A couple of weeks ago, just after the Call of Duty Multiplayer Reveal, we got a chance to check out a new build of Skylanders Swap Force. Not much was hinted in regards what we would see, but alas, once we got into the room I was very surprised to see that we were getting a chance to preview a next-gen version of the game on the PS4. We here at COG are big Skylanders fans as there are a few of us who consistently write about the franchise who have kids who love the game. So to get to see the next generation of the next Skylanders game was exciting given we were able to see what it would look like on next-gen hardware.
We sat down with Lou and Jen, who are part of the production team from Activision. Lou took the lead on speaking with us while Jen was our demo player. As we watched Jen play Lou spoke how the next-gen hardware is allowing them to get closer to making the game look like an animated feature film. “It’s a visually immersive experience that really brings the kids into the game”, he stated and then noted that were now able to use cutting edge cutting graphics to bring the game to life.
Skylanders Swap Force takes place in the Cloudbreak Islands. This is a new area of the Skylands where a volcano erupts and spews magic every 100 years replenishing the magic in Skylands. That bumbling evil villain Kaos is back and he has discovered what the volcano does. He has made it his mission to try to use petrified darkness to send out “evilized” darkness with the volcano magic and turn Skylands into a state where he will rule all.
As the game was being demoed on the PS4 hardware (dev-kit) we were reminded that a certain energetic purple dragon has been on Sony gaming platforms since the PSone days. Of course that dragon is Spyro. We were treated to a brief demo of what Spyro looks like on the PS4 and I have to say, he looked pretty darn good dressed up in next-gen graphics. Seeing Spyro run, jump and fly in this next-gen game was pretty darn cool and you will appreciate this even more given he is a “generation one” character. This highlights the fact that Swap Force supports all the figurines that are available, so your collection from the first game works, as do those from Skylanders Giants. The importance here is that there are over 100 different toys that the dev-team have re-animated, including jumping, and all these toys are making the leap to next-gen in native 1080p.
We also got introduced to a few new Skylanders during our demo time including Boom Jet, Grilla Drilla, Slobber Tooth and Zoo Lou. You can check out some brief character vignettes of each one at the end of this article right before the picture gallery.
There are a lot of new enemies as the Cloudbreak Islands are full of enemies you’ve never experienced before. As Jen demoed the game it was evident that the enemies have a variety of attacks that you must figure out and use to your advantage. During the specific battles on screen we saw how Jen mixed Rattle Shake and Boom Jet to make Rattle Jet allowing her to take advantage of specific attack abilities. It was neat to see how you can combine specific powers and attributes when making a Swap Force Skylander as it allows you to have a new strategy or two to use in battle. This is the magic of Swap Force as the possibilities for character customization is large allowing you to attack various scenarios in many different ways.
One of the scenes that was highlighted during the demo was launching Snowmen head first at the turrets you are battle. It was here that I thought how there is a mix of things to do in all the levels. We were told that the dev-team is excited about all the gameplay elements. The stuff to do in the game is immense and it will bring a lot of gameplay value to the whole experience. This was evident in the new level we got to watch and play as well as others we talked about.
There are 8 different types of Swap Force Zones found throughout any of the levels, each with their own gameplay, challenges and objectives. We got to see and play a Speed Zone. In this particular “challenge” your Skylander speeds down the track avoiding glaciers, avoiding enemy attacks (here it was blizzard ballers), and collecting coins. The coins help you to earn and unlock abilities and help you get higher in your Portal Master Rank.
Ooooooo, for those that are wondering, hats are back too so for those kids, or adults, out there that love to collect the hats in-game you wont be disappointed as all those from the previous games that you’ve collected carry over and there are a TON of new ones in Swap Force. Feel free to wear anyone that you like.
The lockmaster puzzles have been redesigned in Swap Force. Here you switch between two “gelatinous” dots and must join the two together. This allows for more interactivity, especially when you play two-player cooperative. Each player takes control of one of the dots as you try to solve the puzzle in order to get to the meeting point to open up the lock. It’s a subtle but yet pretty neat feature that only seems to add to the gameplay experience.
One of the things that stood out to me during the time with the game was when you mixed and matched characters, so taking them apart and making new Swap Force characters, the animations of the “new” character took on specific aspects of each character. So by mixing Grilla Drilla and Magna Charge, using the upper half of Grilla Drilla with the lower half of Magna Charge, it made the character stand different and move different. It’s something you don’t really think about, but when you notice that this is the case it’s a pretty neat revelation. The characters are not just generic in what they look like when swapped as they truly take on the all the characteristics of those you mix.
For those wondering, each half of your Skylander does not level up independently, but they do upgrade independently. The top half of each Skylander determines the level of the character, the health of the character, and the characters coin bank, but both the top and the bottom have their own upgrade chain that branches which leads to a HUGE amount of combinations and a very large number of upgrades to choose from.
In previous Skylander games there were zones that were only accessible to a specific element, this time around there are zones that require two specific elements. If you are playing as a single player this encourages you to make a Swap Force character using two halves that match the elements of the zone you want to get into. This makes sense given the new swapping abilities of the game. Of course if you’re playing co-op you can just use two characters that each represent the elements needed.
There are also 20 unique bonus missions within the game that you can search for, and once you find and unlock them they actually give you brand new scenarios that add to your overall portal master rank. There are different tiers for you to get through that also add to your portal master rank. In regards to online features, there are leaderboards as well as the ability to compare your Skylander collection with those on your friends list. Of course the core gameplay is to be experienced in the living room, so you don’t see online play in this area. The game is geared for kids too and this is another consideration for the lack of online cooperative.
It should also be noted that new adventure packs and battle backs will be back this time around. They want to continue to provide new experiences for the core game. There will also be collector figurines again too, variants so to speak. We were reminded of the special Dark Edition Starter Pack that includes Dark Spyro, Dark Wash Buckler, Dark Ninja Stealth Elf, Dark Blast Zone and Dark Slobber Tooth.
When asked about any new Swap Force specific characters coming out after the initial launch, nothing was confirmed but it was referenced that there may be variants of specific Swap Force characters that are already out, like the two that are in the aforementioned Dark Edition Starter Pack.
The game’s story is the same on next-gen as it will be on current-gen systems. Lou did note that there would be specific features that are console specific, but he did not get into what these would be. We can only assume that this means you’ll be doing stuff on the PS4 with the Dualshock 4’s touchpad and/or motion capabilities, whereas on the Xbox One there might be Kinect features included. I guess we will just have to wait and see.
Although we were checking out the PS4 version I asked about the Wii U version of the game, given the fact that the Wii U is Nintendo’s next-gen machine and that it has the capabilities for 1080p. Lou stated that the Wii U version is no slouch and that it looks really awesome. He was pretty excited to talk about how the game looks so crisp on the GamePad’s screen while giving it that portable feel. The game also supports GamePad control, the Pro Controller, Wii Remote and Nunchuk, and the Classic Controller on the Wii U.
After spending 45 minutes chatting, watching, and playing Skylanders Swap Force, I am once again left quite impressed. The PS4 version looks fabulous and the gameplay looks and feels just right. It is truly starting to look like a computer animated interactive film. The game is not slated for release on current-gen consoles until October, and next-gen consoles when they hit store shelves, so there is time to add more to the game, and given what we’ve seen so far I sense there will be a lot. We here at COG can’t wait to get our hands on the final version as it looks to bring so much fun to living and/or gaming rooms everywhere. Make sure to check out a few character vignettes (the new characters mentioned at the beginning of this preview) as well as some screens and pictures in the gallery below:
