Having covered Skylanders for some time I’ve got a feel for the yearly cycle of new figures, game-play and features. With E3 fast approaching on the horizon what can we expect from Activision’s collectable toy video-game?
As you can see from my Skylanders Giants coverage from last year, E3 is the place when we finally get hands-on not only with the toy figures themselves but also with the videogame. This offers a first critical look at how the game will look in its finished form. Of course this is the first year it has direct competition in the form of Disney Infinity, so the pressure will be on for a good showing.
This year, with Swap Force having a new developer it will be interesting to discover if they can deliver the promised high-definition experience across the platforms — in particular how the Wii version fares. It will also be a chance to assess how the new game zones will function.
Like the Elemental zones in Giants and Spyro’s Adventure, Swap Force will offer certain areas only accessible with a particular type of Skylander. However, this time round there will also be combination Elemental zones where you need two Skylanders of a particular types on the portal to gain access. On top of this we then have the Swap Force zones that are accessible only when you have a certain class of Swap Force character in the game. There are eight different classes, meaning that there will be two Swap Force figures for each.
The next area we should learn more about is how the Swap Force characters will upgrade. We currently understand that both the top and the bottom of each figure can be upgrade separately and have their own upgrade path. The top of the figure is where the health, money and experience resides.
At E3 we should be able to test this theory and discover whether you can re-use the legs from one “dead” Swap Force character with a new head (without re-starting the level). It all sounds a bit involved I know, but it’s this sort of detail that will make all the difference to how the game plays and how much value it offers family gamers.
Skylanders Swap Force
It’s also likely that Activision will unveil the physical figures for more Swap Force characters to go with Magna Charge, Wash Buckler and Blast Zone. It will be interesting to see how their designs look on the portal and how the growing set of figures pans out.
Perhaps more than all this though, my biggest hope is to hear more from the people behind the game. It’s the creativity and approach of these individuals that will determine the overall feel of Skylanders Swap Force, in the same way that I-Wei Huang, Paul Reiche, Paul Yan, Dan Neil, Robert Leyland and the team at Toys for Bob have for the first two games.
