The Skylanders have descended upon New York City, bringing some big news with them.
Activision CEO seems somewhat mystified to be in town for his third Toy Fair, only a couple short years after everyone wondered what a game company was doing there in the first place. Meanwhile, the Skylanders franchise has racked up $500 million in sales, outpacing hot toys like Beyblades, and Star Wars and Transformers action figures. Parents, get ready to open up your wallets again this fall.
Skylanders Swap Force is Activision's latest release in the franchise, innovating once again. I'm amazed at how they've been able to keep pace with the ever-changing toy industry and not only releasing games each year, but bringing new innovation with each release. With Swap Force, there are 16 new Skylanders characters that can swap halves. Need the rocket booster legs of one character but the sword-wielding power of another? No problem! Take them apart and put them together in just the right way to defeat the baddies. The lower halves of the characters have a lot to do with how they navigate the environment, bringing with them climbing power, or the ability to fly, or super speed. The top halves have more to do with how they behave in battle. There are 256 combinations of characters to try, giving kids lots of reason to try them all out.
There are new side games that require certain character abilities. In the same way as characters of certain elements can unlock side quests in the current Skylanders games, Swap Force unlocks games based on character ability, such as a flying character's ability to race through rings in the sky.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHaGAXzmiTg[/youtube]
In addition to the swappable characters, there are 32 new core Skylanders on the way, including new versions of fan favorites and some all new characters. I was psyched to learn about the new roller derby character, Roller Brawl. (Of course, I'm excited about every girl character they throw our way. More! More! More!) All of your existing characters can play in the Swap Force game, and now they can all jump! Apparently everyone has been asking Activision for jumping functionality.
The Skylanders games are the favorite games in our household, especially because my daughter and I can have a blast playing together. Her eyes lit up when I told her about this new game, so we're starting to clear some room for some new Skylanders.
