Skylanders Imaginators opens the character design toy chest

This year Skylanders has a new twist; players can create their own custom characters. Titled Skylanders Imaginators this opens the developers box for kid to play designer and make their very own Skylander.

Along with the usual co-operative action adventure and returning Kart Racer modes, this new twist adds considerable novelty. Anyone who has played the games with children can attest to the fact that they often then make up their own characters — on paper, out of Lego or Plasticine.

Now they can take this experience to the screen with the new game’s character designer. While this doesn’t quite get into hard core role-play mechanics and changes focus more on visuals than performance there are also custom upgrades that can be applied to further customize your character. You can even come up with a Skylanders catchphrase for them.

With Disney pulling the plug on Infinity and Lego Dimensions yet to announce what is coming next, it’s to Activision’s credit that they have returned this year with such a novel twist.

Also good for families is that the game supports all of the 300 or so previous toy characters. Buying just the Starter Pack will enable you to finish the game and re-use all those existing characters you’ve purchased.

Skylanders Imaginators will release on Xbox, Nintendo and PlayStation platforms later in the year.