Skylanders Giants: More Character, But (Fortunately) No More Grown-Up

This is the big GeekDad review of Skylanders Giants, but along with our in depth assessment of the game it's a look at the people behind it.

Skylanders Giants Review

This is the big GeekDad review of Skylanders Giants, but along with our in-depth assessment of the game it's a look at the people behind it. In the same way the authors and directors are important for understanding of books and films, the ethos of the individuals behind the games our children play is as essential as the visuals, modes and upgrades. That's true in my house, at least – maybe in yours, too?

Skylanders Giants is a complicated proposition to understand in depth. Before we go deep-diving into the world of Skylands, lets start with some headlines. Giants is the sequel to Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure, is available on Xbox 360, PS3, Wii and 3DS (soon on Wii U) and is similar to the first game in many ways. You use real toy figures, purchased separately, to access characters in the game and it comes in a Starter Pack with three figures that can be used to complete the game. Progress is stored on the toys themselves that can be used across any platform. It plays like a platform adventure, offers same-screen co-op and player battle modes.

Giants brings some new things to the party though. Firstly there are eight new Giant Skylander characters that are physically larger toys, light-up when on the Portal and offer new gameplay mechanics. There are eight new normal Skylanders that have a Wow-Pow and switchable upgrade paths. There are eight light-up Skylanders that glow like the Giants when on the portal and have a special Smart Bomb attack when brought into the game. Finally, there are 24 returning characters from the first game that also have a Wow-Pow and switchable upgrade paths.

Still with us? Lets' get into the review proper. With all this talk of toys you may be thinking that the videogame side of Skylanders Giants ($59.96 on Amazon) exists as a novel way to sell the toys. As soon as you start the game up it is clear that there is an awful lot to do here.

The main gameplay revolves around a beat-'em-up, treasure collecting play mechanic that isn't a million miles away from the LEGO games. You charge around the different levels fighting enemies, finding money and solving push-block, trigger and mini-game puzzles.

The characters are hugely creative and each creates a very different experience in the game. This comes from the approach of Toys for Bob, the studio behind the game, which has developed a team of individuals and granted them permission to run wild with their imaginations.

Front and center in this set-up is I-Wei Huang who is the driving force behind the physical figure design. His clay sculpting skills perfectly placed him to prototype and fastidiously refine each character. Speaking to him it's clear that each has Skylander had care and attention lavished on it.

That much you can tell from picking up and holding a Skylanders Giant figurine. Not only does each have a satisfying mass to it, but it's clear there are more materials and paint effects used here than in other toy lines of a similar price. It's a clever move and takes the toys into the hand-painted hobbyist arena of Dungeons & Dragons lead figures.

But of course there is more to the figures than real-world imaginative play. The real genius is the moment you place the figure on the portal peripheral that comes with the game. Watching my kids as they placed each of the three characters in the Starter Pack characters (Treerex, series 2 Cynder and newcomer Jet-Vac) on the portal I could see the connection between the toy and the videogame was a real success. This is what kids love about the game – that the toy figure represents and remembers their time in the game, and can be carried around with them on weekends and school days.

A big part of the success of the portal's "Magic Moment" – when the figures enter the game – is the sound work from Dan Neil. Along with a full orchestral score from the Hans Zimmer stable, he has created treatments and voice work that really bring the game to life. In fact playing the game with a certain figure on the portal entirely changes not only how it sounds but the voice work and dialogue.

You see, each figure now has its own voice actor that grants each one more personality. Some players of Skylanders may complain that in the transition from the "Skylish" gobbledygook of the original to the full voices of Giants some of the actors have changed, but this seems to be a small price to pay for the level of audio characterization that is going on here. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if future Skylanders toys started to include RFID-powered sound effects – just remember you heard it here first if that does happen.

Once in the game the Skylanders in Giants now match the physical figures much more closely. In Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure the match was close but not perfect, but in Giants the differences are imperceptible. The re-released Series 2 figures not only offer a way to grant new upgrade powers to the old characters but also to bring their design quality up to that of the newcomers.

Paul Yan is the man behind the figures' in-game movement and acting. He and his team have done a masterly job of translating the physical and audio character into motion and movement. From Treerex's lumbering gait to the flighty motions of Jet-Vac to Cynder's cat-like prowling, the game bristles with life.

Beyond this increase in production values and continued attention to detail the obvious excitement to my kids were the giants – and what new stuff they can do in the game. Whereas previously you needed bombs to get through certain doors, you can now bash through them with a giant. They can also jump through holes in the ground to access new areas, and have all sorts of impressive attacks and abilities.

