Skylanders Universe The Machine of Doom

Posted by Jeff on September 12, 2012 at 10:57 am

If your family is anything like mine, Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure has dominated your gaming system over the past 12 months. Now, the magic dragon & his heroic pals will aim to take over your bookshelf. Okay, ‘take over’ is a bit strong at this point (only 3 book titles have been released to date), but you get my point.

Video game properties jumping offline is one of my favorite trends of the last 1/2 decade. And Skylanders, OWTK’s most beloved Wii title, is in the process of taking that leap. Of course, Trigger Happy, Hex, Gill Grunt, and the rest of the gang already had a head start since they are physical toys that are played WITH the video game, but with the newly launched series of books, along with the birthday party supplies, Frito-Lay partnership, backpacks, and more already in stores, the Skylanders Universe is turning into a killer franchise.

The Machine of Doom, the first paperwork story from the Skylanders Universe, focuses heavily on the Eon backstory and includes only Spyro, Gill Grunt, Eruptor, and Boomer — the later pair getting to flex their comedy muscle early and often.

Check out some of the b&w/sepia-toned illustrations from The Machine of Doom:

Fans of the Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure video game may be disappointed to discover that only 4 of the 32 existing Skylanders were inserted into this first story. My girls were hoping to see Stealth Elf here, so that they might “hear” her voice, and learn more about her personality and off-screen story. Still, the four Skylanders plus Kaos, Glumshanks, Flynn, Hugo, and Eon provide The Machine of Doom with more than enough material to carry the 160-page book.

The plot is centered around a single adventure and while the clunky text too often feels like it was written with a thesaurus nearby, the story is enjoyable enough and the opportunity to hear from the characters (outside of their quick remarks when placed on the portal during gameplay, and their lines from the funny Skylanders commercials) is too cool to pass up. Plus, you get to mimic Kaos screaming “DOOOOOOOOOOM!” several times while reading!

If you’ve got a kid more keen on pushing buttons than flipping pages, The Machine of Doom might be just the ticket to engage them with the written word.

Skylanders Giants is nearly here! Pre-order now from Amazon and be the first the play thee video game of 2012!