Last year, Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure captured the hearts of kids and the wallets in their parents, with its figurines that come to life within the game. Today at E3 2012, we got a glance at Skylanders Giants, the approaching sequel that introduces some new elements and, in fact, a slew of latest toys to assemble. It may well also put an undue strain on parents’ pursestrings and lead a number of them to prevent indulging their children’s Skylanders habit.
Because the demo began, a brand new Skylander figurine named Jet-Vac was put on the Portal of Power peripheral, and the bird-like character then appeared within the game with a rousing cry of “Hawk and awe!” The terrain wherein Jet-Vac began his journey looked very similar to the inviting grasslands of early Skylanders levels, and the gameplay pretty corresponding to that of the primary game. Pushing a block aside revealed a previously hidden tunnel, and we were told that Giants introduces most of these secret areas, encouraging exploration and giving players more reason to come back to levels.
Soon, we got a glance at among the new “light core” Skylanders; a variation of Prism Break from the unique game. As this special version of Prism Break was brought nearly the portal, crystals within the figurine’s arms started to glow. It was a neat visual touch that’s guaranteed to enchant many children, and it doesn’t require batteries; the ability comes from the portal. Apart from this nifty figurine feature, light core characters also will have powers unique to them within the game.
After advancing a little bit, the player placed another new Skylander named Pop Fizz at the portal, bringing the demented goblin-like creature into the sport. Pop Fizz was described as an alchemist, and at one point he drank from a flask, temporarily mutating himself right into a bigger, more powerful version of himself that was described as a berzerker. Pop Fizz was clearly able to going through foes, but if he chanced on a place that was particularly crowded with enemies, the player took the chance to modify to at least one of the titular giants, placing a significantly larger figurine at the portal. The giant’s name was Tree Rex, and he resembled a mech that were built from large living pieces of wood.
Like his figurine counterpart, the in-game Tree Rex was much larger than a standard Skylander, and his size enabled him to yank boulders off the floor and toss them at enemies. We initially wondered if the added physical power of giants wouldn’t essentially make smaller Skylanders obsolete, but both Tree Rex and Bouncer, a robotic giant we saw a chunk later, seemed to move more slowly than normal Skylanders, which can be disadvantageous in some situations.
We learned that Skylanders Giants raises the extent cap for characters from 10 to fifteen, and that this is applicable both to new Skylanders and to these you have got utilized in the unique game. The upgrade system was tweaked a piece; whereas before, you reached some extent where you needed to make a choice from one path of upgrades or another for every Skylander, in Giants you could switch backward and forward between upgrades. And although Skylanders is obviously designed primarily with youth in mind, Giants will add a variety of difficulty levels in an try and accommodate those players who might want more of a challenge.
But what in regards to the toys? Having physical figurines that store the progress of your characters is a part of Skylanders’ allure, but Giants may push things a bit too far. The sport will introduce eight giants (one for every element), eight new Skylanders, and 24 “series two” characters, that are new figurines of characters who appeared within the first game. Needless to say, you’ll use your existing Skylanders, but series two characters could have powered-up upgrades, that is certain to make children long for the hot versions. Additionally, there’ll be eight light core characters, 4 of that may be variants of series two characters (like Prism Break), and four of that allows you to be variants of latest Skylanders.
Obviously, variations on existing characters are nothing new to the toy industry. There are any choice of versions of characters like Luke Skywalker and Han Solo in Star Wars toy lines, and having the unique He-Man toy didn’t make most Masters of the Universe fans want Battle Armor He-Man any less. So in a feeling, putting out new versions of characters players have already grown attached to seems like good business sense.
Nevertheless it also seems a piece crass, and the indisputable fact that series two characters have more powerful upgrades than their predecessors sounds designed to get kids to ignore their existing toys and inspire their parents to shop for a complete new set of Skylanders for them. We will not help but ponder whether parents may be willing to buy new assortments of Skylanders so soon after sinking considerable amounts of cash into building their children’s collections for the primary game, and if those many adults who also fell under the 1st game’s spell will feel the identical impulse to gather ’em all that they did the primary time around.