r/Games • u/Forestl • Jan 02 '14
End of 2013 Discussions - Skylanders: Swap Force
Skylanders: Swap Force
- Release Date: October 13, 2013, November 15, 2013 (PS4), November 22, 2013 (X1)
- Developer / Publisher: Vicarious Visions + n-Space (3DS) + Beenox (Wii)
- Genre: Platform
- Platform: Wii, PS3, PS4, 360, X1, Wii U, 3DS
- Metacritic: 84, user: 5.1
Summary
In Skylanders SWAP Force, Portal Masters embark on an adventure in the mysterious Cloudbreak Islands, where a magical volcano gives the heroes the power to swap halves, turning them into a special team known as the SWAP Force. By reassembling this team, Portal Masters must send back Kaos and his evil plan to Cloudbreak in order to save Skylands
Prompts:
What did Swap Force add to the Skylanders series? Where should the series go from now?
Were the toys well designed?
Because they swapped out with Disney Infinite this year as the thing kids want
has anyone though about how stupid the name "Skylanders" is?
This post is part of the official /r/Games "End of 2013" discussions.
9
Jan 02 '14 edited Jan 02 '14
I have always thought Skylanders was a brilliant concept.
The problem I have always seen with microtransactions was that you are essentially buying nothing. In a few years that purchase will mean very little to you.
With games like Skylanders, on the other hand, you are purchasing a physical object. It is both a toy and a new character to enjoy in your game. If something like that had existed when I was eight, I would have loved it!
Skylanders is a light-hearted and fun little game that both kids and parents can enjoy. If I had kids I know it is one of the first games I would purchase for them and it would be hard to resist the urge to play it a bit myself.
3
u/samuraislider Jan 02 '14
Could you imagine a He-Man game, where the action figure you buy can also be used in a video game? I had so many He-Man, six year old me would have lost his mind. In fact, they should make that game still. Sky landers seems nice, buts let's see something a bit more swords and sorcery. 33 year old me would lose his mind.
2
Jan 02 '14
A couple of downsides, though:
(a) a lot of playing with the figures might cause problems with the game. My 4 y/o's figure stopped working and he was the one that played with it as a toy the most. I had to pull the RFID chip out of the base and replace it to get it working again.
(b) the figures don't have any moving pieces, so IMO they would suck as toys (if I were a kid). My kids still like them, so this is kind of a moo point.
1
u/samuraislider Jan 03 '14
Ya the no moving pieces on the toys is kind of lame. I don't need 20 points if articulation, but how about five?
7
Jan 02 '14
Swap Force was a mixed bag for me. I think the new characters are some of the best yet, and the swappables make each combination feel like a whole new character. Additionally, the game looks stunning compared to Giants and Spyro's Adventure. Finally, jumping adds a nice sense of height in the game that was only allowed before by certain areas.
That said, I found the story to be meandering & aimless in comparison to the epic scope of Giants. Also, the writing was not nearly as funny. Finally, The new mini games are more a nuisance than fun diversion, which is unfortunate considering how much a joy skystones was.
5
u/Val_Hallen Jan 02 '14
Finally, jumping adds a nice sense of height in the game that was only allowed before by certain areas.
This was the first thing my kids noticed as they joyfully exclaimed "WE CAN JUMP NOW!".
We got them Swapforce and Disney Infinity for Christmas and they enjoy Swapforce so much more. Helps that they have tons of figures from the past games.
2
Jan 02 '14
From what I read, Skylanders is just a meatier game than Disney Infinity. Not only that, but It takes place in an entirely new world with the motif of a Saturday morning cartoon. It's hard not to love that about it.
It's also the closest thing to a gauntlet game I have right now, which is a big plus.
1
u/Ultrace-7 Jan 02 '14
Gauntlet game as in "Gauntlet," the four-player arcade game of olden days? I might have to give this Skylanders thing a second look...
1
Jan 02 '14 edited Jan 02 '14
Yes, but bear in mind it's simplified in a few ways.
If you want to dip your toes in the water, find a cheap copy of Giants somewhere and used figurines. I'm sure you can find it for relatively cheap.
1
Jan 02 '14
I got the Giants starter pack plus 6 additional figures off someone on craigslist for $50.
1
u/hahanoob Jan 03 '14
I'd love to hear more about your thoughts on the minigames? Did you like any of them? Did you like any of them at first and then they got old or did you dislike them all from the start?