This brings up the thorny issue of how many figures you need to see all the game that exists on the disc. This is more positive than last time round. While there are still areas that can only be accessed by certain types of Skylanders, requiring one of each of the eight elements to see it all, you can use your original figures that are fully supported in the game to access these. This means that with a modest set of original Skylanders and the Giants Portal Owners Pack – which avoids you re-buying a portal if you already have one – you can access everything in the game.

Equally thorny were the inclusion of "Soul Gem" pop-up videos in the game advertising other Skylanders, and initiating no end of pestering in our household. Again, common sense has reigned and there are fewer of these in Giants – just for the new figures.

Bringing your old Skylanders into the new game recognizes all the progress you made, and money you collected (although not your hat collection). It also grants the old figures a raised level cap from 10 to 15. A very nice feature we enjoyed using was looking up the total play time of each figure on the Stats screen. In fact we even spent an afternoon trying to guess which figure would have been used the most – with surprising results.

Other innovations in Giants are the Heroic Challenges, a set of Trophy/Achievement style awards for each figure in the game. Completing these allows you to tweak the Magic Moment animation when you bring the character into the game – and thus advertising to friends and family your prowess in Giants when you take your figure to visit. It's features like these that squeaked in at the end of development and are testament to Toys for Bob's desire to go the extra mile, under the surprisingly mischievous eye of Executive Producer Jeff Poffenbarger.

Perhaps this desire to flesh out the offering around the main campaign in Skylanders Giants also comes from a slight nervousness that it is a little shorter than the original, with fewer chapters. Certainly, the Battle Mode offers a great diversion from the world saving exploits of the story with player-versus-player arena fighting and all sorts of other antics.

There is certainly scope for future enhancements in the main game, but Toys for Bob's restraint from turning Skylanders into something it's not – serving core rather than family gamers – is a good thing. Although many reviews will, I'm sure, suggest that online co-op is a must have feature, I'd prefer to see a four-player local co-op mode in future versions of Skylanders – much more in keeping with the audience. Others will bemoan the lack of split-screen, but again the fact that neither player can get lost is actually quite a good fit to the younger audience.

Boss fights were a bit of a mixed bag in the first game, with the final boss battle on 360/PS3 not benefiting from late tweaks to the Wii game and ending up much too hard. Skylanders Giants is developed in-house on all the consoles now, so there is no danger of any particular format not getting the same amount of love. Accordingly, the bosses feel better balanced in Giants, although still often lacking a progress bar to tell the player whether they are progressing or simply going round in circles. A nice touch, though, is the inclusion of a difficulty setting that you can switch anytime – including a super hard nightmare mode to challenge those that finish the game too quickly.

I think the biggest tension in Giants for families is that it doesn't grant old figures all the new powers and upgrades. My kids still don't quite understand why the characters they have invested time, money and affection in over the last year are now second class citizens next to the new ones. If they had been asked whether they'd prefer their old figures to get the Wow-Pow and upgrade switching their answer would have been an emphatic and indignant "yes, of course!"

These are not insurmountable criticisms, and largely stem from the success of the original to create a connection between the figures, the game and the player but they do take the edge off what is a very exciting proposition for families.

Happily the price of the new figures has been kept low enough to keep them in the pocket money bracket, although it may still pay to be on the ball as stock levels are likely to be an issue – regardless of Activision's efforts to do a better job on the supply front this year. I'll include my Amazon crib sheet at the end of the review for those who want to keep track of new arrivals.

Conclusion

Skylanders Giants is much better than it might have been. Toys for Bob has returned with innovations, new characters and fresh gameplay. Being able to use your old characters, the toned-down approach to in-game advertising,and the light-up figures make this a great family game.

That much you may glean elsewhere, but what I want to highlight here is that this is a game and toy range from a set of artisans rather than a corporate committee. The care and attention of these individuals makes me happier for my children to spend time playing – not least because this has resulted in a whole range of imaginative play both in the game and in the real world.

Wired: Light-up Giants. Old Skylanders supported. Difficulty levels.

Tired: Old Skylanders don't get upgrades and wow-pows. Still only two-player.

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Skylanders Giants Figure Reference List

Because the figures are released in waves my kids use the crib sheet below to keep tabs of the figures on Amazon and get in early when they pop-up. For the first game this proved invaluable.
New larger Skylanders Giants figures.

Skylanders from the first game, reposed with light-up components.

New light-up regular-sized Skylanders for Skylanders Giants that weren’t in the first game.

New regular-sized Skylanders for Skylanders Giants that weren’t in the first game.

Figures from the first game that are return in a new pose, as series 2 figures.