PACKAGING AND CONTENTS:
Swap Force only comes with a Starter Pack, this is because of the new gimmick (which we will get onto shortly) requires a new Portal.
The back showcases the swappable nature of the toys, some screenshots of the game and naturally, some cross-selling of other Skylanders you may want to purchase.
This Starter Pack provides you with three figures, two Swap Force figures and one normal Skylanders. The first character we'll cover is Wash Buckler, a tentacle pirate inspired character.
He's of the Water element and a "climb" ability. Once again, the detailing and paint on these figures is impressive.
Next up is Blast Zone, the second swappable figure in this pack. Wearing armor inspired by the medieval times, he carries a bomb in each hand.
The flame elements on top of the bombs and his head is made from a soft plastic. The paint used for the flaming base is a bit gaudy. Blast Zone is of the Fire element with a "rocket" ability.
Lastly, the third character is Ninja Stealth Elf, a Series 3 character (i.e. a character from previous games but reposed). She carries a new outfit. Her painted eyes are amazing, they are very striking.
She is of the Life element and being a Series 3 character, she has the abilities from her previous games plus a new additional ability. What's also awesome is that you can use this figure in any of the previous two games too!
However, that's not all. Each of the swappable figures have a detachable top and bottom (held together by two magnets), so that you can get two extra combinations from Wash Buckler and Blast Zone alone.
This works really well and gives an extra dimension to these figures. At the very least, this is a cooler gimmick than Giants in the previous game.
The swappable figurines are also larger than your average Skylanders toy (even though Ninja Stealth Elf is smaller than most) and I guess they need to be, otherwise swapping the halves will be cumbersome (and they need to fit in a chip on each half).
Next is the new Portal of Power, which, thankfully, is still wired meaning no pesky batteries to worry about. Plus, it is much lighter and smaller/thinner than the previous Portal, bonus points there then.
Naturally, you place the figures on top of the Portal. The Portal will also constantly change color.
It is especially nice on the Water element figurines as they have a translucent base, making it much more pretty. This new Portal has the functionality to detect both chips of the new swappable figurines. What's even better is that the Portal is compatible with both Spyro's Adventure and Giants. which is super awesome. I've said it before but I am very impressed with the backwards and forwards compatibility of this series.
And I guess you have those other bits and pieces in the package as well, including a fold-out poster of all the available toys to drool over.
You also have your obligatory stickers, code and some collector's cards. Overall, not a bad package, you get plenty of bang for your buck right here.
THE GAME:
Of course, all of this means nothing if the game wasn't good. Skylanders: Swap Force is the third game in the Skylanders series and it provides more of the awesome action platforming fun. Developed by Viscarious Visions, Swap Force improves upon the Skylanders formula in a lot of aspects. The graphics are a notch up and looks great until the camera zooms in during cutscenes, where outlines become a bit jaggy and fuzzy. Finally, after being strangely absent int he past two games, Skylanders have the ability to jump! You can't double jump though but this added feature gives way to a much more varied palette of environmental challenges. There is a greater emphasis on platforming, especially jumping onto moving platforms. If you fall down a hole, you automatically go back to your starting point with no penalties which is great because your judgement can be off with the jumping. Furthermore, jumping allows you to dodge enemy attacks much more easily. Swap Force comes in four difficulties: Easy, Normal and Hard, with Nightmare mode unlockable after you've beaten the game once. Playing on Hard, the game can provide some decent challenges during combat as enemies will hit hard and do big damage, you will definitely cycle through two or three Skylanders in the later levels.
In Nightmare mode, enemies can kill you within a few hits and requires you to be familiar with enemy attack patterns such that you can dodge those pesky projectile attacks. There are 17 levels which includes boss battles (they are now classed as a separate chapter). These levels are really long, even moreso than Skylanders: Giants. They can take up to an hour to finish, which is acknowledged by the developers since they have added in a checkpoint in the middle of each level. In the later levels, it starts to grind upon you and levels will feel too long, you just want some levels to end because they feel way too dragged out. The story is about an island within Skylands called Cloudbreak in which the volcano is due to erupt and replenish the magic around the world. Of course, Kaos takes note and develops a plan to spread his evil and conquer Skylands. The game requires you to thwart Kaos once again. Unfortunately (and perhaps surprisingly), not all major characters from the previous games have a significant role. The story isn't complex or anything but does enough to keep the game going.
