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There are Accolades that are unlocked throughout the game, but many of the best rewards (namely experience bonuses) are earned by increasing your Skylander figure collection. More figures means faster progress with each of them, which in turn, allows you to switch among the figures in your collection without hindering your progress too much. Focusing on a core of 8, though, will see rocket-fast experience gain with a larger collection. While this might have unbalanced things in the competitive multiplayer (local only), the developers wisely added an option to lock the stats at base level. This allows players to show off their best characters with other seasoned players while still keeping competition level with friends that might just be getting into the game.
Bringing a character into the game is stunningly fast, with extremely minimal lag time. In truth, you would spend the same amount of time in other games going into a menu to switch weapons. The Skylanders figures can also be registered online. Each comes with a little card with the unique figure ID, but should those get lost, you can access the information from within the game. Each and every design decision in the game sparkles with a level of accessibility that developers of “adult” games can learn from. Once online, you can play a variety of minigames or interact with other players. Each Skylander can earn treasure on the web that can be used in the core game to upgrade abilities.
As I mentioned, there are a variety of multiplayer modes available within the game. Arena Rumble is a one-on-one battle to the knockout. Each player chooses a Skylander to take into the fight and players can either choose to use the figures with earned upgrades or balanced to keep things fair. Buttons that trigger hazards, collectible powerups and more keep things moving.
SkyGoals is the sport of Skylanders. Players carry the ball or throw it into a goal. If they are hit enough to drain their life bar, the ball is fumbled. The game is scored like football and draws a lot of trash talking. After each score, the ball is ejected into the field randomly, like in foosball.
Finally, SkyGem Master is a race to pick up five gems on the field. However, should your opponent hit you enough to drain your health, you’ll drop gems. The games are all fairly simple in their design, but turning on arena hazards, powerups and food makes it slightly more strategic. Given that these are all local modes (no online), it’s a great change of pace from the cooperative story mode, especially when you want to settle a friendly dispute about which Skylander is better.
We are pleased to award a Dad Approved badge to Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure, and we checked in with 7-year-old Gracie and 3-year-old Paul to get their take on the game.
Q: What is your favorite thing about Skylanders?
G: You get to have friends play with you.
P: I like the toys and the cards.
Q: Who is your favorite character and why?
G: Whirlwind is my favorite character because she shoots rainbows.
P: I like Voodood. He’s my favorite kind.
Q: Did you like having to use the toys to choose your in-game character?
G: Yes. Because it’s fun changing characters on the portal.
Q: Was any part of the game too hard for you?
G: No, except for learning how to do the block puzzles. Also, sometimes its hard to move with both players on the same screen.
Q: What did you think of the cooperative play?
G: It feels cool that I’m playing with my parents.
Q: What did you think of the competitive play?
G: It was hard to play against my Dad. He got more time to practice.
Q: What would you tell parents interested in buying Skylanders for their kids?
G: It’s really fun and it might be a little hard for some kids, but they can learn how to play it.
Visually, Skylanders isn’t going to wow you. The cartoony graphics don’t compete with the shining examples of this-gen gaming, but they work well. Each Skylander is distinctive with unique animations and powers. There is never any mystery about who is on screen (even if you don’t look at the portal in front of you).
The audio, though, is brilliant. Not only is Hans Zimmer’s score dynamic and enjoyable. The sound effects and voice acting, especially the solid performance from Patrick Warburton, are other places where it’s clear that care was shown. Everything seems intentional and carefully placed in the soundscape.
I’m not ashamed to admit that Skylanders surprised me. Not only is the toy part fun, but the sculpts look nice, feel solid and all have a great deal of personality. Most importantly, though, the game behind the plastic is a deep adventure that even adults will find value in. Sure, older gamers are not the target market, but it makes it easier to convince parents to spend the money on the figures with a solid experience like this.
Not only is Skylanders an enjoyable Action-RPG in its own right, but in many ways it will provide younger gamers with the foundation to tackle more advanced games, like Marvel Ultimate Alliance, down the road. As long as you understand the potential costs connected with acquiring more characters, Skylanders will only deliver pleasant surprises.
This game received our “Dad Approved” award. This honor is awarded to games that are not only good games for kids to play, but also need to be titles that have enough enjoyment to keep parents coming back. The ZTGD Dad Approved award is reserved for games that parents will want to play with their children, and are friendly and accessible to even the youngest of gamers.
Review copy provided by publisher. Primary play on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
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