Most children love collecting toys, whether it be the classic Pokémon cards, the latest line of action figures, and now Activisions Newest IP “Skylanders: Spyros Adventure” can be added to the child’s need to collect everything in sight. With its adorable nature, new ideas and a whole 32 figures to collect, it’s sure to pull on your heart strings and get your wallet out.

Skylanders places you, The Portal Master, in the Skylands high up in the sky, but all isn’t well. You and your Skylanders must defeat the evil Kaos to restore peace and tranquillity to the world through numerous levels requiring skill and puzzle solving in order to acquire the necessary pieces to perform said task.

Skylanders introduces a brand new idea of placing the characters on the portal (Wireless on the 3DS and PS3, wired on Xbox 360) and making them magically appear on screen and which, (while its sure to earn Activision an awful lot of money) is revolutionary and introduces a new method as to solve puzzles and unlock all sorts of tasty power ups (Known as “hats”) and Soul Gems to make your individual Skylander more powerful, combine this with a “levelling up” and it makes for a strong but simple RPG factor that is saved to each individual Figure, with the ability to put your name on this and even give it its own nickname. There are 3 in the starter pack, deriving from 8 different elements (Fire, Magic, Tech and so on) and while you are able to complete the storyline with just these figures, safety comes in numbers, if one of your compadres in running low on health, just swap another one on the portal and bang, a fresh faced Skylander is ready for service. Although your Skylander doesn’t regenerate health while it’s off the portal, if you have many of them, swapping often can easily get you through a level.

As you would expect from a primarily children’s game, the learning curve is fairly shallow, there’s a tutorial on the first level but it never really gets complex, although there are some genuinely tough sections, the game is relatively steady going. There are some interactive controls (Rotating the Analogue stick for wheels etc) which never feel out of place.  It’s paced very evenly throughout and you never feel out of control. Though if it does start getting difficult for your little ones, drop in Co-op play is available and completely flawless. There is a limit as to the amount of distance between the two characters but isn’t often a problem and is always a lot of fun.

The game does have a few issues, the reading of the Skylanders on the Portal gets a little laggy, and if you change the figures too quickly it does take its time to change over. Also I got stuck in a couple sections where I couldn’t get out and some of the keys wouldn’t open the gates. These were few and far between but for the two latter issues restarting the level was always the end result.

Summary: Due to its simple controls, fun and addictive gameplay, and the ability to collect and actually feel these characters in your hand, it makes this game a lot of fun and completely enjoyable. Although this may not be a game for the older generation, and providing you avoid some of the minor nuisances, this is an experience that you and your child will want to play again and again.

Gameplay: 8

Graphics: 6

Sound: 7

Last ability: 8

Overall Score 7.5/10