Spotlight Review: Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure by Jordan Zietz

Today we bring you a Spotlight Review from a huge Skylander fan

Skylanders is a very odd title.  It’s also a first of its kind; a toy based role playing game that works across multiple platforms including an online component.

In my opinion, Skylanders’ story is set up like a basic RPG.  An evil lord by the name of Kaos has taken over skylands and it’s your job to stop him… sound familiar?  What I think makes Skylanders unique is the “Portal of Power” and action figure-type characters that bring life to the game.  Kids like me can take the characters’ toy figures they want to use in the game and place them onto the Portal of Power, making them a part of the game.  While this technology is largely the world’s most elaborate character selection interface, it is also the reason Skylanders is so expensive and sells for a pretty penny.

Now to explain the figures and how they work.  Each character is classified by a different element such as water or life, with each having challenges that are unlocked as more characters are collected.  Each figure has a "brain" to it as well.  This allows each character to store its memory statistics, points earned, unlocked features, etc.  This enables the game player to use their figurines on multiple systems, all the while progressively advancing its statistics and abilities.

In my opinion, Skylanders is armed with a nice roster of characters.  Playing the game was really an engrossing experience.  Other than an odd difficulty spike at the end, (Which I couldn’t beat until my friend Ryan joined in for the outstanding co-op) the game hits its target.  As a kid, I have no doubt I’d be saving my pennies to buy more Skylanders, but if I were an adult, it would be hard not to feel manipulated.  I would give this game a 10/10!

–Jordan Zietz