Video Game Review: Skylanders

Ever heard of Skylanders? It's a video game and computer game that's way ahead of its time. I just learned about it yesterday, when my three daughters and I went on our annual toy-shopping adventure in a nearby city. When my youngest daughter picked out some funky looking plastic figures, I asked her what they were for. She replied that they were for her boys' game that they just recently got - Skylanders. I was pretty intrigued by the figures, so I got her to tell me more about the video game. The part that really fascinated me is that a player places the character on a portal, and that character is transported into the video game! How cool is that? She wrote an explanation of it for me, and it follows.

Recently, my youngest son turned six. He received a good bit of money for his birthday, but not quite enough to purchase what he really wanted. Luckily, my oldest son, who's eight, received all A's on his report card and, as with every honor roll report card, was rewarded with money to purchase a new video game at the Gamestop. My sons are very close and love to play together. My boys had just enough money to purchase the Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure game for their Xbox 360. The starter pack was just under $75.00 with tax. It included the game disc, portal, and three Skylanders. They have been in Skylanders heaven ever since! They absolutely love this game!

Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure was released this fall and is available for play on a variety of consoles. Originally, it was only going to be available for the Nintendo Wii, but fortunately the makers, Toys for Bob, decided to release the game for the following, as well: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, iPad, iPhone, the Web, Microsoft Windows, and Macintosh computers. All the video games are awesome, but the 3DS version is amazing! Releasing the game this fall was a smart move because this game became an overnight sensation the minutes it hit the shelves on October 16, 2011. The timing couldn't have been more perfect with Christmas just around the corner. It's going to be one of the hottest toys for Christmas this year. It's probably best suited for children 5 and up and is rated E for everyone.

The ultimate object of the game is to save Skylands. Skylands is the land that Spyro the dragon and his many friends inhabit. However, an evil tyrant has frozen all of the inhabitants of Skyland. Not only has this horrible tyrant frozen the Skylanders, he has also banished them all to Earth. The only way to get the Skylanders back to Skyland to save their world is by placing them on the Portal of Power, which magically transports the Skylanders from this world to their own world. You will see your characters come to life on your screen after transporting them with the Portal of Power. The adventures begin in the middle of the beautiful and mystical lands of Skylands. The characters travel through Skylands and along their journey meet many friends to help them with the crucial mission of saving Skylands.

There are more than 30 Skylanders to collect to make your Skylanders' family complete, but you have the luxury of only buying the ones you want the most. Your initial purchase of the starter pack will include three Skylanders that will be sufficient to begin your quest through Skylands. You can even take your Skylanders to a friend's house. Each Skylander is compatible with each of the portals, no matter what gaming system it was purchased for. The additional characters can be purchased separately at places like Toys"R"Us , Gamestop, and Amazon. Adventure Packs are sold for around $20 and include one Skylander, a location piece, and two magic items. There are also character packs that include three Skylander characters. These packs can also be purchased for about $20. Individual Skylanders can be purchased as well and are about $8 each. Every Skylander is incredibly unique, fun to look at, and even more fun to transport to Skylands for an amazing quest. Each Skylanders character includes a trading card, sticker sheet, and web code to bring your Skylander to life online. These amazing little guys also store their own data and progress.

· Bash- rock dragon

· Boomer- green troll/throws dynamite

· Camo- plant-like dragon

· Chop Chop- skeleton warrior

· Cynder- black dragoness

· Dino-Rang- crocodile creature

· Double Trouble- tiki man

· Drill Sergeant- train-like monster

· Drobot- robot-like dragon that wears a suit

· Eruptor- lava monster

· Flameslinger- elven archer

· Flynn- transports Skylanders at beginning of game

· Ghost Roaster- skeleton ghoul

· Gill Grunt- Gillman

· Hektore- main antagonist of 3DS version

· Hex- dark elf/sorceress

· Hugo- helps repair the Core of Light

· Ignitor- knight

· Kaos- portal master/bad

· Lightning Rod- storm giant

· Moneybags- a bear who gets Spyro to pay for everything

· Persephone- fairy/allows you to upgrade abilities

· Prism Break- crystal golem

· Slam-Bam- blue yeti with four arms

· Sonic Boom- griffin

· Sparx the Dragonfly- Spyro's dragonfly and best friend

· Spyro the Dragon- dragon (main character)

· Stealth Elf- ninja

· Stump Smash- tree creature

· Sunburn- phoenix-like dragon

· Terrafin- shark creature

· Trigger Happy- gremlin with guns

· Voodoo- orc

· Warnado- blue dragon

· Wham-Shell- lobster-like creature

· Whirlwind- blue dragon

· Wrecking Ball- reptile creature

· Zap- water dragon

· Zook- plant creature

Wow! Now that's a lot of characters! Your little gamers will pick their favorite characters and have a blast playing Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure.

Not only are there tons of Skylanders characters, there are also location pieces and magic items to make the gaming experience even more fun. A location piece unlocks new levels with new worlds to explore when you place it on the portal. This really allows players to expand their game. The magic items are used to enhance the Skylanders' powers. You'll be amazed at the things your Skylander can do!

With such a multitude of characters, you may be wondering where you're going to store them all. Well, the perfect place to keep your Skylanders, while not in Skyland, is one of the cases made especially for them. Purchasing a Skylanders carrying case is a great idea to keep these characters safe until it's time to play again.