If you have a child at primary school then you will probably already know that today is THE DAY. Yes, the new and much anticipated installment of Skylanders is released today. The new game, Skylanders SWAP Force, arrived here just a little bit early so we have had the chance to try it out and deliver a verdict. I say ‘we’ but in reality E has been glued to it and none of the rest of us have got much of a look in so I thought it only fair to let him be in charge of a little video review. Here’s what he came up with:
As you can see, E loves it but how does it measure up from a parent’s perspective?
The new game retains all of the good features of the previous ones (great story, entertaining characters, good quality figures, game play that is suitable for a range of ages and the winning combination of action and fighting with puzzles and strategy) with one really exciting new feature. After being blasted apart by a volcano (ouch!) many of the Skylanders can now separate their top and bottom halves and swap with each other. This gives them the ability to combine powers and skills from two characters to achieve a task or puzzle. Along with the ability to upgrade the top and bottom of the characters separately this adds a great additional level to the game encouraging real strategic thinking from players. Some key points to note are:
Pros:
- ‘Swapability’ of two of the three characters in the starter pack mean you have five different characters to play with right from the start.
- All of our old Skylanders are forward compatible and have retained all of the upgrades they have acquired in previous games.
- All the characters can be used throughout the levels so you don’t have to buy loads of extras to ‘unlock’ levels (although there are over 50 characters including some re-imagined versions of old favourites if you’d like to collect them).
- The figures are really sturdy and have survived being ‘enthusiastically’ played with by T on many occasions without any ill effects.
Cons:
- The only slight niggle for me is I don’t think they have spent as much time on the background animation as in previous games so the overall look isn’t quite as slick. Having said that it isn’t something that E would ever notice and the animation is certainly still on a par with other games such as Disney Infinity.
Summary:
Just as good as you’ve come to expect, a fab game for a range of ages that will keep them engaged for months as they build up their collection.
Further Info:
You can find out more about Skylanders here.
You can buy the game as well as characters and accessories here.
If you want a second opinion a few other bloggers have also been testing out Skylanders so check out their reviews:
- Actually Mummy
- Boo, Roo and Tigger Too
[Disclosure: I am a Netmums reviewer and was sent the game free of charge for the purpose of review and was compensated for my time. All opinions are my own (and E’s).]
Ah another Skylanders addict, I wonder if E has already started planning which Skylaners are on his Christmas list
Oh Bug has his list of new characters ready for pocket money day! E is so cute!