Skylanders: Swap Force is the newest platformer title from Vicarious Visions (also known for Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 and the Nintendo Wii version of Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock) and published by Activision. The game is a direct sequel to 2011's Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure, while also being the third main game in the Skylanders video game and toy franchise.
As far as a resolute story, Skylanders: Swap Force opens up with the Skylanders home world being invaded and disrupted by the bad guys, called Evil Kaos, and now it’s up to the Swap Force to set things straight. The story is unveiled through a series of cut scenes.
“Embark on an exciting new adventure with the Skylanders and the SWAP Force. For generations, the SWAP Force protected the volcano that replenishes Skylands’ magic. That is until an epic battle caught them in an eruption that blasted them apart, sent them to Earth and gave them the ability to swap powers. Only you can mix and match their tops and bottoms, put them on the new Portal of Power and save Skylands,” the official description for the game states.
It was not long ago when Highland Council, Visit Scotland, and Activision Publishing teamed up to announce the first ever virtual twinning of a real world location with a gaming environment.
Alan Mackenzie of VisitScotland commented at the time: “The Isle of Skye is renowned for its stunning landscapes, which possess an almost ethereal quality, and its abundance of wildlife, making it the perfect place to virtually twin with Skylands, home to Skylanders SWAP Force.”
“We’re thrilled to be teaming up with the SkylandersTM franchise for this unique partnership, which will help raise the profile of this beautiful part of the world, encouraging families to enjoy a real-life adventure on the Isle of Skye – nowhere else on Earth comes close!”
"Skylanders is a brand built on one thing: magic. With each and every Skylanders title, we want to deliver new, delightful innovations to our young fans that continue to blur the lines between physical and digital play," Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing, further added.
"With Skylanders SWAP Force, we've taken this genre to a whole new level by giving players the greatest power of all: choice. In a franchise known for breakthrough innovation, I have no doubt that SWAP Force is our most innovative Skylanders game yet. And we're thrilled to share it with fans of all ages all over the world today."
Similar to the previous games in the franchise, Skylanders: Swap Force will allow players to use a portal to bring real life action figures into the video game. For the new title, however, Skylanders are now able to jump in with a host of new swappable Skylanders characters.
Apart from the regular Skylanders characters, there are 16 new characters whose top and bottom halves can be separated from each other and combined with the halves from other characters in the roster. What this does is allow for a total of 256 different combinations between all tops and bottoms.
Check out the list of characters below:
-Blast Zone
-Boom Jet
-Bumble Blast
-Bumble Blast
-Core
-Countdown
-Countdown
-Dark Blast Zone
-Dark Mega Ram Spyro
-Dark Ninja Stealth Elf
-Dark Slobber Tooth
-Dark Wash Buckler
-Doom Stone
-Dune Bug
-Fire Kraken
-Flashwing
-Free Ranger
-Freeze Blade
-Fryno
-Grilla Drilla
-Grim Creeper
-Grim Creeper
-Hoot Loop
-Magna Charge
-Night Shift
-Pop Thorn
-Punk Shock
-Rattle Shake
-Rip Tide
-Roller Brawl
-Rubble Rouser
-Scorp
-Scratch
-Slobber Tooth
-Smolderdash
-Smolderdash
-Spy Rise
-Star Strike
-Star Strike
-Stink Bomb
-Swappable
-Trap Shadow
-Warnado
-Wash Buckler
-Wham-Shell
-Wind Up
-Zoo Lou
Also below is the list of in-game levels you will face:
-Mount Cloudbreak
-Cascade Glade
-Mudwater Hollow
-Rampant Ruins
-Jungle Rumble
-Iron Jaw Gulch
-Molteyville
-Twisty Tunnels
-Serpant's Peak
-Boney Islands
-Winter Keep
-Frostfest Mountains
-Mesmeralda's Show
-Fantasm Forest
-Kaos' Fortress
-Motherly Mayhem
-Cloudbreak Core
Skylanders: Swap Force released for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo Wii and Nintendo Wii-U in North America back in Oct. 13, Oct. 16 in Australia and Oct. 18 in Europe, with the game also being a launch day title for both PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.