MM 1: Remember Skylanders?

Ahh, yes. Skylanders. Haven't talked about them much in the last few months, have I? Well, that's mainly because there's been a small hiatus on collecting them until very recently.



I'll get into why in the next article, but the point is that I wanted to revamp the way I reviewed the figures and abilities for this section, and I wanted to do that by element. Which would require me to pick up the characters from a certain element that I was going to (i.e. 5 out of the 6 that exist each), and I don't have that full roster yet. But I have picked up a few interesting choices, including another rare-ish variant (or, I assume it will be rare, given how much people want him; I was lucky enough to arrive at the store as he was being stocked).

I do still plan on bringing you the figure reviews, though I'm not entirely sure I don't want to wait for later this year. As any of you following the games are aware, they come out with new ones too damn fast. I wasn't keen on Giants originally as the announcement came just when I had gotten the not-even-six-months-old first game, though my concerns turned out to be unfounded since Giants was bigger and better than the first. I still thought the games are coming out too fast when I heard that a third - THIRD - installment is preparing for release in the late fall.

Then I saw the trailer:

Holy crap. You've got the Fatboy Slim song most famous for having a dancing Christopher Walken in the video, you've got Richard Horvitz back as ZIM! KAOS! But most of all, you've got the Swap-Forcers themselves, which is a pretty neat concept if they can pull it off, though it's likely to up the retail cost.

But do you know what the best part is? The console versions will add the ability to jump.

That's right, jump.

If you know me, you know that the ability to jump in-game adds so much more to my personal play experience. It's why I have the 3DS Spyro's adventure, and it's the only sour note I have about Giants (as a Console game, anyway).

But this means I'll have to rate them in a third way. And I don't know how much else gameplay wise is going to change between Giants and Swap-Force (whether I'll just have to add a jumping grade to existing stats, or whether there'll be a stat overhaul).

I think the best way forward is this: Starting in April, I'll do a elemental review once a month. Thing is, I'll start with non-O.W.L. 3DS grades for Spyro's Adventure. By the time I've run out of elements, I'll probably have Swap-Force in hand and can better determine whether I'll go on to simply Console Giants or Console In General for the second round.

So to recap, starting next month, I'll do a once a month review doing 3DS and figure stats only for characters appearing in Spyro's Adventure (even if the figure I have is Series 2 or - depending on availability - Series 3), starting with the Air element. Once that's done and Swap-Force is out, I'll do the rotation again but for SA/Giants Console (and SF, if applicable, otherwise there will be a round 3!).

Until then, Portal Masters, happy gaming!