Following on the footsteps of Cary’s excellent Skylander post, I thought I’d throw in my $0.02 of what I (and my pre-K sons) thought of the game as well as some more details on how the collectible figurines work within the game.  Do you need to collect all 30-odd characters? No, but gamers who want to fully explore every nook and cranny of each level will want access to at least one character of each of the 8 elemental types.  Cary summed up the game nicely by comparing it to a kid-friendly version of Gauntlet.  While the game doesn’t have a lot of depth, the combination of colorful figures, gadgetry, and level design results in a very fun game for kids (or gaming with kids) that may be of interest to hard core gamers.

The Game:
I won’t go into the details, read Cary’s overview for specifics, but a player picks a figure, puts it on the portal thing and then boots up the game to play through the adventure using that figure.  New figures (as well as a second player) can be swapped on and off the portal at nearly any time.  As mentioned, the main game focuses on one or two players beating up on bad guys as they explore a series of mostly linear levels.  Along the way, a player’s character gains experience to gain levels and acquires money which can unlock upgraded attack moves (each character starts with two signature moves.)  The main storyline can be played through in about 6 to 8 hours, but there are more things to do beyond the main quest.  Each level has a number of hidden items to be found as well as a challenge to complete it within a moderately difficult time limit.  In addition, each figure owned opens up a special challenge area that can be completed by any other figure, granting that figure bonuses.  As an example, owning the lava throwing guy opens up an a challenge area where players try to defeat X number of knights in a time limit.  Succeed with a given figure and that figure will be granted a small bonus to his/her/its stats (the elemental stat in this case).  Other things players can collect in the game include funny hats for characters to wear (which are saved on the memory card in the figure to be transported), special story scrolls which give background information on the world, and special items that grant a bonus power to a specific figure (presumably each figure has one bonus item hidden in the adventure world…)  That leads us to…

The Figures: As a board gamer, I have come across my share of plastic figures in games.  Let me just go on record that these (not so little) guys are very well built and look great.  They are made of nice, grippy plastic and painted some excellent colors (a few of the figures even glow in the dark).  The physical aspects of these figures are just really well done.  You even get to name your character in the game and have its name, stats, and achievement progress go with it wherever you use the figure (at a friends’ house, etc…)  All that said, it comes down to: what do they do for you and do you need to buy more of them?  (I’m assuming that most people will WANT to buy more because they do look cool, but it is a question of if you should buy more – is it worth your money?)  My short answer?  You probably will want to buy at least a couple extra to get the most out of the game.

The final thing new figures grant are an unlocking of special challenge zones.  Each figure added to your ownership pool opens up another little area where characters can go to do a challenge.  Most are timed challenges where you either have to either find one or more things, or destroy a specific number of monsters or items.  Complete the challenge within the time limit and your character/figure is granted a small bonus to some statistic (speed, power, etc…)  While there is no treasure in the challenge stages, figures can earn more experience points and level up within a challenge.  Each figure unlocks another challenge and figures can attempt any unlocked challenges.  So having 8 figures means you have 8 challenges you can play, which is 64 total plays if you’re going to try to get each figure all the power-up bonuses.  These challenges (along with replaying story levels within a time limit) are some of the more difficult things in the game, making them of interest to more hard core gamers but may also be frustrating for the very young and/or very casual gamer.

