There's also a Mario Kart-esque racing component to the game with twelve courses, split evenly between the three vehicle types. Unless you've acquired a "trophy" figure for the vehicle type, you'll be locked out of six of those courses (though they permanently unlock once the figure's been touched to the Portal, so you can just borrow them). It's a pretty fun mode even if the item use is automatic and removes almost all of the tactics from a genre that doesn't have many in the first place.
As with all other games in the series, Superchargers has two player local co-op. For local play, you'll need to have two Skylanders figures and one vehicle, which is what you get with your purchase. Convenient! While on foot, both players share a single screen and are leashed quite close to one another, but when in a vehicle you'll have to work as a much tighter team. Each player gets control over one element of the vehicle: movement or weaponry. Whoever drives steers and evades while the other player uses a targeting reticle to shoot all of the baddies. It takes a little bit to get used to, but I think it's a smart choice, since it makes both players equally important. It's also the more interesting way to play, since weapons in single player automatically lock onto targets.
A slightly annoying aspect to co-op (especially if you only have the starter pack) is that if one of the players dies, their figure "needs to rest" and must be replaced by another figure for them to continue playing. Skylanders become available again if your partner finishes the level or you restart the game. If you don't have an army of figures to act as "lives" this gets in the way of the fun.
You can also play the racing mode locally, but it's split vertically, so you lose a lot of visibility. Both players also have to use the same vehicle, so it's a slightly neutered way to play. It's more interesting to play in singleplayer or online, if you ask me.
New to the series is online play. You can either hook up with a friend to take on the campaign, or up to four players to race. Since this is supposed to be a kid's game, you can't voice chat with people not on your friend's list.
As a game to play with your child, or just a breezy co-op adventure to play with a friend, Skylanders Superchargers is a pretty solid experience. Series veterans may not find too much new to collect, since the focus is on the vehicles, but the campaign is a fun, light-hearted romp, and the racing mode does promise some degree of replayability. To hear other folks tell it, vehicles are the least interesting addition to the Skylanders formula, but the addition of online play shouldn't be ignored. More ways to play with friends is always a great addition in my book.
Skylanders Superchargers was reviewed with an Xbox One copy of the game provided by Activision.
Verdict
Co-Op Score
Overall
The Co-Op Experience: Team up with a friend in local co-op or survival mode!
Co-Optimus game reviews focus on the cooperative experience of a game, our final score graphic represents this experience along with an average score for the game overall. For an explanation of our scores please check our Review Score Explanation Guide.