Skylanders: Swap Force

Genre: 3D Platformer

Players: 1

Game Company Bad Behavior Profile Page: Activision Blizzard

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Review:

Note: Are you confused by all this “Toys to Life” stuff? Check out eShopperReviews’ helpful guide here!

Skylanders: Swap Force is a family-friendly Action-RPG with 3D Platformer elements released in 2013 on PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Wii, and Wii U, with an entirely separate game with the same title released on Nintendo 3DS the same year. This is the third game in the Skylanders franchise, the series that started the “Toys to Life” craze that has largely died out by 2022, save for Nintendo’s own Amiibos, which continue to linger on. Much like Amiibos, Skylanders figurines have NFC chips in the figurines, which can be read by a “Portal” device that connects to your Nintendo 3DS wirelessly via the Nintendo 3DS’s little-used infrared port (on the top of the handheld, near the L button).

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Getting Started

For those wondering about what additional toys/gadgets/doodads you’ll need to get to enjoy this game, know that in order to play this game, you need to get a Nintendo 3DS Swap Force portal. This is reputedly the only one that will work with this version of the game – you cannot use a portal from another platform, and you supposedly cannot use a portal from another Skylanders game (though I cannot test out this last point myself, as I only have a Swap Force portal on the Nintendo 3DS).

You will also need at least one compatible Skylanders figurine (this game only works with Spyro’s Adventure, Giants, Swap Force, and Eon’s Elite figurines) – Different figurines have different abilities, and some types of figurines are required to access certain areas, but no specific figurine is required to play the game. However, in some areas Giants figurines do make it easier to get past some obstacles.

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Avoiding Forced Obsolecence?

Given that Swap Force presented players with a huge leap forward on consoles, one might hope that the same would be true of the Nintendo 3DS version. Unfortunately, this isn’t quite the case. To be sure, this game once again features the excellent 3D characters with wonderful animation that the series is known for, and this game thankfully addresses the nasty framerate issues that were present in the Nintendo 3DS version of Skylanders: Giants. The level designs are also more detailed and elaborate… however, those level designs are not a huge improvement over the prior games, and actually look pretty blocky and low-poly in places. It’s not horrible, but it’s disappointing that after three installments on the 3DS the visuals have progressed so little. We do at least once again have some excellent voice acting here from talent like Patrick Warburton, and another excellent soundtrack that works well for the game.

If there’s one area where the game has truly progressed technologically, it is in the way that it uses the portal. Where previous games on the Nintendo 3DS had you scan in two characters in between levels that you could swap between during the level, this made it frustrating to be going through a level only to discover that you’d brought the wrong Skylanders with you and wouldn’t be able to change them out without leaving the level first. The Nintendo 3DS version of Swap Force fixes this issue by having the game keep track of all Skylanders figurines you have scanned in, allowing you to change them out freely whenever you want.

Honestly, I wonder why the heck it took so long for this change to happen – it should have been the way the 3DS games worked right from the start, as it makes these games far more convenient to play through. I can only guess that they avoided doing it this way for so long because physically putting figurines on the portal is supposed to be “part of the experience”.

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Swapping a Pair of Twins?

There’s not much I can say about the gameplay of the Nintendo 3DS version of Skylanders: Swap Force that I didn’t already say about the Nintendo 3DS version of Skylanders: Giants. Like all Nintendo 3DS games in the series thus far, the Nintendo 3DS version of Skylanders: Swap Force has a greater focus on Platforming than the console versions do, though this focus is mixed with its focus on combat. This gameplay is generally good, though at this point it’s starting to feel old hat.

Once again, the lack of camera control is frustrating, particularly in areas within levels where players explore splitting paths and may ultimately have to backtrack by walking toward the camera, fighting enemies coming from the direction of the camera, and even doing platforming by making blind leaps toward the camera. How has this not been fixed yet?

Oddly, this game also introduces a problem that was present in the console version of Skylanders: Giants, but that the Nintendo 3DS version largely avoided – obstacles that players need to get past that are easier to surpass with a Giants figurine, rather than only having the purely optional paths that call for a certain type of figurine. If you don’t have a Giants figurine, it can feel like you’re being inconvenienced for not buying enough Skylanders stuff. Thankfully, these obstacles aren’t extremely common, and you can still get past them using other means, but it’s still an annoyance worth mentioning.

However, being able to freely swap Skylanders without even touching a figurine? That more than makes up for the minor inconveniences here. This addition alone vastly improves the game and makes for a far more enjoyable experience, as players aren’t having to interrupt their gameplay just to fiddle with figurines. I do wish players weren’t forced to sit through these characters’ introductions every time you swap them, but I suppose this is more in line with the way the console games do things.

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A Recommendation, Albeit not a Forceful One

I know I’ve probably come across as somewhat negative through this review, and I apologize for that somewhat. Despite my negativity, the Nintendo 3DS version of Skylanders: Swap Force is indeed an improvement over the Nintendo 3DS version of Skylanders: Giants, although almost all of the improvement here is due to the improved way this game uses the portal, and the improved framerates. Those two changes alone make a great deal of difference, which is good because so much of the rest of the game is more or less the same experience as the prior game. Still quite good, but this sadly isn’t the huge improvement that console versions of Swap Force got. However, if you enjoyed the prior Skylanders games on Nintendo 3DS, I think you’ll be pleased with this sequel, even if you’re also a tad disappointed that it’s not a bigger leap over its predecessor.

tl;dr – The Nintendo 3DS version of Skylanders: Swap Force is a family-friendly 3D Platformer. This game, and its console counterparts, are also the third game in the Skylanders series of Toys-to-Life games that kicked off the entire craze. Swap Force features two noteworthy improvements over the Nintendo 3DS version of Skylanders: Giants – figurines scanned by the portal are all now saved to your profile and can be changed at any time, and the terrible framerates of the prior game have been fixed. Beyond that, this feels like very much the same experience. It’s still a good game, and the best 3DS entry in the series so far, but it’s hard not to be disappointed that these games have progressed so little.

Grade: B

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