Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure -- Co-op Review

Game: Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure
System: Wii (also on Mac, PC, PS3, X360, 3DS, Wii U)
Genre: RPG
Developer: Toys for Bob
Release date: October 16, 2011

Skylanders has been growing in popularity over the past two years, but it wasn't until last month that Beth and I tried it out. Built around the brilliant, if somewhat cynical, concept of merging video games with physical toys, Skylanders has quickly sold over $500 million in games and figures in the United States alone. The latest game in the series, Swap Force, went on sale last week.

Beth and I played the first game, Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure, co-operatively. What follows is our review. Please enjoy.

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1) Did you have any experience with Spyro the Dragon before playing Skylanders?

Beth: No, I didn't even realize he was an independent character!

Evan: I've only ever played the first Spyro game, which was a solid platformer for the original Playstation. Unfortunately Spyro's legacy isn't a big part of Skylanders. He's really more of a Trojan horse, a familiar entry point to a brand new intellectual property.


2) What was your first impression of the game?

Beth: I liked the art direction. The base camp area is beautiful and I like that it changes lighting as the game progresses. I also thought that the co-op mode was great- no split screen or anything. I thought that the bounce back between characters when they get too far apart was a nice way of keeping the players together. I also thought the portal mechanism was unique and fun.

Evan: The first thing I noticed about Skylanders was the guilty pleasure of placing a toy on the "portal of power" and seeing it come to life, so to speak, in the game world. It became immediately apparent why the Skylanders formula is such a cash cow for Activision: this was every kid's fantasy.

Toys placed on the "portal of power" appear in the game.

3. How well did co-op work in the game?

Beth: I thought it worked well. There is enough for both characters to do, and if you have the right selection of characters, you compliment each other well. Also, the levels are clearly designed for co-op play, with ample money and goods to pick up. Further, for boss modes it's important to have a good mix of elemental characters (e.g., Sonic Boom and Prism Break make a daunting team).

Evan: Playing Skylanders with a friend is the best way to play the game. The puzzles and enemies are more manageable when tackled co-operatively, and it's fun to share (or horde) the loot scattered around each level. There's also less swapping required and less character management with a friend in the mix. The workload is halved.


4. Who was you favorite character(s) and why?

Sonic Boom

Beth: My favorite was probably Sonic Boom. He had great moves, including a roar that could inflict powerful damage, and he could hatch eggs that turned into babies who would fight for you. He was a character capable of flight as well, which I definitely preferred. I also liked Cynder, who was an undead character. She was edgy and had some powerful lightening roars and a dash move.

Evan: I was hoping that Spyro would be my favorite, but he was surprisingly underpowered. Instead I relied mostly on Trigger Happy, a tech Skylander, and Prism Break, an earth Skylander. Trigger Happy has powerful projectile attacks and Prism Break has strong defensive moves. In more than one level, Prism carried the entire team with some devastating area attacks.


5. What did you like most about the game? What did you like least?

Beth: I really enjoyed collecting and developing my skylanders. The ability to choose a specific path for them (for their special moves) made it feel as though you were really developing the characters. I can see why people find the game addicting, and why the skylanders merchandise has been such a success. I thought it could have benefited from a more cohesive story line. Each level feels very partitioned. An open world with more challenging puzzles and creative levels would have improved gameplay. I would have liked to see some more difficulty in the game, as well as maybe more unique interactions between the characters' specific elements and their ability to access certain levels or find certain bonus items.

Evan: One of the best things about the game was collecting different Skylanders. The figures themselves are surprisingly sturdy and detailed, and worthy of display. Leveling up and customizing characters in-game was also a blast. Each character has a specific upgrade path, and, to paraphrase Yoda, once you start down the path, forever will it dominate your destiny. There's no changing upgrades after a certain point, unless players choose to reset each character entirely.

What I didn't like about Skylanders was its level design, which is too linear, its game world, which feels too segmented, and the story, which isn't especially interesting.

Spyro attacks a group of enemies.

6. Would you considering playing more games in the series?

Beth: Absolutely. I would like to see more difficulty and more creativity built into the levels, but I am eager to start another skylanders soon.

Evan: Definitely. Although this first game was a little underdeveloped and episodic, I have high hopes for the series going forward. Plus other Skylanders games are backward compatible with figures, so Beth and I can take our favorites into the next game, already fully upgraded since statistics are saved to the toys themselves.


7. What score would you give Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure?

Beth: Three stars. It might have a few flaws, but I had fun playing through the game, and I'm very interested to see more of the franchise. That says a lot.



Evan: Although Skylanders was mostly enjoyable and inoffensive, its linear levels, uninspired story, and its episodic content keeps it from earning a positive score. Two-and-a-half stars for me.