Customer Reviews

Skylanders Spyro's Adventure Starter Pack

5 star:		(116)
4 star:		(56)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I'm sure I'm not the only mom who looked at this and thought, hmmm, collectible video game, my kids are SOOOO gonna beg for this! Especially since my son already loves Spyro! But, I wasn't sure whether this would be appropriate, especially for my son, who is not quite six and therefore a little bit below the target audience. Well, since I got a chance to get it through the Vine program, I thought I'd try it and see.

Now obviously I have not played through the entire game. I'm a MOM, I don't have the spare time to play these things all the way through! But I have played it for about an hour at this point, so for you moms out there who are trying to decide whether you should hit the 'Add to Cart' button, this is what I found out.

THE BASICS

The video game comes with little toy accessories. To play the game, you put one of the little figures on a little 'portal' that comes with the game. Make sure you put the portal where it won't get knocked over mid-game, as this will disconnect the character! Fortunately it is wireless, so it's not hard to find a safe place to put it. But, do keep it accessible, because you have to put figures on the portal as you play. The figure you put on the portal controls which character you play in the game, and different characters have different powers, and are able to use different items and get to different areas in the game. You can also change figures mid-game if you decide you want a different power for a certain area - the game is actually designed for you to do this quite a lot. Also, a second child can join in by putting a second figure on the portal for co-op play.

As for gameplay, it's pretty basic. The bad guy, Kaos, is trying to destroy everything, and you are a Portal Master who controls the Skylanders (the figures) who are going to fight Kaos. There are lots of mildly threatening monsters to fight, lots of simple but interesting puzzles to solve, and lots and LOTS of things to collect - money, hats, places, and even something called Legendary Treasures that I can't tell you about because I haven't found any yet! If your kids have played other Spyro games, this is like that, but with more puzzles.

COLLECTIBLE

Yes, it's collectible. This has good points and bad points, and it really depends on your kids. If you have the kind of kid who just HAS to have ALL the figures, but more for the collecting than for the play, this game will make you nuts. Because not only are there 30+ figures for the game, but there are actually LOTS of points in the game where the game flat out TELLS you that certain things can only be done with certain characters, and THEN it offers to show you a preview of that character! Yeah, they know how to make the kids drool all right!

But there's a good side to this too. The game IS winnable with just the starter pack, you don't HAVE to buy anything else. (Well, supposedly, like I said, I have not finished the game yet. But, if you have the kind of kid who will actually play it through more than once, the extra figures (which are $8 each, or a 3 pack for $20) will add a LOT of replayability - basically, for $8 you can play the whole game over again, with different abilities and areas that open up. Let's face it - kids have a lot of collectible stuff marketed to them these days. I'd rather spend $8 for something the kids can actually PLAY with than $5 for a pack of collectible game cards, most of which they already have. It's a better value for the money. And, with the in-game advertising, it's a good opportunity for you to encourage the kids to think about exactly which character they want next and why, because they'll already have a pretty good idea what that character will bring to the game.

PROS

- It's CUTE. It's really well done - the art is gorgeous, the music is pleasant, the characters distinct, the story engaging. From the appearance of the figures, I had been expecting something a little less cuddly (they DO look pretty fierce as figures!), and a little more violent. I'm pleased to be able to report to the moms out there that this is a pretty adorable game!

- It's 'little kid' friendly. All the story dialogue in the game is both spoken aloud and written on the screen, great for beginning readers. A lot, but not all, of the in-game directions are also spoken aloud. You DO have to fight a lot of monsters, but there is no blood or anything gross, they just disappear. None of the main puzzles that I've encountered (in the admittedly short time I've played it) are so complicated that a kid couldn't figure them out eventually.

- it's 'big kid' friendly. While a smaller child could play this and do just fine, bigger kids will get more out of it. There are a lot of side areas, collections to complete, quests to follow that are not necessarily needed to win the game, but will add complexity and interest for the bigger kids. My 11 year old daughter previewed the game with me, and after I had played for about 15 minutes, she was BEGGING for a turn!

