Aerial Attack! is one of the levels in Skylanders: Giants. Here, the Dread-Yacht comes under attack by a ghost pirate fleet led by the Spectral Dreadnaught. The Skylanders must shoot down enemy ships and destroy the cannons on the main pirate ship in order to sink the Dreadnaught.
Description
Aerial Attack! takes place on various sky ships. The first portion of the level occurs on the decks of the Dread-Yacht, while its second half has the player exploring ghostly pirate ships outfitted with blade traps, crushers, cannons, and an overall ragged design. The level's sky is dark green and filled with smoggy clouds, lending it an evil aura.
Objectives
- Survive the Attack
- Destroy the 2 Turrets
- Sink the Dreadnaught
Elemental Gates
Areas to Find
- Dread-Yacht (Air)
- Gun Deck
- The Ghost Ship (Undead)
- Ghost Ship Bilge
- Fishy River Rapids (Water)
- Fishy River Grotto
- Fishy River Cavern
- The Spectral Dreadnaught (Undead)
- Tiger's Citadel
- Propeller Array
- Dragon's Tower (Tech)
- Freewind Flats (Air)
- Machine Works (Tech)
- Phoenix's Maw
New Enemies
Legendary Treasure
- Skull Roof
Hats
- Sailor Hat
- Nefertiti Hat
Story Scrolls
- A Real Ladies Man
The Store
- Chompy Chomp-Down - 5,000 gold
- General's Hat - 1,000 gold
- Spiked Hat - 125 gold
- Chompy Bot 9000 2 Skystone - 180 gold
- Regeneration Power Up - 300 gold
- Fairy Dust - 50 gold
Trivia
- On the Wii version, there is a glitch in the Air Elemental Gate that sometimes happens where you sink beneath the platforms and get stuck on the air crossings. You will be able to move if you land on an air crossing, but you won't be able to get on any platforms, so if this happens, you will need to restart the chapter.
- The ghosts aren't necessarily after the Skylanders; they are mainly after Flynn. He borrowed 5 gold pieces from them and never gave them back, so they attacked the Dread-Yacht to get their revenge.[1]
- A Water elemental zone is onboard the ghost ship. The reason is because the ghosts caught a special fish called the "Stay-At-Home Fish", a creature that never leaves its home, so if you try to take it away, it will find a way to bring its home to you. This causes the water elemental pool and gateway to appear inside the hull of the ghost ship, and there was nothing the ghost pirates could do to make it go away.[1]
- This is the only chapter where the Soul Gem is in an elemental gate.
- It is also the only chapter where the Luck-O-Tron Wheel is in an elemental gate.
- Two Treasure Chests and the Winged Sapphire are the only collectibles outside elemental gates in this chapter.
- There is a mistake in the Giants Strategy Guide where at one point, it says the chapter's name is "Aerial Assault."
- The Air elemental gate in this chapter has the most collectibles out of any elemental gate in the series, containing a Hat, a Luck-O-Tron wheel, a Soul Gem, and a Treasure Chest.
- Though this level introduces Trog Wanderers right outside the Water elemental gate, they are not officially introduced until much later in their full appearance, at the Lost City of Arkus.
- Aerial Attack! was originally called Defend the Ship.
- In the alpha version of Giants, Aerial Attack! was notably different from its finalized counterpart. Along with typical placeholder differences, the alpha level is particularly prone to softlock. Its unique features are as follows:
- The enemies in the alpha lack the translucent appearance of ghosts.
- The level's blue-and-green alpha skybox appears emptier than its final version, being devoid of clouds and debris.
- A wall of spears originally prevented the player from accessing the right side of the Dread-Yacht.[2]
- The early turret sequences bore several placeholder elements, such as using a Mabu image as an enemy ship counter, directing the player to "Kill Stuff" or "Kill More Stuff," and shielding the turret with a green force-field (similar to Trollverines' shields).[3]
- The Goliath Drow in the alpha have yellow-green skin, resembling Blitzer Bullies.[4]
- Originally, the first Ghost Ship ship reused the dragon-prowed ship model from Sky Schooner Docks.[5]
- In the earliest alpha build of the level, the Water Gate appears to be in the most primitive stages of development. Its entrance lacks an elemental water barrier, so Skylanders of any element can enter freely; the elemental area itself is crudely modeled, lacking textures and visual refinement. A spiky mine is used as a placeholder for the rolling cannonball, and a large pie appears in place of the area's collectibles. No enemies exist inside the area. Compared to the final game, the alpha's layout is altered, with more difficult water spout placements. At the end of the alpha's water area, a ship representative of Pirate Seas would be exploded to complete the challenge; however, the alpha area lacks an exit, so the player would be softlocked after this point.[6]
- The Dread-Yacht's music originally kept playing throughout the entire level, regardless of area changes or combat.
