I have never really looked into Skylanders in the past and am not really even the target audience for the game so when we had a closed doors private demo scheduled I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I was more or less aware of what the game entailed but beyond that I was clueless. After the demo, thanks in no small part to the presenter Nev who was the absolute best of the show, I am actually really interested in the game and am thinking pretty strongly about picking it up.

Skylanders Swap Force is the third in the series and continues the convention of importing collectible action figures into the game via a portal platform to become your playable characters in game. Swap Force adds to this by offering action figures that can detach at the middle and be recombined to create new characters with different combinations of abilities. This allows for an increased potential for problem solving and customization and allows the players to venture farther in the world through unique obstacles.

The swapping feature is pretty simple as well. The figures snap together in the middle and the top and bottom of each figure have data in them so when you put the top of one on the bottom of another and stick it on the portal  both sets of data are read and a new character shows up in the game. The character’s name is based on which sections you put together. The top section corresponds to the first name and the bottom corresponds to the second name. As mentioned above, this allows the player to use the abilities in unique ways that interact with the environment and enemies different. The game also supports dynamic swapping so you can change out your characters on the fly if you come to an obstacle you have to break through or climb.

Movement is improved altogether by these swaps as well. In addition to every character being able to jump now, the characters all have distinct movement powers that make a difference in terms of obstacles and pathways. Particular areas carry symbols that correspond with particular sorts of movements and only characters with the correct bottom abilities can get through these areas. Again, the dynamic swapping is very useful here.

While the initial game offers up two swap force characters there are 16 new figure altogether. Because of the swapping aspect this allows for 256 different combinations. That is a lot to work with for a lot less of a figure investment than past games. If you have invested in figures from other games, those work in this one as well so all 100 figures from previous games can be used here. They won’t have the same swapping and customization options but you still have access to everything you already have.

From a gameplay perspective, the game looked like a pretty solid 3rd person action platformer with a fair amount of variety. Watching Nev navigate looked intuitive and the obstacles and combat looked fun. The swapping aspects of the gameplay helped elevate it from standard fare to something a bit more interesting.

As someone who had never really given the series much thought, I was fairly impressed by Skylanders Swap Force and I am much more interested in picking it up now. I don’t know that I really want the financial commitment to collecting figures but the concept seems fun and Swap Force offers more to do with less to buy and that knocks down a bit of that barrier for entry.