QCF: Skylanders Swap Force

emember when you landed on those Card-playing mini-game spots that were scattered through various overworld maps in Super Mario Bros 3. that required you match three pieces of a Mushroom, Fire Flower, or Power Star? Yeah, and if you ever stopped the button press on the wrong piece to whatever you first choose, you would have this swapped abomination of Mario sin that awarded you nothing—Well, that’s the newest gimmick in the latest Skylanders entry.

A main entry into the franchise developed by Vicarious Visions entirely this time around, the Skylanders team is aware of Disney and Nintendo even are now dabbling in the toy craze that Activision and Toys for Bob have introduced to us back in 2011 and Skylanders has to do a little more than make them bigger. That’s where Swapforce comes in, the 2013 sequel encourages players to break the newest toys to join the line in half, and interchange them into different combinations.

While the notion of Portal Masters getting to play Frankenstein sounds like a promising one, the Pandora’s Box of seeking out and buying the new figures is starting to wear out its welcome, and it’s a shame too; considering all of the other improvements make it the best game yet otherwise.

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QCF: Pokémon Rumble U

t’s kind of ironic that an incredibly Japanese property fuels one of the most American ideals in the most feverish ways: materialism. Collecting for the sake of completion regardless of the practicality to utilize the innumerous amount of trinkets, objects, and uhh, Monsters who resemble that of the pocket variety. Aside from the main games of the franchise, there are quote unquote “side” games that try to be creative with Pokémon and try to have a theme of collecting within it’s formula still—for the majority of the side games, this mechanic has always played out like it’s tacked on in the process.  

However, there a particularly overlooked entry in the list of spinoffs from the main franchise, the Pokémon Rumble series; while the last two games were fairly unremarkable, Nintendo and Ambrella have finally got it right this time around. Pokémon Rumble U reinvigorates the joy of compiling Pokémon and raising and battling them in ways that set itself apart from the rest of entries, and does the formula justice outside of the main series.

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GDC 2013: Big Storytelling, Small Budgets

et’s face it you guys, video games are expensive as all hell. They’re pricey to buy, pricey to market, and even pricier to develop; it’s destined to be a constant in this industry. Regardless of these daunting budget trends, there seems to be this misconception that enthralling experiences can’t be done without Scrooge McDuck Money Bins-worth of funding to produce it. George Backer of Hotsauce Interactive approaches GDC with the philosophy that experiences are produced from the skillful heart and not the wallet.

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