Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventures on the Wii is published by Activision and developed by Toys for Bob following the adventures of Spyro with a unique twist.
Graphics & Audio: 18/25,
Gameplay: 20/25,
Creativity 24/25,
Fun 18/25
Total: 80/100
Spyro is back with a host of new friends, 32 total, that can help you defeat Kaos, an evil Portal Master who is looking to take over the friendly looking world of Spyro. You have to realize from the start that this game is different and the beginning of this is the package, you have the Wii game and a Portal of Power along with three small statues.
The Portal of Power is a plastic base that connects to the Wii, PC, PS3, or Xbox 360 and has flash memory for each statue you use and collect. The starter pack comes with three statues and other packs are available from three packs to individuals for the 32 total statues.
Each statue is a separate character of the game and is used at appropriate times to switch between them so you can only use characters of the game you have purchased. The Skylanders statues are $8 a piece or $19 for a three pack so they do cost a pretty penny if you want other characters in game.
The Portal of Power is a plastic base with a USB dongle for connecting the device to your Wii console which works the same for all the consoles and the PC. The Portal of Power uses three AA batteries to power it and it does have an automatic shutoff as well as a power button.
The game of Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventures on the Wii is a basic platformer where you run around bashing barrels and chests to unlock money and gems as well as some simple adventuring. You unlock doors, blow open gates with cannons and use individual powers of characters like swimming or fire breathing to get further along in each level.
Areas are only open to specific characters so you have to buy other statues if you want to get to every available spot in the game if you really want to spend the money. Adventuring is a simple matter of moving from area to area with some platforming and having to use the motion controller to unlock gates or move objects like big turtles.
Each character has specific powers and levels up but only to level ten so you do get a bit better after using the characters but they are not all that much better at level 10. You can get through the game to the final boss battle using only the 3 statues that come with the starter pack but you will have more choices and be able to go to more areas with more statues.
Unlike other games where you unlock other characters through gameplay Skylanders has you buying new characters so the game is very centered on purchasing more instead of unlocking or earning them. I really think this is a bad choice for Activision to sell the characters at the cost they are asking and concentrating on making money instead of making a better game.
Graphics are really good with some good effects, mostly flashy and magical looking types with a unique world made up mostly of floating islands. The audio is also very good with typical Spyro sounding elements along with the usual good use of sound effects but this game is more about the Portal and its storage capability than anything else.
The game actually uses an RPG style of saving and leveling during gameplay and the use of the Portal where you set your statues allows each character to save its abilities and levels. You can actually take the statues and use it on other people’s games with their portal and your character will have the same abilities and levels from your gaming.
The Portal is also cross platform so a character used on the Wii can also be used on the PC or PlayStation 3 version with only the game disc being specific to the console or PC. This is a great idea and with the recent news about cross platform devices like the Kinect I think more games and devices will be working toward cross platform compatibility.
Other than being able to level up characters the game really does not have all that much that is unique and different but it really does make more sense to play with another player in coop mode. Toward the end of the game nearing the final boss battle the games difficulty ramps up but with three character statues you have basically three lives to fight in many sections.
If you go out and buy more statues this actually increases the amount of lives you have in certain areas and during boss fights so there is something to buying the additional statues. Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventures is an odd game and with the cost being quite large if you’re talking about buying many more statues it may cost a bit too much.
If you’re looking for yet another Spyro adventure game with a unique twist and can keep to only a few of the statues this may be a worthwhile game. If you can keep the statue count to below a half dozen this would be a pretty fun game and not run into the problem of breaking the piggy bank or even stress him out.
Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventures is a pretty fun game on the Wii and for even more fun you can buy the various characters if you can handle the price.
Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventures