Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure

Genre: 3D Platformer

Players: 1

Game Company Bad Behavior Profile Page: Activision Blizzard

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Review:

Note: Are you confused by all this “Toys to Life” stuff? Check out eShopperReviews’ helpful guide here!

Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure is a family-friendly Action-RPG with 3D Platformer elements released on PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii in 2011, with an entirely separate game bearing the same title coming to Nintendo 3DS in 2011 in the form of a 3D Platformer. While there are multiple examples of earlier games incorporating real-life elements into the game via various means, this game marks the very beginning of the “Toys to Life” craze that has largely died out by 2022, save for Nintendo’s own Amiibos, which continue to linger on. Much like Amiibos, Skylanders figurines have NFC chips in the figurines, which can be read by a “Portal” device that connects to your Nintendo 3DS wirelessly via the Nintendo 3DS’s little-used infrared port (on the top of the handheld, near the L button).

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Getting Started

For those wondering about what additional toys/gadgets/doodads you’ll need to get to enjoy this game, know that in order to play this game, you need to get a compatible Skylanders portal – any Nintendo 3DS Skylanders Portal will do, but only those designed for Nintendo 3DS. Console portals won’t work. The Nintendo 3DS Swap Force portal is highly recommended, as this is reputedly the only portal that works with all Nintendo 3DS games in the series.

You will also need at least one compatible Skylanders figurine (this game only works with Spyro’s Adventure and Eon’s Elite figurines) – Different figurines have different abilities, and some types of figurines are required to access certain areas, but no specific figurine is required to play the game. Adventure Pack figurines add content to the game, but are not necessary to play and enjoy it.

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Spyro Game or Skylanders Game?

It’s kinda’ funny to think that this first Skylanders game would latch onto the Spyro franchise like this, technically making the entire franchise a Spyro spin-off. However, this is a bit of sleight-of-hand – while one of the 32 Skylanders figurines introduced alongside this game (and included with it) is indeed the classic purple dragon, this character is no more important or prominent than any other Skylanders character in the game, and in fact his appearance here is very different from the way he looks in other games, and he lacks any sort of voice acting. He’s also not a part of the story at all – if the game were titled appropriately, it would be titled Skylanders (And Spyro Makes a Cameo Appearance), but I suppose that wouldn’t have sold as well. Interestingly, the final game in the series, Imaginators, would place Spyro in a far more central role in that game’s story.

Apart from the appearance of Spyro himself, this game’s presentation fits in well with the Spyro universe, featuring cartoony well-animated 3D characters in a colorful world. While never technically impressive, the game is still very appealing, This is backed by a wonderful instrumental soundtrack and some great sounds for the various characters, as well as some nice ambient noises for the levels. Unfortunately, much of the wonderful voice acting from the console versions of the game isn’t found here (there’s still some, but not nearly as much, with many of the bigger names not reprising their roles in this smaller adventure). The overall impression is quite nice, and makes this a really enjoyable game to watch and listen to, even if it’s not on the same scale as the console games.

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How do these toys play?

As for the gameplay itself, the portable version of the first Skylanders game is somewhat less ambitious than its console counterpart, being a fairly standard 3D Platformer, but it is still a good one. The level design is nicely varied, there’s a good variety of level types to break up the linear platforming and combat, and the Skylanders themselves are varied enough that each presents players with a somewhat different experience, while not being so wholly different that any one of them feels especially better or worse than the others.

I played with the three figurines that came with the game, and found that Spyro’s glide ability made him ideal for tricky platforming, Trigger Happy’s gun emplacement ability made taking out enemies from a distance a snap, and Gill Grunt’s melee attack made him better-suited for close combat… however, none of these characters felt indispensable, and I could easily see any of them completing tasks they were less suited to than the others.

One nice feature is that as you play with these figurines, they level up and gain abilities, and supposedly this progress is saved to the figurine so it can be brought to other platforms. This is a nice touch, and I could see it giving the game some nice added replay value.

On the other hand, I’m somewhat less enthusiastic about some bonus sections of levels requiring a certain type of character to access. There are 8 “element” types, so you needn’t have all 32 figurines to access the entire game, but needing to buy 8 figurines to access the entire game strikes me as really sketchy, and even if it wasn’t I would be frustrated by the need to replay levels with a different character because the game arbitrarily decided that my current character wasn’t the right one to visit the section in question.

Also, unlike the console games, you can’t just hot-swap your Skylanders at any time – you can only change them out in-between levels, keeping only two of them in your active roster to swap between. I suppose this makes sense given that the Nintendo 3DS portal is wireless and would need to be activated for each use, but this is also part of the cause of the frustration of having to replay levels, as you can’t just swap to the needed Skylander when you reach a section that requires them.

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Does it Stick the SkyLanding?

While the Skylanders figurines and portals add for an extra layer of expense and confusion that muddies the experience here somewhat, they also undeniably add a cool element that allows you to have your own little figure that you level up and swap out with others. Your mileage may vary on this and whether it outweighs the cost to buy into the game, but putting all that aside, Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure on Nintendo 3DS is a solid 3D Platformer, though not a truly spectacular one. It certainly doesn’t hold a candle to Mario’s 3D games, or even to the original Spyro trilogy, but fans of Platformers will nevertheless find it to be worthwhile in its own right.

tl;dr – The Nintendo 3DS version of Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure is a family-friendly 3D Platformer. This game, and its console counterparts, are also the first game in the Skylanders series of Toys-to-Life games that kicked off the entire craze. While the toy element may be a tad confusing and involve some suspicious monetization, it also makes for fun opportunities, and ultimately the game at the core of this experience is a solid entry in the genre, even if it isn’t a truly spectacular one. If you’re a fan of 3D Platformers and curious to try this “Toys to Life” thing, Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure is worth a look.

Grade: B-

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