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I hope this video helps.
I didn't give it five stars because it isn't the greatest game ever. But it is a lot of fun. You will enjoy playing it with your kids and collecting the other characters. If you liked the Lego games, you will enjoy this.
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Well as I write this my kids (boys, ages 6 & 4) have been playing the game co-op for the last two hours, switching out their Skylanders a lot to try them all. It's an amazing concept and unbelievably fun. They had been saving their money and bought two of the 3 character packs to go with the starter; a great investment. Can't wait to get the rest, seriously, they are really cool.Some people will look at the cost of the figures and scoff at it as a cash grab. Is it really any different than any of the Collector's Editions you can buy for Gears, Skyrim, etc etc? It is any different than buying a Star Wars figure at the same cost? As a mini alone the cost is reasonable; the fact that you put them in game and they save that data on them makes it an even better deal. So before getting all bent out of shape over the cost, try to put it into context. Plus they made a great decoration in a kids room.
As I was hooking the portal up to the Xbox the kids were playing with the figures on the coffee table and my oldest said "wow these are even fun to play with without the game". The quality of the figures is top notch, very well detailed and all are very sturdily attached to the bases; I have no fear of the figures breaking off at any point. As someone who has dabbled in collectible gaming like Mage Knight, D&D minis and WoW minis I will say they are probably better quality of even the D&D and WoW minis. Each figure comes with a card and a code to play it online. The starter also contains a poster that shows all 32 of the Skylanders and their element.
The portal glows different colors as you play, it switches like some kind of mood lamp. A nice touch that makes the portal seem truly magical to kids. When you add a new Skylander to the portal it takes about one second to recognize it and it makes a dramatic entrance. The kids go crazy for that.
All dialogue in the game is spoken but is accompanied by text as well. Nice so my 4 year old can follow along with the story and also my 6 year old can read along too. Our kids love to play co-op battle games but the problem is that a lot of them are just too violent for them at their age. This is perfect, with enemies exploding into coins and gems when they are defeated. Characters level up and the max level is 10, though I don't think you need to worry about the game being short. My kids have finished two stages and my oldest stuck almost exclusively with Drobot and only has his exp bar about 3/4 filled and hasn't hit level 2. It seems like there will be a lot of replay to this one. The difficulty seems just right and the puzzles so far are pretty logical.
More than anything, the kids are just really engrossed in the world of the Skylanders. In a very "are you kidding me?" moment I caught my kids actually talking back to the tv when the characters were asking for help. "Don't worry we'll help you" and "yeah, the Skylanders are here!" ARE. YOU. KIDDING. ME!!!!
So, great job Activision taking your Scrooge McDuck vault of Call of Duty money and throwing it into something as innovative as this. Pretty sure this will be one hell of a hot commodity this Christmas. The fact that you can take your characters cross platform to the Wii, 3DS, PS3 and the PC is amazing even if we likely won't be using that feature much. Looking forward to a lot of time with the Skylanders and can't wait for the rest to come out later (this year?).
Edit 1: Oh I did want to mention two things. First is that when your characters level up and complete events you can assign skill points to them which make them stronger. The second is that you can reset the figures back to level one if you decide you want to go a different route with the leveling.
Edit 2: Gameplay is easy for little kids. If one of your Skylanders takes too much damage (dies) the game says "this skylander needs to rest" and it prompts you to put a new one on the portal or you can restart the level and your Skylander is healed. When you finish the level and go back to your "base" (think Lego Star Wars) then that Skylander is available again.
Best Deals for Skylanders Spyro's Adventure Starter Pack - Xbox 360
The developers of Skylanders said that when they first approached a new Spyro game, they wanted something dark, bloody, and violent. After a while, they realized that's not what gamers wanted from another Spyro game, so they went back to the drawing board and came up with the ingenious idea of interacting with physical toys to power a video game. That idea works brilliantly, but as an adult gamer, I can also see where their original desire to create a game for older players shines through, even if only a little bit.Make no mistake this is a game designed for kids. But any geeky adult, of either the standard hardcore gamer or the action figure-collecting variety, will likely fall in love with the mechanics in play here. Especially if you've got friends (or your kids have friends) that pick this up, too.
In a nutshell, the game is powered by your physical action figures, which load up your in-game characters when they're placed on the "Portal" pad. The figurines have memory chips, and your in-game progress and awards/power-ups are stored on the physical pieces themselves, meaning you can take one of the figures over to a friends house to hop into their game.
