ACTIVISION Skylanders Giants Starter Pack - Nintendo Wii

We have both Spyro's Adventure and Giants on the Xbox, and we have the Giants for the IOS devices and the 3DS, but I thought it would be interesting to have it for the Wii-U since it uses the pad in ways the other platforms can't. Since it was also my first time crossing platforms with figures, it was a surprise to me since it was only now that I learned that the stats and abilities of the characters were saved in the figures. I had anticipated having to level things up on the new console, and was shocked when we dropped Trigger Happy on it from our collection and he came fully loaded and leveled. Gameplay has been very smooth for us, and I really like seeing the status of both the character and the quest items on the pad when playing on the TV, and it's VERY nice to be able to play the "full console version" on just the pad without the TV since the other options for small portable devices like that (and the 3DS) aren't quite as full flavored or as easily done. We have problems swapping characters out on the 3DS, so here it works just fine for him to play a portable version while I can do something else on the TV. Graphics look great, but I can't compare it to the standard non HD version of the Wii since we didn't have skylanders for that, so it looks the same as the Xbox 360 we do have though. A fun game, and now that I know we can transfer characters to other consoles, we'll have even more fun now.

Ok, I am the type of person that researches everything before I buy it and read every review, so I want to be helpful to parents like myself who are new to this whole Skylanders thing. First of all let me say that it is actually a pretty cute game and my 6 year old daughter is completely in love with it. That being said, let me answer some of the questions I had when I started looking into it. Is it too violent for a young child? While there is a lot of sword play and shooting of lasers and things like that, there is no blood or gore. The bad guys (some of which may look a little creepy for some young children) just disappear when you defeat them leaving jewels in their place for you to collect. My daughter can be a little sensitive about that stuff sometimes but it never bothered her with this game. And one thing I like for kids is that when your character is defeated in a battle, it doesn't "die" or "lose a life" like in other games. It simply "needs to rest" and you can switch to a different character to continue playing. Should I get Giants or Spyros adventure? Well, all of the figures work on the Giants game, but only the older ones work on the Spyro game. We were better off getting the Giants one so we wouldn't have to worry whether the figures will work with the game or not. Should we get it for the Wii or for the 3ds? While the thought of being able to bring the game with her and not having to dominate the tv was nice, from what I have seen, the Wii game does more. I believe, though I could be wrong, that on the ds you can only play with two different characters per game where on the Wii, you can switch between any at any time. Will it get expensive? Probably. The figures range in price and can add up because, of course, my daughter wants to collect them all. But it can be a good lesson in saving money. And by the way, of course, some figures are "rare" and hard to find, but patience pays off! Don't spend ridiculous amounts of money for one character on a website when, if you are lucky, you can get the same thing at a store for a lot less. The Ninjini character is selling here for more than $30, but we just happened to come across it at a popular toy store for $15. Hint: find out what day of the week the store gets its shipment in! Is it good for girls as well as boys? Absolutely! It is not really very girly, but many of the characters are girls! It is kind of nice to have strong female characters in a video game who are not overly sexy and half naked. There is nothing inappropriate about the female characters at all. Overall, we are very happy with this game! My daughter wants to play it a lot! She has already beaten the whole game but loves to go back and replay it and try to find all the things she missed. I do wish it was a little longer perhaps, but other than that, I have no problem with it. And my daughter loves to play with the figures as just plain toys when she isn't playing the video game. Nice for her to make up her own adventures!

great

I will start by saying, I am an adult who started off buying skylanders for my little cousin who had never played b4 I introduced him to them. Started off w/ Swap Force cuz that was the new 1 at the time & we got it for an insanely low price for a just released starter kit. He was absolutely thrilled & we played together that Xmas. Found Spyros starter pk for cheap right after Xmas & gave that for his Bday. Again, thrilled. This past Xmas we got him Giants starter pk & a bunch of Giants characters for another great deal. Trap team for bday. We (my parents & I) r officially amazing gift givers. I didn't get to play Giants w/ him & it left me kinda bummed. Being the gamer that I am, I thought, "If I find Giants starter pk for super cheap, I'm getting it for myself". Well, I did. I love it! I felt kind of goofy for being into this kid's game until I saw online just how many adults w/o kids play skylanders. Why? It's a clever game w/ lots to offer & a genius marketing plan for toy sales. While it seems like overkill to have so many characters, they r really fun to have & experiment w/ each 1's powers & upgrades. It's devilish indeed, but not w/o it's purpose & does add to the game's fun & activities. New characters do help u along & give u more variety of attacks, speed etc. U don't have to buy more than starter kit, but it is helpful to have at least 1 character from each element (life, air, magic, undead, tech, earth, fire & water) to get u into each area. Starter kit comes w/ Tree Rex (giant, life element), Jet Vac (air) & Cynder (undead). Spyros Adventure characters work w/ Giants game, so if u have any of those, they'll assist u in this game. Swap force & Trap Team characters won't work since they r newer. Only previous & current game characters work for each installment. It is a lot of fun tho & levels can get challenging as u progress. Great fun for families & the fact u can drop in & out of co op games is helpful. Say u r playing w/ your son or daughter & u get a phone call, u can simply remove your character from portal & they can continue playing uninterrupted. Great fun for kids & adults & perhaps kids can work for new characters. Maybe good grades earn a new skylander, doing chores etc. Kids will work for Skylanders! Enjoy!

Game is not detected when inserted in 3ds figures work though