Name: Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure
Item: Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure
Rating: 7.6
Author: Retro Replay

Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure

Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure still has a terrific first-hour hook: put Spyro, Trigger Happy, or Gill Grunt on the Portal of Power and the character instantly becomes your hero on-screen. It turns a straightforward third-person action adventure into something tactile, and swapping figures is more satisfying than it has any right to be.

Under the toy-box novelty is a solid, approachable brawler with distinct characters, co-op, upgrades, and lively arena battles. The expensive catch is impossible to ignore: much of the roster sits behind additional figure purchases. Yet if you have the starter figures and want a family-friendly action game built for sharing the couch, this remains an inventive and charming start to the series.

Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

The Portal of Power is the whole trick, and it works immediately. Place one of the included figures on it and you are not just choosing a character from a menu; you are physically bringing that hero into the adventure. Spyro, Trigger Happy, and Gill Grunt offer different ways to fight, so the opening hours encourage you to swap and find a favorite rather than simply sticking with the franchise mascot.

Once the novelty settles, Skylanders is a capable third-person action game. Each character has two main attacks, earns upgrades with collected coins, gains abilities through experience, and can eventually access a third attack. That steady growth gives the campaign a useful sense of momentum. You are always gathering something that strengthens the particular figure sitting on the Portal, and saving progress directly to the toy makes that investment feel unusually personal.

The catch is the business model. There are more than 35 characters across eight elemental groups, but expanding that roster means buying more figures. The toy is the DLC, and there is no in-game workaround: a new Skylander must physically be placed on the Portal and scanned. That can be delightful for collectors and rough for anyone who wants a complete game without continuing to spend. It also means character death carries a sharper sting, since you must restart the level, swap to another figure, or wait roughly twenty minutes for revival.

Co-op is where the format makes the most sense. Drop a second toy onto the Portal and another player can join the main adventure, turning the character collection into a shared activity rather than a solo expense. The separate PvP arenas, with traps, weapons, and obstacles, give two players another reason to experiment with their figures.

Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure — screenshot 1

Graphics

Skylanders uses a colorful fantasy look viewed from a third-person camera, with Spyro and his fellow Skylanders at the center of the action. The most memorable image is also the simplest: a real figure on the glowing Portal corresponds to the character you control on screen, making the physical toy and the game world feel connected.

Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure — screenshot 2

Story

This is a clean, kid-friendly hero setup: Spyro and his Skylander friends are out to stop Kaos, an evil Portal Master. The story exists to carry you from encounter to encounter and to give the broad cast a common reason to fight.

That simplicity suits the format. With dozens of possible characters, the game does not need you to commit to one elaborate protagonist arc before you can enjoy swapping heroes. The real narrative pleasure comes from making your own favorite figure the one who saves the day.

If you want Spyro’s name to guarantee a traditional Spyro adventure, recalibrate. This is a new Skylanders branch built around a larger team and the Portal, not a return to the earlier series’ approach. Its story is functional rather than deeply involving, but it keeps the focus where it belongs: trying another character and pushing onward against Kaos.

Overall Experience

Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure earns its reputation because its central idea is more than a gimmick. The instant a figure becomes a playable character, it creates a small bit of magic that ordinary character-select screens cannot match. The cross-platform character data adds to that feeling: upgrades, coins, and hats travel with the toy to another compatible version of the game.

It is also a product designed to tempt you. Collectors may enjoy chasing the broad cast, including rare Gold, Platinum, and Pearl variants, while budget-conscious families may quickly see the expanding roster as a costly commitment. The starter pack gives you three heroes to work with, but the game’s strongest collecting impulse comes from knowing there are many more waiting in stores.

Give it a chance if you want a friendly action game for co-op and can embrace the physical-figure premise. The fighting and progression are solid enough to support the toys, and the toys make character swapping genuinely memorable. Skip it if paid character collecting sounds irritating rather than exciting; that friction is inseparable from the experience. For additional background on its release and history, see Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure’s history.