Skylanders: SuperChargers - Sea Racing Action Pack Score: 89% Developer: Activision Device Type: Accessory Compatible With:

Sea Trophy: The Skylanders: SuperChargers - Sea Racing Action Pack not only comes with the new SuperCharger version of Gill Grunt and his signature vehicle, Reef Ripper (thus immediately unlocking the SuperCharger specific mods), but it also comes with the Sea Trophy, which is used to unlock new racing courses as well as bosses that can be captured and then raced with. The Sea Trophy itself has the visage of Trap Team's leading evil lady, The Golden Queen. When placed on the portal, the final two sea-based race courses will be unlocked. These are Tropic Plunder and The Golden Temple. The Golden Temple draws a lot of elements from The Golden Queen's lair in Trap Team. Not only do the walls and waterways give off a golden shine, but so do the massive rolling balls that get closer to hitting you with each lap around the course. If you select this race's Boss Pursuit, then you will have to go up against The Golden Queen herself and her Glitter Glider. Once you've got her beaten, you can then use her in other races. Her Glitter Glider not only shoots golden scarabs, but you can also get a boost and a temporary shield by holding down one of the buttons. In the Tropic Plunder course, you can to race through a Caribbean island scene, complete with shallow waterways between islands, tropical foliage and pirates. In fact, the boss you can unlock in this course is Captain Frightbeard and his ship, the Lil' Phantom Tide. His boat will fire swords as a long-range weapon, but it also has a close-range strong attack that fires his ship's cannons in all directions. While the other two sea race courses are already unlocked when the game begins, with the Sea Trophy associated with the game, you can then do the Boss Pursuits for these two courses as well. For instance, the Mystical Vault puts you against Spellslamzer and his Rune Slider while the Frozen Fossil Festival nets you Mesmeralda and her Wave Singer. The first vehicle also has long and close-ranged attacks while the other gives you a speed boost and its ammunition will have a lasting effect on the enemy boats it hits. The Sea Trophy also unlocks the Supervillain and Mirror tournaments for the sea-based courses. These take you through all four courses, once in their normal manner, and then again with the Mirror setting turned on.

Deep Dive Gill Grunt: Deep Dive Gill Grunt Element: Water Maximum Health: 270 Speed: 35 Armor: 24 Critical Hit: 6 Elemental Power: 25 Skylanders: SuperChargers - Sea Racing Action Pack contains the newest incarnation of Gill Grunt, and he's replaced his harpoon gun with a trident, but don't worry, his trusty water-jetpack is still on his back and ready to be used. Deep Dive Gill Grunt starts off with just two trident-based attacks. One is a stabbing move and the other is the ability to shoot lightning from his new weapon. Gill Grunt's first unlockable ability is to turn on and off his jetpack, and like before, he has a different set of moves while hovering. His primary attack in this mode is a dash attack, while the other attack sends a tidal wave in the direction he is facing. Before his skills branch between trident power ups and jetpack abilities, he has three other upgrades that need to be unlocked. Trident True lets Gill Grunt do a lot of little attacks by holding down the primary attack button. While stabbing with the trident, you can rotate around his current position to attack incoming hordes. Trident Unleashed ups all trident-related attacks while Wild Whirlwind adds a more powerful water attack while he is hovering. In Deep Dive Gill Grunt's jetpack-heavy power-up branch, he unlocks the ability to send a water explosion in all directions when entering or leaving jetpack mode, shoot three large tidal waves while hovering or even ride a tidal wave in a powerful charge attack. The other option adds a bit more electricity to Gill Grunt's attacks. The first adds lightning to his rapid trident attack, while another shoots lighting in all directions instead of water when switching between walking and hovering modes. The last ups the amount of damage those lightning attacks do. Gill Grunt's Soul Gem is called Storm of the Seas and it unleashes a massive lightning storm if you hold down the appropriate attack button while on the ground. Gill Grunt has been a long-standing character in the series and while past versions have been simple reposes of him, this new SuperCharger release gives him an overhaul that makes him feel fresh. He remains a good balanced character that does well in both close-up and long-ranged scenarios. I especially find his super-fast trident attack great when surrounded. While the attacks don't do as much damage-per-hit as his other abilities, you can easily get out of being surrounded quickly when you use it right.

Features: Deep Dive Gill Grunt Reef Ripper Sea Trophy Epic New Sea Race Tracks Battle Villains in Championship Tournaments Defeat and Race Villains Challenging Mirror Race Mode Race Against Your Friends

Reef Ripper: Skylanders: SuperChargers - Sea Racing Action Pack's Reef Ripper toy has the look of something out of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, but instead of Captain Nemo as the submarine's pilot, your best bet is to pair it with Deep Dive Gill Grunt and get the SuperCharged bonus. The Reef Ripper has two forms of attack. One is a long-ranged trident missile that doesn't do a whole lot of damage, but if you managed to get a lock on an enemy before releasing the attack, then it will follow them. Its other attack sends an electric shock in the immediate area. Any racers in your immediate area (or actual enemies in SuperChargers' Story Mode) will take a good bit of damage. The default loadout for the Reef Ripper includes the Gill Grill and the Aqua Fin Turbine. These up the vehicle's handling and acceleration by 10 points. The parts that unlock when you put Deep Dive Gill Grunt next to the Reef Ripper on the portal include the Trident Spearheads and the Tidal Wave Crasher. The Spearheads adds 10 to acceleration, while the Tidal Wave Crasher adds 5 points to both the Top Speed and Handling stats. The other stat-modifying mods you can find in the game include the Spearfish Driver (+10 to Top Speed), the Thumpback Prow (+300 to Armor), the Sharpfin Blaster (+10 to Top Speed and -5 to Weight) and the Whale Flipper which adds 150 to Armor and 5 to Weight. The Reef Ripper also has four different horns, and while these don't modify any stats, they are still a fun bit of customization. These are the Revving Gurgler, High-Tide Honker, Thumpback Call and Ocean Buzz. I found that Reef Ripper is just as balanced as Gill Grunt. There is a level in SuperChargers where you get sucked into a book, and in the sea side-quest, you find enemies coming out from the walls. You can't kill them, but if you hit them with an attack, then they retreat for a bit. Reef Ripper's electric attack made this side mission very easy to handle since one jolt could affect enemies all around. This combined with the enemy-seeking missle really makes Reef Ripper a good sea vehicle to start off with.

Quests and SuperChared Challenge: Once you've shown the game that you have both Deep Dive Gill Grunt and Reef Ripper, you will get the ability to go to Buzz and do some special quests. For Gill Grunt, you need to take out 20 enemies using attacks while hovering. The Reef Ripper's quest involves taking out 50 enemies with its long-ranged attack. The first mission gives Gill Grunt a +5 to Critical Hit while Reef Ripper gets a +5 to Handling when its quest is complete. You also get the ability to try out the Something Fishy challenge. Here you race through the Golden Temple shooting various sized fish. The larger the fish, the more points you get and you only have a limited amount of time to earn those points. It's hard to argue with the value added to the basic Skylanders: SuperCharger game when you put these three items on your portal. Not only do you get two solid and well-balanced figures, but they belong together and SuperCharge. Plus the added courses and race types added with the Sea Trophy really add a lot of gameplay to the racing side of the game. In fact, it feels like the Sea Racing Action Pack adds more bang for the buck than any previous game's Action Pack options.

-J.R. Nip, GameVortex Communications AKA Chris Meyer

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