You did
it again, Activision, you got me to drop a good chunk of change on a game and
its accessories. My boys have had quite
the fondness for all things Skylanders since the first game came out two years
ago, so it was a no-brainer that I was going to pick this one up. How does it hold up though? Is it as good as the last two games in the
series, and does it warrant the money necessary to complete it? Let’s find out.
The
game itself is reasonably fun and in the same vein as the previous two
releases. My favorite thing about this
game (and all of the Skylanders games
for that matter) is the characters. The
amount of detail and creativity in the sculpts themselves make this game stand
out from all others. I like to reward
creativity, and Skylanders is a game
that takes that creativity to a new level.
We all have our favorite characters in a video game that features
options, be it Blanka or Ryu from Street
Fighter, Sub-Zero or Scorpion from Mortal
Kombat, etc. but here we get to hold our favorite characters in our hand,
to study their sculpts, and better yet, to level up that character to make him
the best that he can be. There is a level of personal commitment to
this game (as well as the obvious financial one) that is unmatched anywhere
else. It’s like Pokemon, yes, but you don’t get to take your individual pokemon
with you when you catch them. Sure, they’re
in your game, but you never get to hold them in your hand, and the individual
pokemon, in my mind anyway, do not even come close to the detail and individuality
of the various characters in any of the Skylanders
games.
The main upgrade in terms of
gameplay has to be the ability to jump within the console game (you always
could with the DS releases). You may
think this is a silly thing to make a big deal out of, but it was something
that was severely lacking in the first few games. Toys for Bob, the developer of Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure and Skylanders: Giants did an admirable job
of compensating for the lack of that particular ability, but it always felt
like something was missing in those games.
Now, with the ability to jump, the game does feel more complete, and
this actually helps to make Swap Force
feel less repetitive than it could have been.
It was a good, but short, game with a generic and overused plot.
Let’s
call this what it is though, a money-making venture by Activision. That is the only way to explain the annual
offerings, the constant collectible characters (many of them reposes of
characters from earlier versions) as well as the new gimmick with each
successive game. This is not a bad thing
as long as the games don’t get stale and dip in quality, as long as the game is
worth the substantial financial investment.
Is this game worth that investment?
Not really, and here’s why.
The
main problem with the Skylanders
franchise has always been the release cycle of the toys associated with
it. Some of the toys are hard to find,
with a few not released until six months after the release of the game. While an inconvenience, it is not really an
issue because the game can be completed to nearly 100% with the day one
releases. Swap Force, however does not have that kind of luck. Sure, the basic story can be completed with a
regular character, one you get from the starter pack, or one you have on hand
from the previous games will do the trick.
The thing that makes Swap Force unique is the swappable characters, the
characters that have their tops and bottoms held together by magnets and you
can switch them around to create new, interesting combinations. They have absolutely no bearing on the game
itself, but they are part of the Skylanders
mythology and are therefore important to collectors. What the Swappers offer is access to
minigames and in-game collectibles that go towards achieving 100% completion on
each level. Unfortunately, the game came
out nearly two months ago and in waves one and two, a complete set of Swappers
(ones that could access all of the areas in the levels) have not yet been released. By the time wave three is released (in a few
weeks from what I hear) those that have already bought the game for anything
other than a Christmas present will have played through it, and, when they are
faced with the fact that they cannot access certain areas, may get fed up with
the game, not bothering to go back to it, and possibly not picking up the next
waves of characters. Will collectors do
so? Of course. Will people that have yet to open the game
before Christmas morning do so?
Probably. Will everyone
else? That’s highly debatable and a big
risk to take.
The
other issue is one of oversaturation. A
new release every year along with a metric ton of new action figures to buy
will most likely cause people to burn out on the series (along with continuing
to raise the prices of the individual characters with each new installment – a
dick move if I ever saw one). Just like Guitar Hero, Activision is going to
drown consumers in product until they say “to hell with it” and find something
new. Personally, I am almost at that
point myself. If these companies want to
continue to take my money, they should at least offer a better product in
return.
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