This review contains spoilers, click expand to view.
To sum up my entire experience here's my thoughts on all of the main levels on this road trip game. The ancient Skylands chapter is a decent tutorial level that shows off the might of the Giants and the Arkeyan Empire lore. You even get to meet your the ancestors of your Mabu friends from the first game. And the excitement of this big, new Skylanders world ends with a kinda boss fight against the Conquertron. Next up, is the Junkyard Isles, a great level to return to if you need to pick up easy money for upgrades. At this point, I notice that the comedy writing is a lot better than the last game. Its not amazing, but it's no longer cringy. After Flynn kills a man, we set off to Rumble Town to locate the plot connivence hermit. It's a little repetitive to see 3 basic grass terrain levels in a row, but thanks to the variety of architecture, I don't have much to complain about except for the existence of armored enemies. After saving Ermit and learning about Kaos' whereabouts...some bad whether forces us to seek help at the nearby Pirate Carnival. Huh, Captain Dread-Beard did return! And I guess he lost his memory after fleeing Pirate Island...I guess I'll believe anything in a series with guacamole monster. Skystones is the best mini game in the series and I love me some monster fight challenges, a nice change of pace after some tricky enemy hoard fights. Next up is an ice level, full of identity crisis enemies. Am I fighting the cyclops army, ice ogres, or..."Snowclopsises"? Afterword, we use the Ermit's Conquertron to enter the canyon level vault, and everyone is reminded of the awful vehicle level from the last Arkeyan Vault level. Its not as bad here, but the mechanics aren't exactly fun. Kaos swings in from the sky (WE COULD'VE FLOWN OVER THE VAULT THIS ENTIRE TIME!?), kills the Robo-Ghost, steals the map, and then accidentally makes the plot longer. Before we can chase after him, some Arkeyan copters damage the ship, and we're forced to land again. This time in village, of creepy doll people. I really like the theming of this level along with the world switching mechanics. Too bad it also includes those hellish moving block hazards from the Darklight Crypt, because this game was pushed to reference all of the adventure packs for some reason. Then we're off to Troll territory to shut off the power to the barrier surrounding Kaos childhood home. I wish did more with the chess-patterned castle, like adding a bunch of Shadow Dukes to represent knights, but seeing Cali and Flynn react to surviving countless missile attacks is just priceless. And then we arrive at Kaos's Kastle, my personal favorite. It has a chilling atmosphere, silly visuals, and it ends with a fun arena battle. Next up is the ghost pirate attack that turns the hub area into a battlefield. Its full of a ton of turret sections and easy-to-get-lost-in terrain, but its a nice thrilling level that helps amp you up for the rest of the game. The Giants need crazy challenges to go with their mighty battle skills. Then comes a factory stage that ends with a fight against a singing robot. Hmm...there was an animal war in the 1st game, a bunch of characters cheated death, and now I'm fighting a singing boss...are the developers Conker fans? After that instance, Kaos speeds up the plot by just asking the Conquertron how to get into the City of Arkus. And since we apparently bought ourselves eons of time, we can go to Molekin Mountain to locate the all-knowing Oracle, in order to learn the location of the city of Arkus. I also have to say, did fixing the Core of Light really do anything? Why do I keep running into towns taken over by shady organizations? After defeating Pipsqueak's arena of giant saw blades, we visit...the alien god of Skylands. This is probably one the weirdest moments in the Skylanders series. Playing mental games with the all-knowing researcher of Skylands. I wish we'd got to see this guy in the future games. His presence give me this whimsical feeling, much like the Weapon Master from the first game. It be really cool to see him assist the Skylanders in one of the final levels. And then their's the City of Arkus levels...I really don't like these stages. All the themes feel similar, their's too many jump-scare enemies, Auto-gyro Adventure drags on for way too long...even during speed runs, and their's tons of cheap traps the Arkeyan Palace. It's nice that little kids can feel a nice sense of menace in these last levels. Putting everything they got into the final adventure. But the repeated level theme reminds me of some of the lackluster stages from Spyro's Adventure. I'm forced to fight way too many enemy hoards thanks to the monster gates and replaying these levels over and over again to get the 100 percent completion accolade just isn't worth it. If you're thirsty for a tough but fair completion challenge, this isn't the game for you. It's more of a unique experience than an enjoyable adventure, that's the Time of the Giants.… Expand