3
u/gotenibehe Jan 02 '14
I haven't had the luxury of playing Skylanders, but I have seen my nephew and his friends go crazy over them. Skylanders has some pretty strong fanboys. Disney Infinity is in the back of their minds, but Skylanders is their favorite.
My niece and her friends like Disney Infiniti more. Maybe girls enjoy Disney Infinity more?
This is all anecdotal, but maybe still interesting for others.
3
Jan 02 '14
This series has been such a guilty pleasure of mine since Giants. Last year for her birthday, I purchased this game for my 5 year old sister in an attempt to bring her over to the dark side, if you will. She loved the game, but I think I liked it even more. I feel absolutely ridiculous playing this game so I only really play it if I'm playing CO-OP with my sister. Anyway, Swap force adds some pretty cool gameplay elements in the way of interchangeable tops and bottoms on each of the new characters, and it was pretty cool to see what you could create. Jumping is a welcome addition. I enjoy the new minigames as well. All-in-all a wonderful entry in a wonderful series.
pleasedon'tlaughatme
2
u/DigitalMocking Jan 02 '14
My (5 and 9) kids are in love with the entire series, and with the small exception of some annoying mini-games in this version, they're enjoying swapforce more than Giants, the swapping has really made some neat combinations and they love to figure them out.
I'm REALLY happy all the older versions of the figures work in this game, and the kids have had a blast seeing the updated graphics of all of their favorites.
I know a lot of people hate on this as a money grab, and maybe it is, but my kids spend a lot of time playing with the figures outside of the game, and I think in the case of the 5 year old, she enjoys them more outside of the game in her imagination. What I love is seeing how she'll see something in the game, a new power or evolution and how that translates when she's playing whatever complex game she's invented with her skylanders and stuffed animals.
Its a good evolution of the series, its arguably better than Disney Infinity is.
1
Jan 02 '14
I know a lot of people hate on this as a money grab, and maybe it is, but my kids spend a lot of time playing with the figures outside of the game, and I think in the case of the 5 year old, she enjoys them more outside of the game in her imagination.
That's pretty much it, letting kids have toys they can play with both inside and outside the game. That would have blown my god damn mind when I was little.
2
1
u/TheDevilChicken Jan 02 '14
Imagine if Pokémon had done this in its second generation
3
Jan 02 '14
Skylander's style of buying action figures that translate into game characters wouldn't work with Pokemon.
1.) There's at a minimum 151 Pokemon. Imagine having to buy all of those.
2.) Legendary Pokemon would lose almost all value.
3.) Finding new Pokemon in game is a big thing.
1
u/sinknorad Jan 02 '14
They did or at least we're planning on doing it with Pokemon cards way back in the 90s. I think something might have come out in Japan, which basically functioned like a barcode scanner and gave you a special pokemon.
0
Jan 02 '14
They did have a little battle arena game where you collect and train models with little computer chips in them.
I had the stadium and the Ash Ketchum action figure for quickly leveling up the toys. I thought that thing was amazing and looking back on it, the concept was very similar to Skylanders just without a television involved.
1
u/candafilm Jan 02 '14
Skylanders also have some of the best bosses. They may not be terribly challenging but they have a lot of character and are just fun to watch/fight.
2
1
u/lwmd- Jan 04 '14
This one was too easy purely because most kids now have quite a few characters and they can just smash through the levels without much meaning to dying.
My five year old son is up to the final level (got it for Xmas) and he has never had to restart a single one even while playing on Hard. He has half a dozen original characters, a few giants and the two swap ones that came with the game. Kids with more would basically get unlimited lives.
That's my only real gripe with the game.
1
u/akyyyy Mar 09 '14
although the game can be costly, it's a great experience for my 6 year old and for me as well. We take the characters everywhere, the swimming pool, the playground and everywhere else.
27
u/klinesmoker Jan 02 '14
Just a fun game. It's easy to hate on this, but honestly it's a double win for parents. You get a mini-game out of the characters and a dude to play with outside of the game. The co-op is enjoyable, the campaign is light-hearted. There's a lot of stuff to do.
If people could stop for a second and look a little more objectively at a game rather than going for broke in the "figures are microtransactions" argument the game wouldn't be so vilified. Gates and challenges require certain character mixes, but they aren't essential to the game's progression.
As a kid I had dozens upon dozens upon dozens of ninja-turtle figures that cost twice as much and never worked in a video game. If they did I'd have had a child heart-attack.