Skylanders, sitting proudly on the shelf waiting for their next adventure, ready for whatever is thrown their way. That is how our Skylanders were from the first game were waiting, on a shelf that the boys had put them on, in a place of recognition. They were not like some of the other toys shuffled over to the side as the boys had come to know them and enjoy them for what they had gone through and they wanted them to stay out and be displayed. Those are two things that parents may not understand about Skylanders, and we are here to set the record straight and talk about the new game Skylanders Giants, which I consider to be the first MMORPG type game your kids will get into. With the popularity of MMORPG games for children and adults alike, where you can become attached to a favorite character, Skylanders Giants is getting kids into the genre early.
Skylanders Giants tells us about the original Skylanders that were giants and defeated Kaos, but in a final battle with the Arkeyans they were shot to Earth and have been buried ever since. Now, in Skylanders Giants, the Skylanders needed to summon the Giants back to Skylands to help them fight Kaos once more. A story that is easy to explain to the kids and makes sense for the Skylanders Universe. I am always on board for a story that becomes easy to explain and plausible at the same time.
It dawned on me that I had a great way to explain Skylanders Giants, so I figured that would be the basis of the overall feeling my kids and myself had with the game. Skylanders Giants is like having the second season of your favorite show return. You know the basic idea but you know it is going to be expanded on and Skylanders Giants takes one of our favorite games and toys to ever enter our house and gives us the next chapter. There are a lot of similarities in Skylanders Giants and that is fine with us, because the first game was so good, and with Giants they add some new ideas to the winning formula to keep it fresh.
So on to the new stuff, you have some very exciting things with the Skylanders Series 2 characters that have a special “Wow Pow” upgrade and they can choose of upgrade paths. There are LightCore Skylanders which allow you to have a figure that lights up without any kind of battery and they have their own special powers. This is in addition to the Giants who are at the core of the new game. Also your Series 1 Characters can now level up to 15 along with the rest of their friends. You have your Heriod Challenges and Battle Mode offers some new options as well. The Feats of Strength that only the Giants can do give you a reason to put those big boys on the portal for some fun. It is also and interesting and smart decision that each of the new Skylanders does not have every single upgrade available to them (ie WoW Pow, Series 1, Lightcore, etc..). This is good as it allows the kids to make some decisions on who they want to play with, and they don’t have an “ultimate” character.
Skylanders Giants is like having the second season of your favorite show return
Listen, I will be the first one to explain that my boys had the best time playing Skylanders Giants with the Series 1 characters that they have known from the first game at the beginning. There is something good to be said about a toy that brings that much loyalty to the video game world. That isn’t to say they didn’t like the overall power and massive structure of the Giants, but they would keep at least one of the series 1 characters with the giant, or when someone was playing a Series 2 they would keep another Series 1 on the portal. Now that they have completed the game they are going back and playing more with the Giants and Series 2 characters to unlock all of the cool hidden things. This is where the Skylanders game keeps giving and entertaining with all the little things that your kids can go back in collect in this loot fest. Plus once they started using the Giants characters they started to realize how much they like them, it was like meeting a new friend. Now the Giants are part of the regular rotation in their gaming time with Skylanders. They are also very happy with the Battle Mode part of the game again, allowing them to use their levelled up Skylanders against each other.
Skylanders Giants reminds me a bit of what it was like to have toys in the 80s, as it was more of a product line rather than just one item, game or toy. They continue to build on the product line with things like extra toy characters, Mega Bloks line of Skylander Toys and there is always wonderful DLC for the game, we are already looking forward to that.
It almost sounds silly that I am going to gloss over the voice acting, story line and graphics, but since they were so awesome in the first video game, all I can tell you is they are awesome once again. Each character feels like a true one of a kind character and they each have oodles of personality.
If we want to get greedy there are still a couple of things that would really make the product line take a next step in my opinion and that involves some sort of Skylanders cartoon and the ability to have a bigger portal where you can play the game with more than two people at the same time locally, but even so, this game is another winner.
You can watch a video below that talks a little more about Skylanders Giants, but the end result will be, just go out and purchase the game, it is awesome! My kids enjoyed displaying the figures long after they beat the first game multiple times and I am sure the same will happen while they wait for the newest DLC to come out for Skylanders Giants. This will be another Holiday Hit for sure and you will be able to stuff stocking with characters and buy them for all of the other holidays and birthdays throughout the year. Plus while you may have played the first game, it is possible to jump right in on Skylanders Giants without have playing the first game if you are suggesting this to your friends, which you can see we reviewed. ()
Skylanders Giants builds on the success of its predecessor by dramatically enhancing the magic of bringing toys to life in an exciting virtual experience as first introduced in Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure. The game features 16 new characters, led by eight Giant Skylanders, who are twice the size of their comrades. The Giants each have exciting new powers and abilities to match their size. Joining the Giants are eight new Skylanders, who also feature never-before-seen powers. Additionally, Skylanders Giants introduces new LightCore™ Skylanders that glow when on or near the Portal of Power®—no batteries required. Fan-favorites from Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure return as Series 2 characters featuring an all new “Wow Pow” upgrade power as well as the choice of more than one upgrade path. And all your favorite characters from Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure are 100% compatible with Skylanders Giants—stats and customizations intact.
Note: Skylanders Giants provided for review by Activision
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