Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure Starter Pack - Boxed - PS3

Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure is a new instalment in the Spyro the Dragon universe and differs from previous games in that it is linked to a new peripheral device and a range of action figures. It is part of a new sub-series in the franchise called Skylanders. To play the game, players must connect the Portal of Power peripheral included with the game to the device on which the game is being played. The Starter Pack, the standard version, includes the game, three physical action figures (Spyro, Trigger Happy and Gill Grunt), a collector's poster, trading cards, a sticker sheet and a range of web codes. In total there are over 35 characters, but they can only be unlocked by purchasing additional packs that contain the action figures. This way, the game's DLC is only made available through the action figure and cannot be unlocked in-game without physically placing it on the Portal of Power and having its RFID chip scanned.

The game revolves around Spyro and his Skylander friends, who must defeat Kaos, the evil Portal Master. The game is played as a third-person action game, and each character has different abilities. The characters are divided into eight groups (classes) linked to the eight elements in the game: Air, Water, Earth, Tech, Undead, Magic, Fire and Life, with four characters in each element. Each character has two primary attacks, both of which can be upgraded using coins collected in the game. As experience increases, new abilities are also unlocked, which can be acquired by discovering certain hats, and eventually a third attack. Among the toys are randomly inserted Gold, Platinum and Pearl versions of certain characters.

All upgrades, coins or hats are not saved in the game itself, but via the Portal of Power directly onto the toy. The toys are also cross-platform; any information stored on a toy can be played on any device on which the game runs. The Portal of Power is not interchangeable between consoles and PC in all versions, but it is in some. If a character dies, the level must be restarted, a new character must be introduced, or the player must wait around twenty minutes before it is revived. A second player can join the game and play co-operatively by placing an additional toy on the Portal of Power. The game offers the main adventure, which can be played solo or in co-op mode. In addition, Skylanders offers a player-versus-player mode, in which players can compete against each other in arenas full of traps, weapons and obstacles. More