- In the alpha, the Spectral Dreadnaught's spider-legged cannons are missing, and its spinning blades are straight rather than curved and spiny.[7]
- The Air Gate in the earliest alpha is inaccessible by normal means, as its entrance teleporter is floating over a gap in the ground. If accessed by game manipulation, however, the elemental area looks similar in development to the Water Gate. It lacks an elemental entrance barrier, uses pies as placeholders for collectibles, and possesses untextured platforms in a primitive state of modeling. Several red or white tornadoes float around the air passages throughout the area, with the red tornadoes launching Skylanders back to the previous islands and the white tornadoes launching them upward. The red tornadoes can be removed by blowing the dragon horn, an asset reused from Dragon's Peak. At one point, Skylanders could leap into a moving white tornado in order to access an optional collectible's island; however, this mechanic - along with all of the alpha's other tornado mechanics - were removed from the final game. The alpha also employs assets such as arrows that point to divergent air pathways and bombable walls reused from Cadaverous Crypt that block the player's way. Swordless Shadow Knights originally appeared as enemies, but (likely due to a bug) they will not attack the player. Similar to the Water area, this Air zone cannot be exited once completed, therefore softlocking the game.[8]
- The crushers in the Machine Works originally appeared as stone blocks.[9]
- In the early alpha, players walked into a loading zone near a giant gun turret at the end of the Spectral Dreadnaught. This caused them to teleport back to the Dread-Yacht, where they had to complete a third turret challenge against regular enemy zeppelins, and then the level ended.[10]
- In later builds of the game's alpha, there was no main cannon on the Dreadnought. Instead, the player would go use the main platform to go back to the Dread-Yacht, finishing the Spectral Dreadnaught with their own turret once the Dreadnaught's defenses were down. The final game still contains Flynn's unused voicelines for this scenario.[11]
- The second turret on the Spectral Dreadnaught can be skipped. A leap from a nearby Bounce Pad followed by a well-placed lunge attack from Stealth Elf, Pop Fizz, Warnado, or Tree Rex can allow the player to vault over the enemy gate that would require the destruction of the turrets to open.
- This means that the second main Objective in the Chapter does not actually need to be completed at all. A star is still rewarded for completing the Chapter.
- The music at the beginning of Aerial Attack! is a remixed version of the Skylanders Main Theme, composed by Hans Zimmer. The second half of the level, which takes place on the pirate ship, reuses variants of Pirate Grotto's theme.
- The appearance of the Spectral Dreathnought looks eerily similar to another ship in the series: the The Phantom Tide from the 3Ds version of Skylanders: Giants.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Skylanders: Giants Prima Strategy Guide, Burning Questions!, page 186
- ↑ Skylanders Giants Alpha Build 1: Full Playthrough. (Date Posted: Jan. 28, 2024). YouTube.
- ↑ Skylanders Giants Alpha Build 1: Full Playthrough. (Date Posted: Jan. 28, 2024). YouTube.
- ↑ Skylanders Giants Alpha Build 1: Full Playthrough. (Date Posted: Jan. 28, 2024). YouTube.
- ↑ Skylanders Giants Alpha Build 1: Full Playthrough. (Date Posted: Jan. 28, 2024). YouTube.
- ↑ Skylanders Giants Alpha Build 1: Full Playthrough. (Date Posted: Jan. 28, 2024). YouTube.
- ↑ Skylanders Giants Alpha Build 1: Full Playthrough. (Date Posted: Jan. 28, 2024). YouTube.
- ↑ Skylanders Giants Alpha Build 1: Full Playthrough. (Date Posted: Jan. 28, 2024). YouTube.
- ↑ Skylanders Giants Alpha Build 1: Full Playthrough. (Date Posted: Jan. 28, 2024). YouTube.
- ↑ Skylanders Giants Alpha Build 1: Full Playthrough. (Date Posted: Jan. 28, 2024). YouTube.
- ↑ Skylanders Giants Alpha - Early and Unused Enemy Showcase. (Date Posted - Oct 21, 2022). YouTube.