Skylanders figurines

The dream of every six-year-old boy is now the premise of the latest craze in video games – toys that come alive.

Skylanders, which was launched last month, is a video game that merges real-world toys with a virtual environment. The result will lead parents further down the trail of bankruptcy and is an instant hit with kids. It has also been the subject of several emails from Finweek readers wanting to know more about the game – for their kids, of course.

Using your brain

Skylanders is available for Xbox 360, PS3, Nintendo Wii and 3DS. In the box is the game, a device called the “Portal of Power” and three toys. Place the figurines on the portal and they come alive as characters in the game.

Each figurine has its own “brain” and knows how far you’ve progressed with it. So kids can take their figurines to friends’ houses and play with or against them. What’s more, the figurines are compatible with any version of the game. So a kid with an Xbox can take his character to a friend with a Wii, for example.

And, of course, the figurines are collectible with a total of 32 currently available in various packs that also include toys for unlocking other areas in the game and adding items to the virtual world. The starter pack with game, three figures and portal costs around R750, packs of three characters are R200 and single figurines are R100.

The positive effects

Finweek was sent the Xbox 360 version of the game to test. To get a good sense of it all, I handed it over to Thing 1 and Thing 2 – my sons, aged six and three respectively.

While the game’s developers say that Skylanders is for ages seven and up, Thing 1 was quite capable of playing it. But then, he is bloody smart. He did have trouble with parts of the game that require reading big words, however, and that’s where I had to step in and play alongside him – as a good parent, you see.

Thing 2 battled a bit with the controls, but liked the idea of furiously switching characters on the portal – they come alive almost instantly in the game – and blasting things on the screen. He was quite happy to trail along after his brother. Thing 1 wasn’t quite as enthusiastic about this.

But, all in all, Skylanders is great fun as a family activity. While the game can be a little frustrating for younger kids – even those aged seven or eight, apparently – it does keep them busy and engaged with puzzles to solve and toys to switch around on the portal. It’s also one of the titles listed in a recent study into the positive effects of video games. (Read more about that in Finweek.

Verdict: An innovative breakthrough in video games.

Complexity: Easy – and helluva fun – to play.

Price: R750

Also consider: Some time outdoors.

Value rating: 8/10