CONS

- The figures looks kinda mean, and the characters sometimes talk a little snarky. It's not extreme - this is actually how the Spyro games have been for awhile, so if your kids already play those, or watch Nickelodeon, this will be fine. But if you have a younger or more innocent child, you should preview first.

- The collectible aspect of it may make some kids get AWFULLY whiny. And that could get expensive. I'd really think hard about this if you have a kid who has a hard time making good decisions about advertising - remember, they are basically advertising the expansions within the game, it's not avoidable.

In short, this is a cute game, very appropriate for about the 5-12 age range. My son will be happy to find it under the tree!

Length:: 3:13 Mins

Please note, I showed the Xbox USB connector.
The Wii is wireless.

Length:: 4:41 Mins

I review mostly 3rd party Wii games on my channel on YouTube. To see more of reviews click on the link in my profile.

I have been playing Spyro games since the first one came out when I was in elementary school. I pride myself in having all Spyro games and have beat them all! Like most I was upset about the game play behind Skylanders and thought it was horrible that everything cost so much money. However, it turned out to be a great game! My friends laugh at me for playing a kids game so much but I can't put this game down. I started with five out of the eight elements and plan on buying the rest of the elements when I get my next paycheck. All you need is all seven elements not all 32 characters to complete the game, but I was told that you get extra bonuses if you get all skylanders in the same element. Also these toys are very rugged, you would have to smash them with a hammer if you wanted to break them so don't worry about kids destroying these!

The gameplay is very simple and basic so that kids can play it but adds a touch of difficulty once in a while for the more experience players. I also think it's neat that the skylanders can remember everything they have done on one system then you can move your skylander to another system and it has everything from before. I would buy one for the DS if it were for all DS devices and not just for the 3DS. This means if your kid has Skylanders and their friend gets Skylanders then they bring each other's characters to the other's house and 'battle' them or use them to work together on a level!

I played this game with my 12 year old son. Okay, he played with it a lot, I joined in for some co-op, and then he played a lot more by himself. Here's his review, followed by mine.

Son's Review:
"This is a very unique game. I played the Wii version of this game. As a 12 year old boy I enjoy games like Call of Duty, but I very much so enjoy this game. The game can be played as single or co op game. You have to buy other figurines, but the game can be played with just one if you are good. Each character has its on life, so the more people you have, the more chances to finish the mission you get. Overall the game gets a 5 stars from me, it is very well thought out."

Dad's Review:
I can definitely see myself spending some bucks to buy some additional characters. According to my son, there are 8 types of characters, and you only start with 3 types (magic, water, and tech). Others include fire, plant, and 3 others I don't recall. I like the drop-in and -out co-op, the ability for character's skills and equipment and cash (coins) to be shared across multiple saves, and that there's NO "friendly fire". Because of this, I was able to join into my son's game, use his character "Trigger Happy", and basically shoot at anything that moves (well, and anything that doesn't move, too!). No ammo, no one gets hurt by mistake, you fall off a ledge, you magically reappear, and my son had already leveled up Trigger Happy to level 3, so I was happy. The camera moves with you, expanding as the characters move away from each other, within limits, with a slightly skewed top-down angle.

Overall, game was fun, and for me, mindless pleasure. Again, I generally like to shoot like crazy (maybe from my Gauntlet days), and I'm hoping for a machine gun upgrade for Trigger Happy...

Generously recommended, designed for younger kids, but older kids and parents can enjoy it as well.

Here's the deal in a nut shell. After mid November this game will be harder to find than a Cabbage Patch Kid or Tickle me Elmo! Get it now! No matter what platform!
I am a 41 year old guy who loves rpg, Mario, Pokemon, and most Kirby (Epic Yarn and Mass Attack especially) games and I absolutely hate first person shooters!
I purchased Skylanders on EVERY platform mainly for a Christmas investment but did play on 3DS and have logged 25 hours on the wii and this is why my review is in the wii platform version. Here is the breakdown of my experience end review...

