Grilla Drilla – Character Review

Grilla Drilla - Character ReviewGrilla Drilla  is a new Swappable Life Skylander with the Dig ability for Skylanders Swap Force.  The bottom half of Grilla Drilla is a large drill while the top part is that of a heavily armored Gorilla. In the game Grilla Drilla actually walks on legs but he can turn them into a drill. He has a mean look on his face and two large metal plated fists ready for action. The lack of any weapon makes you believe that he will be a melee attack character. Even though he looks mean, it’s hard to gauge how well he will perform in battle. Having a large drill bit for legs is cool for his digging ability but that is hardly a way to attack enemies. Just based on his looks he doesn’t appear to be a very useful Skylander.

Grilla Drilla does in fact start with a punch as one of his main attacks. But his punch is not a normal type of a punch. His fist actually has arm drills that spin and deal even more damage when punching. And it is quite the powerful punch. His card shows the maximum 200 for his attacking ability. His secondary attack is to plant a coconut turret by transforming his legs into a drill. As Grilla Drilla starts to get upgrades, his attacks become much more interesting. One of his early upgrades adds the ability to summon a pair of crazy monkeys. These monkeys run across the screen damaging enemies in their path. It’s basically a ranged attack. The turret attack can be upgraded to drop bombs and to gain the ability to plant two turrets at a time. And the punches can be upgraded to have a longer range, making them a good medium ranged attack option.

As a swappable character there are two different upgrade paths to choose, one for his body and one for his legs. The body paths let you focus either on stronger punching where he can use both fists at once, or on upgrading the monkeys to do more damage and to send four out at a time. We chose the monkey path and they do quite a bit of damage when they run across the screen. However, the dual punching fists sound pretty devastating as well. The leg paths both enhance the turret attacks. One path shoots coconut projectiles that explode while the other path turns the turrets into rapid fire banana turrets. Neither seem very useful in a heated battle. To take the time to plant a turret leaves you open for attack and even when the turret has done it’s job. Chances are you will want to move it or replant it, because the battle can quickly move on. And by the time you build up Grilla Drilla all of the way, the punches and monkeys become super powerful and a much quicker and easier decision to use.

Also as a swappable character he has two soul gem abilities. One turns his arm drills into shiny gold allowing punch attacks to do even more damage, and the other adds a thorny defense to the turrets making them very hard for enemies to attack. The turret upgrade is the more interesting upgrade, but the arm drills will be used more often so a little extra power doesn’t hurt.

Grilla Drilla is quite powerful, but I never really found myself using the turret attacks much. It just doesn’t have the power of the monkeys or Grilla Drilla’s amazing punch attack.

8 out of 10

 

Grilla Drilla Video Review

Grilla Drilla’s Stats

    Card Stats
In Game Stats
Attack:200  Max Health290
Defense: 130  Speed43
Speed:70  Armor24
Luck:70  Critical Hit4
  Elemental Power25

Grilla Drilla’s Attacks

Body Attacks
Punchy MonkeyPress Attack 1 to punch at nearby enemies.Free
Monkey CallPress Attack 3 to summon a pair of crazy monkeys!300 Gold
SilverbackPress Attack 1 to unleash punches that deal increased damage.800 Gold
Reaching MandrillPress Attack 1 to punch at a longer range.1000 Gold
Monkey Master Path
Team MonkeyMonkey Call summons four monkeys at once!1500 Gold
King of the JungleMonkey Call does increased damage.2000 Gold
Drilling Punches Path
Double PunchPress Attack 1 three times to attack with both drills.1500 Gold
Primate PowerDouble Punch does increased damage.2000 Gold
Soul Gem Ability
Ring of the Golden MonkeyArm Drills become shiny Gold, making punch attacks do extra damage.3500 Gold
Leg Attacks
Planted TurretPress Attack 2 to plant a coconut turret that attacks nearby enemies.Free
Explosive GrowthHold Attack 2 to charge a turret, release to plant a bomb plant that explodes and damages enemies nearby.300 Gold
Spreading Like WeedsExplosive Growth bomb plants will explode into three smaller bombs.800 Gold
Nature's BountyPress Attack 2 to plant a coconut turret that shoots at nearby enemies. Press Attack 2 again to plant another.1000 Gold
Coconut Caretaker Path
This is Coconuts!Turret projectiles now explode, causing damage to enemies in a small area.1500 Gold
Coconut MayhemCoconuts do increased damage.2000 Gold
Banana Blaster Path
Banana SplitCoconut turret upgrades into a rapid shooting Banana turret.1500 Gold
Go Bananas!Bananas do increased damage.2000 Gold
Soul Gem Ability
Adaptive NatureAll plants gain thorns that damage and push back enemies that step on them.3500 Gold
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