Skylanders Swap Force Is Mix and Match Fun for Aunties
Andy Robertson runs Family Gamer TV and his Family Gaming website.
Skylanders Giants managed to follow the success of the original game while broadening the appeal to a wider audience. The combination of collecting toy figures and co-operative play made it ideal to play with nephews and nieces.
Skylanders Swap Force ups the ante on the fun by introducing a new type of toy figure that can be separated at the waist and mix and matched with other characters. This essentially lets players create their own figures to play with on the living room floor and in the video-game.
I spoke to Guha Bala, the studio head at the developer behind the new game, and asked him to introduce us to the story, new Skylanders figures, and why it is worth upgrading to the new game when it comes out later in the year.
The novelty here is of course the new figures. Each one has a double-barreled name (like all well-to-do toys) so that when you mix and match them, the result has a specific name. The first three of these characters are as follows:
-Magna Charge: Tech Character can pick up destructible objects (like the Giants) and enemies as well as Gatling Gun and a speed wheel.
-Wash Buckler: Water Octopus Pirate with Cutlass and Bubble-gun to encase enemies. Tentacle attacks on the base.
-Blast Zone: Fire Character with rocket boots to move and attack as well as other fire missile attacks.
These then result in the following nine Swap Force combinations: Magna Charge, Magna Buckler, Magna Zone, Wash Charge, Wash Buckler, Wash Zone, Blast Charge, Blast Zone, and Blast Buckler.
As well as the 16 Swap Force characters, there will also be 8 new Lightcore, 16 Series 3 returning characters from Giants and Spyro’s Adventure as well as 16 new core Skylanders.
This year you can’t reuse your old Portal though, so you need to buy a Swap Force Starter Pack again to play the game. This may put some players—and Aunties—off as previous Skylanders games have let you save money by reusing your old Portal.
At the launch event in New York, we had the chance to record the first ever public viewing of gameplay and figures. You can watch the cut-scene and 12 minutes of Swap Force gameplay in the video below:
As you can see, it is all looking very sharp, and with a few months development still remaining, things are set to improve further before the launch—anticipated to be towards the end of the year. For nephews and nieces who enjoyed the first game, this is looking like a great gift!
I’ll report back with more details as I get them.
Photo: Courtesy of Andy Robertson
Published: February 12, 2013