3DS... This is the only way to get a Dark Spyro figure and has totally different gameplay than the bigger platforms as well as a portal that is turned on by pressing on the top rather then just sitting the figure on it and it magically appearing on your screen in the game and as of right now u can only have 2 figures on standby on the bottom screen to switch from while playing but can summon every one of them and your game play like hp, gold, level up and others will be saved on the respective figure you use on any level.. The portal also comes with a USB cable to plug into your computer so you can play online (which I have not tried yet)..

WII... WOW! Now each starter kit comes with 3 figures and to fully play the game and get to every area you will want at least 1 of each element and there are 8 different elements so to fully enjoy the game I strong recommend getting the other 5 elemental figures which are $8.00 each so a total $115.00 for everything you will need to play this AWESOME GAME. They also have "adventure" packs and at this time only the pirate ship one is the only one available but November 14 the rest of the characters hit the shelf.. If you count dark spyro there are 33 different figures and the possibilities are endless and I can see more figures in the future as well as expansion downloads and games and the 3DS says there are 38 characters? I only know of 33 right now unless they are counting the extras in the adventure packs and the 3DS also shows 4 different adventures besides the basic game adventure and on novewmber 14 there will only be 2 that I know of? So Activision is planning on doing a lot more than we know of right now with this game in the future..
I have logged tons of hours playing and they got some great voices for the main characters like the guy that plays krunk in emporers new groove and wolf in the hoodwinked movies! Each figure peaks at level 10 but there abilities you can buy with your gold to make them better so if you had all 32 figures you or your kids could spend 8-10 hours per figure getting them leveled up and getting enough gold to max each one so is $115.00 worth 800 hours of game play? ABSOLUTELY! You get the best of all worlds with this game. You can collect action figures, you get a great storyline game and hours of enjoyment, finally you get to take your maxes out level 10 Spyro and battle your friend on his/hers system weather it's a WII, PS3, XBOX 360, 3DS, or PC ! Or loan your high level character out to help your friend get through some harder levels...

Fun stuff... These figures have some cool things you can do with them, my personal favorite is the ability to rename any figure for instance my Spyro is now named Normro and shows up on all systems as Normro.. You can reset a figure back to new and it will lose all it's abilities, level,name etc and be like it was when it was new.. The game is truly for all ages because your character NEVER dies, it just goes asleep until the level is completed and this is where having more figures comes in handy cause if you have 3 figures in your game collection u only have 3 chances to beat a certain level but if you have 8 or more in your collection you you have 8+ chances to beat that level before you have to restart that level! There's no blood and guts and no foul language a very cute story and just like most games that come out for all systems, the wii has a few twists that the ps3 and 360 do not have. There is some saddle adult humor just like any pixar film and by the way pixar played a huge part in this game so you know u and your kids will love it and don't be surprised if you find yourself putting the kids to bed early so you can play this game! Lol..

INVESTMENT... Short term for 2011 Xmas season I can see these things being worth $200.00-$450.00 this holiday season if activation can't keep up with demand and that is why I own 500.00 worth of product and won't have a problem selling any of mine at those prices! I have duplicates of every figure and 1 starter pack for each system... Long term, this will depend on game support and most likely the figures will have increased value and the adventure core sets will not hold value in my opinion.. This is activisions newest cash cow since guitar hero but this is diffent in so many ways and the possibilities are endless.. They can treat it like a sims type game and I can see there being a total of 100 figures and 2 expansions at minimum by summer of 2012..

Thanks for reading and hope this helps you make a decision and I hope you and your kids enjoy it as much as we are and will continue...

I have to say I love this game! Me, My husband, my 8 year old son and my 5 year old daughter all like to play it. They really took a lot of time and thought about what works in a game and what doesn't. All the dialog is spoken was well as written on the screen, now I don't go to the TV every few minutes to read what the game is saying. The characters can't harm each other so I don't have to hear the kids fighting over shooting each other. Also the goal of the game is to work together. Plus they have been playing it for several hours and are only 25% done. There is still many hours of them to play with just the few characters they have. Then when they get more they can always go back and replay the levels with the new characters. The collectible characters are really well done as well. My daughter loves to play with them even when the game is turned off. One of the best game for the non-hard core gamers in a long time.