Beyond the basic game: In addition to the console (PS3,Xbox 360, Wii, and PC/Mac) game, there is a game on the 3DS.  It comes with a couple special figures and a portal, is compatible with all the other figures, etc…  but it is more of a traditional 2D platformer.  I can’t say much about it, since I only own a DS, not a 3DS and haven’t been able to play it.  However, there IS an online version of Skylander that is free to play.  Even if you don’t own any figures at all, you can give it a spin (you’re given a “free” Spyro character if you don’t have one to use.)  The online game (universe.skylanders.com) is a sort of social multiplayer online game.  Each of your figures can portal in to your special home base where they can be used to play minigames and even go out and visit other “friend’s” home bases.  The online game does recognize most gamers will be children and tries (and mostly succeeds) to keep the online interactions fairly safe.  I gave the online portion a spin, and while I think there is some fun to be had there (and your figures can earn extra abilities/experience/points/something there) I found the “loading” screens in the flash interface to be insufferable.  My young son just kept asking to go back and play the console title that has almost no waiting…  To make things worse, my portal (stolen from the Wii and hooked up to my PC) was very flaky with the online interface.  It could have been some problem on my end, but was frustrating nonetheless.  It is possible to “transfer” one’s characters to and from the online game using passcodes (gotten via talking to characters on the console game) but then your’e not using the snazzy, fun portal technology.

The Costs: While the game is great fun, the figures look neat, and are fun to play with, there is an undercurrent of merchandising that comes on a bit strong.  I don’t mind paying extra for some more figures, and since I can basically unlock most of what I need with 8 total figures, that means only 5 extra figures are needed.  However, there are a few cases where the effort to “reward” or promote players’ owning additional figures comes on a bit strong.  First, each main area of the story line is associated with an element.  Characters of that element have more power there.  While casually playing through an area I’ve yet to notice a difference, what kid isn’t going to want to swap figures when the narrator comes on and announces “This area grants special power to characters of the Earth element” or some such thing.  Don’t have an earth element character?  Guess it’s time to go ask for one!  In the same way, there are special tokens hidden throughout the game, generally somewhat tricky to find, that unlock a bonus attack for each figure in the game.  When you find one, it gives a short (couple second) promotion of that figure and the new attack that is unlocked.  It even allows you to choose to watch a short video of that character – generally running around and kicking backsides…  Who wouldn’t want to run out and buy a copy of this new figure?  You just earned a whole new attack for him/her/it..  While I like the idea (finding icons that grant bonus abilities to figures/characters), in practice I end up having to essentially watch short advertisements for all the figures I don’t own.  (Even if I own a dozen figures, well over half of the icons I discover will be granting powers for figures I don’t own…)  There are also, as of this writing, a couple special figure packs available that not only have an exclusive figure, but contain item figures and a special location figure that unlocks an entirely new level to explore in the game.  At about $20, it is a bit steep when compared to other online games with downloadable “levels”, but in this case you’re also getting a (roughly) $8 figure and a couple “item” figurines that can be used by your character throughout the game.

Bottom Line: The bottom line is that this game is polished and well tested, has high production values through and through, and is a blast to play.  The interconnectivity of the figures (they can be taken to any friend’s house and used on any version of the game – console, PC, or 3DS) is a great achievement.  It hits that target audience (say 5-11?) hard and does an excellent job of giving them what they want, even my 5 year old can play through some levels with only a little coaching for a few puzzles.  However, all this comes at a price and it seems fairly steep.  A starter set of the game, portal, and 3 figures comes in at $70.  That’s pretty reasonable, but many kids (and adults) will feel the siren call of more figures and may shell out about $40 for additional figures.  $110 is not unreasonable for a game with a lot of peripherals, but it definitely is on the high end.  A collector/completest type who tries to buy the game, all the figures and bonus adventures will be shelling out nearly $300.

The best spin I can put on the game will be to emphasize how well it propagates between various consoles.  If this is a game kids can play at home, and then hop between friends’ houses with their personal figures, I can see it as a winning purchase.  This spreads the cost of figures between the kids (they can use each others’ figures to unlock some parts of the game) and reduces some of the sticker shock.  I think the technology is great and it functions well – the portal can zap characters in and out of the game faster than most game saves I’ve seen.  While the game targets younger players (where it is VERY well received) it is also fun for adults and more experienced gamers.  However, aside from some of the special challenges, adults will recognize that the game is pretty easy.  If you can practice some self-restraint on the figure purchasing front (or just have deep pockets) I highly recommend giving Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure a try.

Tags: Game Reviews