Ever since August, my sons have been excited about Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure. I knew this would be a special game, and it certainly is! We received the game shortly after its October release, and have been playing it frequently.
The most notable aspect of this game is that the individual characters are physical figurines that come alive using the "Portal of Power." Instead of selecting a character on-screen, the player plunks a physical character down on the Portal to join in the game. Each character has its own levels and items which travel with the figurine. My son can play at our house on the Wii, but then take his character to his friend's house to play on the Playstation or Xbox, or to a P.C., or to his D.S., and his character will still have on the same hat it did while playing on the Wii. The character's attributes and power are the same no matter the platform used.
Of course being a mother who is frequently sweeping up toys and begging her kids not to be rough with things, my first thought was "Oh no, what if they drop the figures?" And "What if they lose them?"
Well, these figurines are too special to lose. Even if I step on LEGO dudes all the time, the Skylander figurines are neatly lined up next to the Wii. I never anticipated it would take a video game to prompt organizational skills, but there you have it: pride of ownership wins out! As for durability, they are plenty strong, so a few bumps in the backpack isn't going to erase the character's progress. The staff at Activision assures me that if there is a problem with a character, they are there to help troubleshoot. Indeed, I had some characters from the demo of the game back in August, so when I placed them on the Portal from the actual-released game, the resulting screen advised to call customer service.
Different parts of the game are accessible to different characters, and savvy Skylanders strategy involves using characters that are stronger in certain elements for different parts of the game. So, the more characters a player owns, the more of the game is opened up. But, the game can certainly be played with just the starter pack: it is just more vast if you purchase additional characters (and item packs, such as Pirate Seas
My boys love switching the different characters in order to beat the various bosses and progress throughout different levels. They enjoy the humor in the responses of the characters to each other along with the various characters they meet in the different worlds of the game. I've found myself captivated by different portions of the game, so will watch with the same amount of glee as my sons as they play. Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure is definitely a unique game, and it surpassed my high expectations.
A word about the DS version: This is a different Skylanders game, but it uses the same characters. So, if you love the Wii, Playstation or XBox version and want a different sort of challenge using the same characters, grab the Skylanders Spyro's Adventure Nintendo DS3 Starter Pack
The graphics of the game are beautiful, and I love the little details assigned to each character. They all have distinctive personalities, and the worlds themselves do too. I'm definitely eager to see what Santa is going to put in our stockings to expand the game even more for us. (My favorite is "Whirlwind," though "Hex" was just released last week and looks intriguing!)
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I've written about Skyanders here:
- The Winning Holiday Gift: Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure
- More about Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure
- It's Hard to Wait: Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure
- Just Another Week to Wait: Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure
- Skylanders - Yes, We Play it All Day!
Disclaimer: I learned of Skylanders as part of the Big Toy Book's Sweet Suite event at BlogHer. From August on, I knew this would be a fabulous game that my boys and their friends would adore playing, so I agreed to help promote it. The fine folks at Activision sent me the game along with some individual characters as compensation for reviewing it. When I link to Skylanders on Amazon, I am using my affiliate code, which means I get a few cents of commission if you happen to purchase anything.
Be sure to check out the Skylanders game website for more information!