I was a little hesitant buying this game for my 13 yr old. He is crazy into the Call of Duty games. So I thought it would be a little young for him. Now I have a house full of fighting kids, my girls 10 & 12, who never play video games are fighting to get some playing time. They all love it and love the physical characters. I've had to give one to each, as they started off by hiding them, so the other couldn't play.
It's great that they can easily take the game with them. The kid's mom has xbox and I have wii. They can bring the characters and continue the game, without having to start over. It's a brilliant concept.
The price seems expensive, but it's about the same as taking the kids out to the movies and dinner, and they are entertained for hours a day. I've had to limit the playing time for the kids, as that's all they wanted to do. I think this will be a definite Xmas hit. I'm thinking of buying a few more, before the Xmas rush, as I have a lot of family that will want this and they always wait until last minute. I remember when the Wii came out, people were paying double the price for it to get it before Xmas.

This game is so much fun! Me and my boyfriend have been searching for a game that we can play to spend some time together that we both enjoy. We have completely different requirements when it comes the games we play, but this game was perfect because it is fun for both of us. We can run around together and beat up things for a common goal, but we can also play against each other in the battle mode which is fun too! The little figurines are really fun to be able to see what your character looks like, you can hold hold it in your hand and that makes choosing a character to play much more fun. It's also great that your character evolves as you play, and you can save everything that you've achieved on your character (stats and equipment). Then the next time you play, those items are still on your character. I have heard that you can even take your character to a friend's house and all of your equipment and stats will work on your friends game, but I have not had the opportunity to test this out myself. The one thing that is slightly irritating about this game is that you cannot unlock all of the areas of the game unless you have one character from each element/group of characters. This means if you come across an area where you are required to use an air element character and you don't own one, then you cannot play that area of the game. This is frustrating because then you have to spend more money to get the new characters in order to fully complete the game. This wasn't a huge deal with us, in fact we went out and got one character from each group the same day that we started playing the game because we wanted to be able to complete all of the areas. I also think that being able to collect all of the different characters will make this a fun game for kids because it give them something more than just playing the video game, they can also just have fun with the characters.

This is what I think of Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure on the Wii

Skylanders was going to be a T-rated game called Spyro's Kingdom, but they canceled it and made Skylanders instead. The game has 32 (33 if you count Dark Spyro) characters called Skylanders to use. The story is like this: The games world, Skylands, has a machine that protects it. But the bad guy, Kaos, destroyed it, so now he has a chance to take over Skylands. There's two main goals for Skylanders. 1) fix the machine by finding it's parts, and 2) defeat Kaos. Now for the pros and cons:

Pros

+ The game can be played by anyone in the family, my 6 year-old brother and I played once, and me and my dad play alot too!

+ Skylanders have varied powers, like Trigger Happy goes insane going BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!, and Hex is a strategic character.

+ Two kinds of multi-player: PvP and Co-Op. PvP let's two players battle, and Co-Op let's two players do a chapter together.

+ There's almost nothing scary or violent in this. You have to expect a low amount of violence in a game like this, and Kaos' giant, fake ghost head may scare the younger kids, but besides that, there's nothing like that.

Cons

- It's a little expensive to finish 100 percent. To do it, you need a starter kit (69.99), and 5 more figures (7.99 each) just to unlock all the treasures in the game!

- If you lose a figure, it's a big problem. You lose all progress (level, upgrades, and loot) the Skylander had, and you need to buy the figure again!

- The Portal of Power is a little fussy sometimes. It may refuse to turn on sometimes, and it may turn off and turn back on. In Co-Op, this may switch the Skylanders the players were using.

Skylanders is a good family game, and I would give it 20 stars, but the reviews only allow 5!