The humor is retained and the funniest parts are when new enemies are introduced but some of the dialogue is pure gold in terms of humor. What was annoying was the fact that you can't skip some of the dialogue or cutscenes. The ending was good and I loved the addition of the new antagonist. Of course, it wouldn't be Skylanders without the physical toys. The gimmick in this game is the new Swap Force characters. They are detachable to provide a separate top and bottom half, you can then mix and match the top and bottom to create 256 different combinations. Each half has their own set of attacks such that you can combine two of your favorite attacks together into one character. This is quite cool but like the Giants int he previous game, Swap Force does not dive too deeply into the lore behind these characters after their initial introduction. The game continues to lock out content unless you have the required characters. In addition to your standard gates which are one of eight elements, plus treasures which are accessible only by Giants, you now have areas which are only accessible by Swap Force characters. These new gates require one Skylander to have two elements, therefore you need at least eight out of the sixteen Swap Force characters to access the whole game.
The good news is that locked out areas usually only give collectibles which isn't necessary to complete and enjoy the game. Minigames are given the spotlight in here. Each Swap Force character has an additional "travel" method, whether it is rockets, climbing or teleporting. There are eight travel methods in total. In each level, there are various locked minigames which only the corresponding character type can access. For example, Blast Zone is a rocket type and he unlocks the minigame of flying through hoops within a time limit, while dodging obstacles. In the tradition of past games, each area also provides a boost to a specific element, which encourages the swapping of characters. The level cap is raised to 20 and all your previous Skylanders work with this game. If you bought a new version of an old character (i.e. Series 2 or Series 3 character, where the toys have new poses), they work with the previous games too. I love the fact that the Skylanders allow this type of backwards and forwards compatibility, it gives you a sense of value in purchasing these figures knowing that they are future proof. It also helps when you already have some powerful Skylanders to use in case you're in a pinch.
The gameplay is tighter and more fun than ever, with many new enemies types introduced with different attack patterns. It can get challenging due to the overwhelming number of enemies at times. However, it makes the game a blast to play. The game increase longevity by adding in a new Time Attack Mode, Score Attack Mode, Arena Challenges and Bonus Missions. Time Attack Mode wants you to beat the levels as fast as possible. What initially took you 45 minutes to clear the first time around as you're exploring all areas may now only take 4 minutes. There are tokens scattered around the levels to freeze the clock to help you achieve your best time. In Score Attack, you beat the levels trying to obtain a high score. You can score by collecting treasures or defeating enemies. You get a multiplier which builds up when you beat enemies without getting hit yourself. If you do get hit, it drops by one. The max multiplier you can get is 30. In Arena Challenges, they are combat challenges set in a combat arena and you have to defeat the waves of enemies the game throws at you. It is tough, especially in harder difficulties.
Finally, Bonus Missions are combat focused as well but you have to try and complete an objective by traversing around the map. For example, you need to destroy a certain number of machines, it is also score based. As if that is not enough, there are heaps of Collectibles: Story Scrolls, Legendary Treasures, Winged Sapphires, level specific collectibles and Hats. There is also an Accolades section which are in-game achievements such as using a certain number of Skylanders, beating a certain number of levels and so on. All of this extra stuff feed into the Portal Master leveling added into the game. You gain levels as you earn more stars from completed level objectives or challenges and once you reach a certain level, you can use a Legendary Treasure to boost your defense, attack etc. All of this adds into another solid Skylanders game. What's more, if you have purchased the previous two games' Starter Packs, you will have a decent amount of different elements already (seven out of the original eight elements, plus a Giant) which means a lot of the unlockables are accessible. While at this point, Swap Force runs the risk of starting to become stale, it adds enough new things to make it worthwhile and retain all the fun of the originals. Definitely a recommended game!
OVERALL:
Once again, Skylanders provides great value in its offering. Not only do you get a new Portal and three figures, the game itself is a blast to play. It's incredibly fun (and there is local co-op challenges too) and provides heaps of content, even if you don't have any additional Skylanders apart from the three provided. The game has heaps of longevity and the gameplay mechanics are improved. Swap Force is the best Skylanders game yet.
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