Activision has announced Skylanders 3 is titled Skylanders SWAP Force! The next game in the popular series didn’t get its systems confirmed, but it’s expected to once again appear on Wii, Wii U, 3DS, Xbox 360 & PS3 in Fall 2013.
As a sequel, Skylanders SWAP Force builds upon the success of the franchise’s signature gameplay with an all-new innovative play pattern – swapability – that gives players more choice than ever before by letting them swap the top and bottom halves of the toys to create their own characters.
Watch the first Skylanders Swap Force video here to see how the swapping works:
Skylanders Swap Force game details:
The game lets Portal Masters reconfigure 16 SWAP Force characters into more than 250 unique combinations. Players can mix and match characters’ powers and moves, and then bring them to life in the game. Fans of the franchise also can play Skylanders SWAP Force with their entire collection of characters from both Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure and Skylanders Giants, now with the added capability of jumping. — That’s right, the new game is backwards compatible with all previous Skylanders figures! 🙂
Skylanders SWAP Force features 16 new SWAP Force characters, along with 32 core Skylanders characters (16 completely new Skylanders and 16 new versions of fan favourite characters from previous games) and eight new LightCore characters. Skylanders SWAP Force also delivers high-resolution graphics that bring the game’s detailed characters and rich environments to life, immersing players in the game play like never before.
Here’s the official Skylanders Swap Force teaser trailer:
The story of Skylanders Swap Force:
In Skylanders SWAP Force, Portal Masters embark on an all-new adventure in the mysterious Cloudbreak Islands, home to a mystical volcano that erupts every hundred years to replenish the magic in Skylands. During an epic battle, a brave group of Skylanders were caught in the volcano’s eruption, which blasted them apart and sent them to earth. But, the magic of the volcano gave these heroes a remarkable new power – the ability to swap halves – turning them into a special team known as the SWAP Force. Meanwhile, Kaos is back with a new evil plan. And now, Portal Masters everywhere must reassemble the SWAP Force – in their original form or in new combinations – and send them back to Cloudbreak to save Skylands!
Quotes from the creators:
“With Skylanders, we didn’t just create a beloved new franchise, we actually created an entirely new category that brings the world of physical toys and video games together like never before. And now with Skylanders SWAP Force, we are pushing the genre we created forward with another big innovation: customisation,” said Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing, Inc. “The idea that kids can customise their own characters in the physical world, and have their unique combinations recognised in the virtual world, is an idea as big as the concept of bringing toys to life itself.”
“Skylanders Giants was named to our 2012 Holiday Hot Toy List for good reason – it extended the franchise’s breakthrough game play and its performance in retail has been incredible. We’re continually impressed by the originality that Activision delivers in bringing toys to life,” said Jerry Storch, Chairman and CEO, Toys“R”Us, Inc. “The innovation of allowing kids to customise their toys in the real world and then send them into the Skylanders SWAP Force game is sure to raise the bar for the franchise.”
The new game will be featured at Toy Fair 2013, February 10th-13th at the Javits Center in New York City, in booth 3061.