Review of Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure for Xbox 360

We received the new Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure for the Xbox 360 last month, and I was a bit skeptical if my kids would get into it.  The boys, ages 4, 6, and 8, weren't familiar with the Spyro series, and I was not sure that the game would hold their interest.  (They tend to play new games a lot in the first few days we own them; then they put them away and never play them again.)

The game came with a "Portal of Power" that plugged into the Xbox unit via USB and three figures to play with: Spyro, Gill Grunt, and Trigger Happy -- each with unique strengths that came out when placed on the Portal of Power.  I was concerned at first that the game would be too complicated for the kids to understand (there were, after all, quite a few pieces to the starter kit.)  They didn't even wait for me to explain how it worked, however, and they were playing like pros!  The game walks kids through how to play, and the best part is that no one "dies"; when a character runs out of life, you can simply take it off of the Portal of Power and put a new one on.

The game can be played two ways: in battle mode (where you can play against another player) or in quest mode (where a journey is done for one or two players.)  There are lots of neat features to this game, including mini puzzles.  We love that we can pick up a controller anytime and play along with our kids.

Since we've had this game, my kids haven't really stopped playing.  They ask every day to play, and we give them 20 minutes each to play after they complete school work and chores.  There are many interactive figures you can buy to add on to the play, but you can get hours of play out of the starter pack with 3 figures.  (My kids did use their own money to buy an additional 2 characters within weeks of getting the game.  They are always planning on which characters to get next and hope to collect the entire series.)


It's something that they can do together, as brothers!  Even though it is rated E10+, we think its' appropriate for all the boys, even the 4 year old.  (Mild cartoon violence is the only objectionable thing I could find in the game.)

Skylander's: Spyro's Adventure is available for the Wii, Nintendo 3DS, Xbox 360, Playstation 3, PC's, Macs, and online.  You can find out more about this game (available for less than $65 ) at the Skylanders website, Twitter, or Facebook!

*Sample received for this Skylander's: Spyro's Adventure review. Opinions are 100% my own.

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