through a level, Mario Kart style. A submersible vehicle called Dive Bomber raced across water, revealing a separate world below the surface at the push of a button. The Sky Slicer engaged in some light aerial dogfighting ala Star Fox.

While none of the vehicle segments appear to be particularly groundbreaking, they add some much-needed variety to the hack and slash combat players have experienced in the four prior games. According to the developers, about half of SuperChargers is played behind the wheel of a vehicle; the rest of the time will be spent jumping, slashing, and powering-up characters in standard Skylanders style.

[Related: 'Skylanders Trap Team' offers great fun at a not-so-great cost]

Speaking of which, the vehicles aren’t self-driving. You’ll need to plunk a character next to vehicle on the portal, and while any of the 300+ Skylanders characters can drive any vehicle (the game supports all older Skylanders toys), of course there’s more to it than that.

Skylanders SuperChargers will introduce 20 new characters — the titular “SuperChargers” — each of whom is a match for one of the vehicles. Pair the two up and the vehicle becomes “SuperCharged,” giving it a new look and a big stat boost. Stick the flaming demon Spitfire in Hot Streak, for instance, and it turns into a fiery death machine.

That’s just one of the ways Activision hopes to keep you dropping coin on new toys. Though the toys contained in the $75 starter pack — Hot Streak, Spitfire, and a SuperCharged take on the popular older character Stealth Elf — will technically allow you to complete the critical story path, you’ll need to buy more vehicles of the various element types to experience the whole game.

This kind of thing isn’t new to Skylanders, and it’s still frustrating knowing that it will require another small fortune to get the most out of the game. But credit Activision and developer Vicarious Visions for at least listening to their fans when it comes to the value of that Starter Set.

For the first time in series history, you don’t actually need to buy the full Starter Set to get the new game working. If you already have a portal from a prior game, you can buy a digital version of the game and use your old device to warp characters to and fro. The downloadable copy will include digital versions of Hot Streak and one of the two Starter set characters, so you won’t be missing out if you pass on the physical goods.

I am currently staring at a storage bin holding four Portals of Power. I’m a fan of this new plan.

That kind of consumer goodwill isn’t just Activision playing nice; it’s them playing defense. There’s a lot at stake in the toys-to-life wars. In a mere five years, Skylanders has blossomed from a curious experiment into a video game juggernaut. According to Activision, it’s generated over $3 billion in revenue. A good 250 million Skylanders toys have been sold worldwide.

They’re no longer alone. Disney Interactive hit pay dirt with Disney Infinity; the next game in that series looks likely to be a biggie thanks to a well-timed Star Wars tie-in. LEGO is entering the fray with the character mash-up LEGO Dimensions. Nintendo’s Amiibo toys have flown off shelves (and driven collectors crazy in a not great way). The minds behind Skylanders are under enormous pressure to deliver each time out.

Credit where it’s due, however. Skylanders SuperChargers is at least as ambitious as last year’s Trap Team, and the gameplay looks solid. Activision had just better hope it has enough in the tank to hold off the competition, because they’re creeping up fast.

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