Skylander's Spyro's Adventure Starter Pack

by ACTIVISION

Product Features

• The figurines of your collection synch with the game via the peripheral to battle KAOS and his minions
• Starter pack includes: a game copy, 3 Skylanders(Starter Pack includes Spyro, Trigger Happy, and Gill Grunt), 'Portal of Power' peripheral, character poster, trading cards, sticker sheet, web codes and batteries
• Multiplayer support as you battle with your friend as a team or pick a Battle Arena and go head-to-head
• Different challenges and mini-games hidden throughout Skylands
• Expand the game with optional Adventure Packs (sold separately), each including an exclusive Skylander, 1 location piece and 2 magic items

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B004VQEOA6
• Product Dimensions: 16 x 7 x 10 inches ; 4.7 pounds
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: October 2011
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (47 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #331 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #27 in Video Games > Xbox 360 > Action
  • #67 in Video Games > Xbox 360 > All Games
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Platform: Xbox 360

Amazon.com Product Description

Skylanders Spyro's Adventure is an Action-Adventure game spin-off from the Spyro series designed for younger players that unlocks a whole new game universe while incorporating a unique gameplay mechanic utilizing more than 30 physical action figures that synch with consoles creating in-game character representations. The first release in the Skylander series, Skylanders Spyro's Adventure Starter Pack contains three action figures, an exclusive game peripheral as well as other items. Action figures are compatible with all versions of the game. The game features co-op and competitive multiplayer, mini-games and more.

Action figures that come to life in-game.
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An all new game universe that includes Spyro.
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The Skylanders Story

For generations, the Skylanders -- a diverse group of mythical creatures, each with their own powers, personality and tendencies -- have used their magical powers, weapons and levelable battle skills to protect their homeland, the Skylands. But now, an evil tyrant with the powers of a portal master has frozen and banished them to Earth. Only you, a portal master yourself, can physically put Skylanders on the Portal of Power -- a conduit between this world and theirs -- and bring them back to life in their world where they can battle to save Skylands forever.

Action Figures with Brains

Skylanders are special physical action figures that come to life in-game. Just take a Skylander, place it on the included Portal of Power, which is synched to your game console and a representation of your chosen Skylander will come to life in the video game and do your bidding. There are over 30 Skylanders in total - each with unique abilities and powers (three are included in your starter pack). Skylander action figures remember their in-game experiences and upgrades as they explore the mysterious world of Skylands, battle menacing creatures and collect treasures. Conveniently, it doesn't matter what gaming system your friends have at their house, the Skylanders work on and across all major video game systems. That means that you can take your Skylanders over to your friend's house, drop them on their Portal of Power and your Skylanders will come to life in the game.

Key Game Features

• Everything Needed to Get Started - The Skylanders Spyro's Adventure Starter Pack contains everything needed to get started including: a game copy for Xbox 360, 3 Skylanders (Trigger Happy, Spyro and Gill Grunt), 'Portal of Power' peripheral, character poster, trading cards, sticker sheet, web codes and batteries).
• Multiplayer - Put two Skylanders on the Portal of Power and battle with your friend as a team or pick a Battle Arena and go head-to-head against your friend to see who is the best Portal Master. Either way it's a fight to the finish.
• Battle to Save Skylands - Use your character collection to battle KAOS and his minions. Each of your Skylanders has special abilities and powers. The more you play, the more powerful they become.
• Adventures, Mini-games and Puzzles - There are different challenges and mini-games waiting throughout Skylands. Jump in a turret to fend off enemies and solve challenging puzzles to find secret areas and earn cool in-game rewards.
• Play Online - Each Skylander comes with a unique secret code. Show off your collection to your friends and play fun new mini-games.
• Expand Your Adventure - Pick up an Adventure Pack (sold separately). Each one includes an exclusive Skylander, 1-Location Piece and 2-Magic Items. Place the Location Piece on the Portal of Power to explore exclusive new worlds and embark on new adventures and challenges.

Additional Screenshots

Skylander specific abilities. View larger.

Compatibility across all versions. View larger.

Multiplayer options. View larger.

Mini-games and puzzles. View larger.

Product Description

As a teaser for some more detailed Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure news that we will be bringing you next week during E3, Activision has released some character vignettes, which tell us a little more about the characters that are set to feature in the game’s starter pack. Skylanders Spyro’s adventure involves real life toys, which players will have to place on the Portal of Power to bring them into the game. The three toy characters that come in the starter pack are: Spyro, Gill Grunt and Trigger Happy. We have some information and some short clips where players can see all three characters in action.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

109 of 110 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great game for the Kids, November 10, 2011

By 

D. Bowman "Tech Dork" (LA, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Skylanders Spyro's Adventure Starter Pack (Video Game)

Length:: 3:13 Mins

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.

56 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ridiculously Great, October 16, 2011

By 

S. Meyer - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Skylanders Spyro's Adventure Starter Pack (Video Game)

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.

31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Shamelessly in love with this kids game, October 16, 2011

By 

Dustin Deckard (Wichita, Kansas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Skylanders Spyro's Adventure Starter Pack (Video Game)

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.

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