And here's the kicker it doesn't matter if your friend is playing on Wii, PS3, Xbox, or even 3DS because the figures store their in-game progress, it doesn't matter what console or device you play them on. I plan on picking up the 3DS version as well, so I can play with my characters on the big screen at home, and them bring them with me on the road whenever I can.
As far as actual gameplay goes, the first hour is slow, but the platforming and puzzles start to get much more interesting after that. And after you start opening up the world, it really feels like an old-school Spyro game (PS1 era, like the original).
This starter pack includes 3 figures: 1 tech, 1 magic, and 1 water. Those are 3 of the EIGHT elements in the game. So make no mistake: if you want to play 100% of the game, you WILL have to purchase at least 1 figure from each of the other elements. They can be easily found for $8 each, or $20 for a 3-pack. There are also "Adventure packs" that are $20 and come with a character, a level (more like a world), and some extra bonus items. Those adventure packs are the worst deal, in my opinion, but it looks like they'll almost be required purchases if you want to collect all 32 of the Skylanders figures.
All things considered, I'm very pleasantly surprised by this game. It's got some depth for the pen-and-paper gamers out there (represent), but will also really light up most kids. Very interactive and original. Can't wait to see how they expand this franchise.
Honest reviews on Skylanders Spyro's Adventure Starter Pack - Xbox 360
I'll tell the truth, geek dad (me) for once was behind the times on this one. Usually it's me hyping my (now 6 years old) son up for something new and cool that's coming out. We've always enjoyed video game time together and normally we play one of the Lego games, or a movie property (if it's good, ala Kung Fu Panda). So, when we went to the store and he start flipping out of the Skylanders display I wasn't quite sure. The initial investment isn't that much greater than any current top tier game (Mario, Elder Scrolls, CoD) and for 69.99 you get a nice starter kit with 3 Skylanders, the portal, the game, stickers, web codes and a poster! I'll break this down into 2 pieces.Part 1: The game play, as I was describing it to another parent what would happen if you threw Fable, Gauntlet, Diablo and a Lego game into a blender. I wouldn't put it quite on par with a Lego game (those are far and away the BEST games for a little one to learn on). Each character (more on this later) has an affinity (earth, fire, etc) and 2 abilities to start. You plug your magic portal, which works across platforms as it's standard USB. The only one it will not work with is 3DS which has a unique wireless portal. And it swirls to life with a magical glow. Once you start playing, you place your Skylander on said portal and voila! He's in the game. It's a great concept, and when playing with one person it works flawlessly so far. If you want to choose another character? Simply remove your current figure and put another in its place. There were some problems I've noticed in multi-player, as you have to use the same portal and it has some difficulty registering 2 or 3 pieces at the same time. With a little finesse it works, but I can for see problems when it's just the little ones playing. The game itself is bright and very colorful. A lot of fighting, but the "violence" is on par with what you see on most t.v. shows. No blood to be found here. Beyond that, the voice acting is excellent!
A few quick points.
1. The main quest can be finished with any Skylander. To unlock a lot of the extra's you need 1 Skylander from each affinity
2. All level, gold and items are saved to the actual toy. Yes, your story progress saves to the machine (xbox, Wii, etc) but the character stats and everything else saves to the toy.
3. The legendary challenges (certain side missions) cannot be done in co-op.
4. There is battling (think Smash Brothers)
Part 2: The toys. Oh the wonderful toys. Someone in marketing at Activision needs a raise. So, with the game you get 3 skylanders. They are each about 2" tall including their base. Each one comes with a trading card, stickers and a web code (as you can play with them online as well!) Please note, that in order to get to all of the optional areas in the game you will need more than what's in the starter kit. They also come in 3 packs (19.99) and single packs (7.99). Finally, they have "adventure packs" which include a new quest, accessories and a new Skylander (19.99) The toys themselves are painted in great detail and have very nice vivid colors. They do however, have NO articulation and do not come off of the base. Think of them more on the lines of a little statue than an action figure.
Overall I (and the little one) are very happy with the game. We're already heading out after work today so that he can buy another 3 pack with his allowance money. Who knows, maybe dad may get one for himself :D I think a lot will depend on how much they support the game as well.
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