Nightfall Review with Sea Shadow
Nightfall is a new Dark element Skylander for Skylanders SuperChargers. She is the only Dark element character that will be released for this game. She is a Dreadwalker that comes from Fogshadow Tower, a mysterious fortress in the middle of the Poison Sea. , Mystery shrouds Nightfall just like all Dark element Skylanders. However, there is no mistaking that she is Dark and Dangerous. She is fearless as she showed when she hopped into her Sea Shadow submarine and battled with a gigantic Leviathan who was about to attack Fogshadow Tower. She was able to provide her people the time they needed to escape. This caught the attention of Master Eon, who made her a Skylander.
Nightfall looks like she might have pirate roots. Her character has two metal hooks attached to her forearms giving her a hand to hand combat advantage. She also wears a dark green pearlescent jacket much like a pirate would. The pearlescent green has become the signature color of all Dark Element Skylanders so far. Her jacket is also accented in purple, just like her signature vehicle the Sea Shadow. Both her character and her vehicle match and look very cool in their green and purple colors. Her most noticeable feature is her long black flowing hair. It’s hard to tell if this is really her hair, or some kind of dark energy which she seems to be able to control at will. Either way it helps her conceal herself for certain attacks where she seems to melt into the dark energy completely.
Nightfall’s main attack though comes from those hooks on her arms. Handy Hooks is the name of her basic attack and by pressing Attack 1 she will perform a flurry of right and left hooks. Her second attack is called Ambrush. This is where she dashes forward by sinking into her dark energy created by her flowing hair. She then moves quickly under enemies to surprise them on the other side. This basic attack does no damage though until upgraded. One of those upgrades is called Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow. This upgrade will add an attack at the beginning of the Ambrush, if there is an enemy nearby when she starts the Ambrush. She will also move faster in the Ambrush. 
The Layered Lunge is another basic upgrade that will effect the Ambrush. With this upgrade the first hook melee attack after an Ambrush is guaranteed to be a critical hit. This is a good reason to use the Ambrush as the increase in damage can act like an extra hook attack. If you need a third attack, you can purchase the Whip Lash upgrade. By pressing the Attack 3 button you can unleash a strand of dark energy which will whip up from the ground and knock an enemy into the air. Conversely, if you are jumping, the attack will slam your enemy down into the ground. I rather like this attack as you can keep some of the annoying enemies in the air by continually knocking them back in the air as they land. Finally, the Split Hook Ends attack will give Nightfall a second hook to each arm, giving the melee hook attack more damage.
She has two specialized upgrade paths. The Master Angler path will upgrade the hook attacks. This is the path we chose, as we wanted to see how powerful her melee attacks could get. The other path is called Dread Head and is filled with some interesting sounding upgrades for her dark energy attacks. Splitting Hairs is the first upgrade of the Master Angler path. This upgrade allows you to hold the Attack 1 button to unleash a devastating combo of hook and dark energy attacks. This is a pretty powerful upgrade, but I forget to use it. She basically just stands there and beats on the nearest enemy for a while without any input from you. It does a good deal of damage, and is entertaining. The Comb-O upgrades makes every fourth hook attack a combo and deals more damage. When you are mashing away at the Attack 1 button, this comes in handy. Finally there is the Playing Hooky upgrade. When you are performing an Ambrush, if you press the Attack 1 button while underground you will deal a more devastating attack when exiting which will also attack a larger area. It’s OK, but doesn’t seem to do that much more damage. The Dread Head path actually sounds more interesting at this point. The Ambrush Rush upgrade will allow you to hold the Attack 2 button to Ambrush and shoot strands of dark energy at enemies. The Up-Sweep upgrade will knock enemies into the air at the end of an Ambrush. This would be very useful. Finally the Vast Volume upgrade, enhances the Whip Lash attack, allowing three strands of dark energy to come up out of the ground which will knock more enemies into the air. Her Master Angler path was slightly disappointing, so I would probably suggest trying the Dread Head path. Regardless of the path you choose, there is always the Soul Gem ability. It’s called Bad Hair Day and allows you to repeatedly press the Attack 3 button to expand the area of effect of the Whip Lash attack which will knock more enemies into the air. Stunning enemies this way is a great way to delay some of those range weapon enemies until you can get up close with your hooks.
The Sea Shadow is the signature vehicle for Nightfall. It’s a submarine that borrows a lot of it’s design from a Stingray. It has a wide body that is mostly flat looking. The center holds both the fr
ont facing cannon and the rear facing rocket engine. It has a scorpion like hook on the top of its engine, and two more hooks on both of it’s wings. It’s wings are colored mostly in the pearlescent dark green that is common on the Dark element Skylanders. It’s body, engine and outlines of the wings are colored in a deep purple. Both the hook style and the coloring of the Sea Shadow very well match what is found on Nightfall. There is an alternate version to the Sea Shadow called the Dark Sea Shadow. This is not called “dark” because that is the type of element, it is “dark” because of a special black and silver paint scheme that is used for the “dark” style of variants that several of the Skylanders have come in. Personally I don’t like the black and silver paint as well as the regular paint for the Sea Shadow. The dark version may come with a modification already unlocked but other than that, there isn’t much of a performance difference between the two. The Sea Shadow might be the fastest Sea racer as it has excellent top speed and acceleration. It lacks a little in handling and armor but once you build up the weapon and shields you won’t have any problem winning races or defeating enemies. The Sea Shadow is a high quality Sea vehicle.
Overall Nightfall fails to impress. She looks cool, but her melee focused attacks don’t really stand out. Her ability to go underground to get behind her enemies, is a plus, and with the right upgrades that becomes a valid attack. But none of her attacks really stand out as devastating or must use. I switch often between just punching and hooking everyone in sight, and juggling my enemies in the air by using the Whip Lash attack. Both seem serviceable. Her major downfall might be that she doesn’t have a lot of armor. For a melee character to not have armor is just asking for trouble. You must get in close to fight, but you won’t be able to survive many hits. It makes playing well with Nightfall a challenge. You can do it, but you’ll have to use the right combination of attacks and pay close attention to where your enemies are. The Sea Shadow might be the best Sea Vehicle of the bunch so don’t overlook it’s usefulness. Nightfall is not a necessary addition to your collection, but the Sea Shadow probably is.
SkylanderNutts gives Nightfall… 7.0 out of 10
SkylanderNutts gives The Sea Shadow… 9.0 out of 10
Nightfall Review with Sea Shadow (Video)
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