Skylanders Heroes
The Skylanders brand has become extremely popular over the past few months with toys from the range being in high demand on the playground and Skylanders being a topic of great excitement for kids. I think it is this generation’s craze just like Pokemon was for mine.
Discovery: I first discovered this app on the top downloaded free app charts on the Google Play Store. Although it is free to play it does have many points for purchases just like most free apps on the market there has to be an area for monetisation. But parents do not fret about missing this, when first installing the app it lets you know that there are in-app purchases.
World Map, darkened islands around the edge can be unlocked through gaining levels and completing tasks
Gameplay: Players have an island which they have to build structures on, customise and create a home for their Skylanders. Spyro is the first Skylanders which many parents and kids will recognise from the highly successful Spyro games. For those of you unfamiliar with Skylanders it is based around Spyro’s world with the Skylanders being various other weird and wonderful characters who fight against evil.
Downloading: The app is quite a large download so ensure you have enough space on your mobile device otherwise you’ll have to do what I did and remove some installed apps to accommodate this one. The game starts relatively quickly after downloading all it needs to function and a tutorial guides the player through the story and gameplay. The narrator guides the player at every step for the first 15 minutes of the game, this is helpful for children in order for them to grasp the point of the game and the navigation between various menus and options.
Story: The story involves players rebuilding the kingdom on the lost islands after the War of Kaos destroyed many skylanders’ homes. The story and tutorial allow for players to become engaged and activated in the game in only a couple of minutes.
Aesthetics and achievements: The graphics and music is of a high level especially the graphics of the Skylanders heroes. Heroes are unlocked in the store at each level they progress, levels are gained through experience, and experience come from completing tasks set by the characters in your world.
Similar games: The game is similar to the Simpsons Tapped Out in that it involves players building their own world with familiar characters and sending them on quests. It is also similar to Farmville in that players must grow resources to complete tasks and speeding up growth, construction or tasks costs an in-game currency.
Difficulty: The game is set at an easy pace which makes it simple and quick to follow, and a levelling up system gives players a sense of progression.
Social: Players can share their achievements and the world they create through connecting to friends via Facebook, but as Facebook becomes less popular with teens and younger ages only time will tell to prove how successful this is. And with this game being set at a children’s level and Facebook having an age limit of 13 it doesn’t seem like a good social match-up.
Spending: Now for the dreaded spending section, the one’s parents hate the most. The various sources of in-game currency like energy, gold, and gems means that there are plenty of areas for Skylanders to monetise their audience. Buying 100 gems costs around £1.50 but 100 gems won’t get you too far, each Skylander hero costs at least 300 gems. As the Skylanders characters are the main attraction for this brand especially with boys it means parents will be pleaded with by their kids to fork out around £4.50 for a new hero.
This game will keep getting their kids to come back for more through tasks taking time to complete so like many games with a time-lapse mechanic going on this game aims to be a daily thing with players returning to complete tasks, send Skylanders heroes on adventures, grow crops, design their world and clicking Play, Start and Select.
Play, Start, Select 