I recently got into Skylanders with my son. Now, I’m a total gamer so naturally it looked interesting to me and it blew my eight year old’s mind so we had to have it. I had originally seen & wanted the Spyro version which was the “first” game, but we shop exclusively at Gamestop and they didn’t have the Spyro starter pack. So we just grabbed the next best thing… Skylanders Giants.

Technically this game is an “expansion”. I put that in quotes because (and this may be due to the fact that I didn’t get to play the first one) this one seems like it’s own game. Separate from the other. The idea of this one being an expansion though is a little odd to me. I play Warcraft and any expansion I’ve experienced on there was a downloadable, literal expansion to the game. It added content to what I already had. Hence my… yea… moving on!

Just to give you the jist of this game, here’s a vid to check out. Don’t watch it with your kids though… they’ll beg!

So you have rally your Skylanders to save the world from an evil midget. He’s so goofy looking though it’s adorable! Dream Works comes to mind… But back to the game!

The game cannot be played w/out the “Portal of Power” (which means you can’t go out and just buy the game itself), which allows you to transport your Skylander straight into the action just by placing it on said portal. You can get the game in a starter pack which is the game, the portal and three starter figures but if you already have the portal from the previous game you can just buy the Portal Owners Pack (no I’m not trying to sell you anything, I’m explaining in case you’re a noob).

Each character/figurine you play in the game (which come separately at 10-15$ a pop) has an element which makes it stronger or weaker against certain monsters during your adventure. That element also allows you to gain access to certain areas of the game that you can’t get into with any other character. And the Giants have their own uses as well and aren’t just a massive playable character. Certain areas require a giant for access. So you kinda need to eventually buy one figure per element and at least one Giant (if you don’t have one yet). But what’s most interesting about these things is that each Skylander saves it’s own information using the memory chip inside it. It saves it’s levels, it’s money, it’s upgrades and free’s your system up for other data. Awesome ♥

It’s a cute game and it’s a lot of fun to play. By looking at it you probably think, “Oh this is a kids game!” but actually it’s pretty awesome for all ages. I’m always getting asked to play and I’m having an great time with it.

There are a few things that bug me about the game though. One is the multi-player mode. You’re tethered to each other and fighting over which way to go and what to get first kinda sucks. It ends up being like a tug-of-war and who ever wins, the other person gets transported in that direction. Not so bad I guess but it bugs me. The other is “dying”. You don’t really die, your Skylander gets tired and you have to replace it with another while it rests. We actually went through all of our characters the other night. You only get back full health when/if you finish the level with your remaining character and make it back to “home base”.

It’s amazing how popular this game is and how well it’s doing. And Disney is getting in on the action as well with their new game, Disney Infinity, which is pretty much the same idea. Only… Disney-fied. Can’t wait to play that one too ^^ I totally recommend this game though. It comes in several platform versions including iPhone/iPad!! Seriously, check it out if you haven’t yet.

Have you/your children played Skylanders yet?

Disclaimer: I did not review this for anyone, I am simply sharing my opinion on something I bought and payed for myself because I really wanted to play it~