Some pretty exciting news has come up recently.
Skylanders is coming out with a new game in September, Skylanders: SuperChargers.
I'm pretty pumped for this one. I am a huge fan of movement in video games and the intoduction of vehicles takes the franchise to its next evolution.
After reading Skylanders SuperChargers: Everything You Need to Know and 21 Things You Need To Know About Skylanders: SuperChargers, I got a better idea of what is going on with the game.
First they had ramps and jump pads in Spyro's Adventure and Giants. And then they implemented jumping in SWAP Force, and now vehicles with SuperChargers.
The rapid mobility offered by vehicles answers the problem of levels being too big. A different game, Kingdoms of Amalur, had this issue. The whole map is pretty huge, but the player can only run across it. While fast-traveling is a feature, it takes you out of the amazing landscape and world of Amalur. A mount would give faster travel without breaking your immersion.
Vehicles in Skylanders preemptively solve the problem of a larger world. The Skylander games have been predominantly linear with some offshoots in terms of gameplay. SuperChargers feels like the first careful step to a more open world design.
This open world thinking seems to be most similiar to the underwater sections that hold ,"full-on diving, deep-sea gameplay, where you go far below the surface to explore massive underwater areas.''' (Reiner).
The Skylanders series has done something special with its games. The games are made to be simple enough for their young demographic to understand but have enough variety, interest, and polish that the games can appeal to an older audience.
Simply put, Skylanders are kids games that not just kids can enjoy and I have high hopes that SuperChargers will be another success for the franchise.
Sources:
Reiner, A. (2015, June 3). 21 Things You Need To Know About Skylanders: SuperChargers. Retrieved June 8, 2015, from http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2015/06/03/21-things-you-need-to-know-about-skylanders-superchargers.aspx?PostPageIndex=3
Lowe, S. (2015, June 3). Skylanders SuperChargers: Everything You Need to Know. Retrieved June 8, 2015, from https://blog.activision.com/community/games-blog/skylanders/blog/2015/06/03/skylanders-superchargers-everything-you-need-to-know