Skylanders: Swap Force

As the third game in the series, Skylanders: Swap Force made some pretty big changes to the Skylanders formula. Many people consider this to be one of the better games in the series. It was also the first game to be truly mass released as well as the PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, and 3DS. This game would also appear on the PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Wii U as well. Today we are taking a look at this game which was released arguably when the series was at the peak of its popularity.

Oh, Kaos, What Have You Done This Time?

The plot of Skylanders: Swap Force is a lot of fun and a great continuation of the series. This time around we learn about these four powerful creatures known as Elementals. Kaos has this new power that can turn things evil and he plans to use it on one of the Elementals! The story is told in a very comedic way and the voice acting is once again fantastic. It is so easy to see why kids all over the world fell in love with these games! They have all the personality and charm of a Pixar or DreamWorks movie!

Swap Magic

The “gimmick” of Skylanders: Swap Force is the new Swap Force Skylanders. The last game introduced Giants and this game introduces the new Swap Force Skylanders. These are Skylanders that can interchange their top and bottom half with each other. For example, the starter pack comes with Wash Buckler and Blast Zone. If you put the top part of Wash Buckler with the bottom part of Blast Zone, he becomes Wash Zone and can do new movies. With 16 Swap Force Skylanders, there are tons of combinations of characters to have fun with.

Play A Little Van Halen

I would say that the first two Skylanders games were kind of like dungeon crawlers in their gameplay. With Skylanders: Swap Force, you still for the most part have that same kind of gameplay. You will explore levels, fighting enemies, bosses, solving basic puzzles, and so on. However, the big change to the core gameplay here is that a jump button was added for the first time.

Skylanders Academy

It is kind of crazy that it took so long for a Skylanders animated series to become a thing. Released on Netflix, Skylanders Academy was a fun show. However, before that, the video games looked so much like a cartoon and have such great sound design that they were like playing through an interactive cartoon themselves. This is a fantastic looking game, clearly, the Wii and 3DS versions are not quite as polished, but even they are games that are very easy on the eyes.

Pros:

• The new Swap Force Skylanders are a ton of fun
• This game looks and sounds amazing
• There are many different things to find in each level
• The gameplay is fun and more challenging than you would think

Cons:

• You do have to collect a whole bunch of the toys to get the best out of the game
• The Wii and 3DS versions do lack a bit of polish