Product Description:
Skylanders Giants Starter Pack: Includes Protal, Game, Poster, 3 Characters, 3 Trade Cards and Sticker Sheet
Product Details:
- Warning: Choking Hazard - Small parts. Not for children under 3 yrs.
Customer Reviews:
Great for kids but huge cost to play fully By M. Clark
Skylanders Giants is the sequel to Skylanders Spyro's Adventure, and continues the gameplay from the first game. If you liked the first game, you'll probably like this one (but read below for a warning regarding using your old Skylanders figures with the Giants game).
Skylanders is a third-person action-adventure game with some role-playing (RPG) and puzzle elements. The game offers some "soft" challenges that are appropriate for young children--nothing in the game is "difficult", but there are puzzles and games of skill that will require some thinking for your kids in addition to the straight-forward action combat of the game world.
The key thing to understand about Skylanders is that the game contains a huge number of characters you can play as, but in order to play as them you must actually have the physical model of the character in hand. Those physical models cost 9.99 for the regular characters, 11.99 for the "lightcore" characters and 14.99 for the giant characters. If you wanted to "collect them all", it would cost you hundreds of dollars! Keep this in mind! These action figures enter the game world through the use of a physical pedestal attached by a USB cable to your game system (called the "Portal"), which glows various soft colors. Simply placing a Skylander figure on the Portal makes it enter the game. The figures have glowing bases when on the pedestal (and the giants and lightcore characters actually have glowing parts).
The starter kit includes one giant figure (Tree Rex) and two regular figures (Jet-Vac and Cynder). These are enough to get started. The figures each come as one of eight "elements", and areas of the game are "locked" unless you have a figure of the correct element to unlock them. There are also areas that require a giant figure to access. Therefore, to access all areas in the main game, you'll need at least eight figures including one giant. Keep that in mind!
The figures themselves also come with "challenge" maps attached to them that unlock when you add the character to your game, which is nice. These maps give your characters increased stats in the game when defeated with a particular character. Included in the starter kit are three of these (one with each figure).
There are enough RPG elements in the game to keep older kids (and maybe even adults) interested. But for older kids and adults, I can imagine the impulse to "collect them all" can be fairly strong, and these figures are not cheap. I would keep that in mind before diving in. If your kid (or you yourself) is not the type to obsess over having every last Skylander, this game could be a great way to have easy and fun toys to purchase as gifts from time to time.
Finally, regarding using the Skylanders Spyro's Adventure characters in this game: Yes, they do work! But there are some caveats. Firstly, they are missing a special move in the game that the "series 2" version of the same character will have. Secondly, my understanding is that you cannot change the choices you've made with those particular characters without deleting all their progress (whereas with the series 2 and giants figures, you can change them on the fly). Also, in order to get "credit" for collecting characters in the game, you need the "series 2" characters! That said, if you don't care about those things, you can use the Spyro's Adventure series 1 characters without any problems.
As for the Wii U version of the game, it looks great and plays great. No problems. The game does not really take advantage of the gamepad screen to add features, but you can play the game itself completely on the controller, which is a great feature. Also, I already saw at least one other review complaining that this version doesn't work on the Nintendo Wii. This is the Wii U version, not the Wii version, so make sure you purchase the right version.GIGANTIC fun for the family By Oland T. Whitecotton
I'm about 25% complete, if you factor in the expansions that I had previously bought for the original Skylanders game (keep those expansion pieces, they unlock new levels in Giants as well!) So far the levels do seem longer than the original Skylanders game, which is a huge plus in my opinion. I love the Giants and that they didn't ruin the gameplay, they made certain parts better but retained everything that made the original so great. My wife and I take turns playing with our 3yr old son (though mostly I play with him because I don't want to give up my controller!) I highly recommend this game.Great co-op fun for kids By J. Stephen Addcox
I finally decided to get Skylanders and haven't regretted it at all. My five-year-old daughter and I play together all the time, and she and her younger brother enjoy playing with the figures. The game itself is enjoyable with lots of funny moments and cutscenes that offer a nice self-aware campiness--very familiar to any parent who watched 80s cartoon villains as a kid. Do be careful with the figures around much younger children; my two-year-old son did manage to accidentally rip the arm off of the figure from a different set, but it was easily reattached with some super glue--but it does indicate that more serious damage could be inflicted by a careless toddler. The only gripe I have with the Wii U version is that when you open the Wii U Home menu, the portal of power gets reset and if a Giant (Tree Rex) is on the portal, it automatically gets assigned to player 1 when the menu is closed--this is annoying if player 2 was using the Giant, because you then have to take both figures off the portal and replace them in the correct order. A minor annoyance, but a hiccup in the game, nonetheless.
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