Vicarious Visions have supplied the technology for Skylanders right from the get-go and for Skylanders' third year they've unleashed a new engine that flat-out embarrasses the past two games. Characters look much more detailed and have gorgeous new animations, and Skylands shines with a vibrancy we haven't yet been accustomed to.

Activision doesn't have to sell me on buying Skylanders toys at this point—I literally have a bucket full of them sitting not three feet from me as I type—but the games, entertaining as they are, could use a little work. The kind of work they've done with the new engine for Skylanders: Swap Force. Read more on Kotaku.

With a new developer Vicarious Visions at the helm this year ... Skylanders Swap Force has a different feel to it. The visuals look higher definition, the characters look sharper and every single Skylander old and new can now jump.

Fans of Activision's toys-meet-games franchise have been clamoring for a more direct way to interact with their precious plastic playmates than entering in a cold, impersonal numeric code. Skylanders Battlegrounds finally gets a Bluetooth summoning portal into players hands, along with a game that puts it to excellent use ...

Skylanders Giants on the Wii U is fast becoming my favorite. It lets you play the game anywhere in the house via the Game-pad touch-screen –freeing up the main TV. It feels like a super-sized mobile version of the game.

For the Wii U version of Skylanders Giants, the Wii U control pad makes all the difference.  Read More on Kotaku ...

We find out what combining Skylanders Giants and a Wii U GamePad will mean for your Skylander experience.

It’s the little things like better graphics and the touch-screen controller that make Skylanders Giants on Wii U the best version.

“…Skylanders Lost Islands is not a game that feels incomplete. If you know a youngster who’s a fan of Skylanders, or if you’re a fan yourself, take a second to introduce your plastic pals to the Mabu’s island home.”

Using the codes included in the toys or the upcoming Bluetooth portal accessory, players transfer their purchased toys (or buy them using in-game currency) into the game world, where they appear as tiny little characters, wandering about the world.

The Skylanders franchise is all too easily written off as the territory of kids gaming, something to keep them happy while you play more "meaningful" games. Talk to anyone who's sat down with their kids to play it and ended up equally absorbed themselves though, and you'll soon understand why it has such a magical appeal, and why it's also become one of Activision's most successful franchises in recent years.

If there’s one thing we can’t get enough of in my house, it’s Skylanders. I said as much when we first caught wind of two new iOS games on the horizon, and as of this morning, those two new games have officially (and finally) been announced.
 

It’s a complete blast – loads of fun and very addictive. The gameplay is spot-on ...

Whether you’re a fan of the franchise or simply love a good endless mobile game, Skylanders Cloud Patrol is an absolute must buy.

Kotaku – Gaming App Of The Day, April 5
Rather than the story-driven adventures of the console, PC, and 3DS versions of Skylanders, Cloud Patrol is a quick and dirty little shooting gallery game...

Skylanders fans will rejoice today as Activision released its first Skylanders game today for iOS devices ... a fun and addictive game that has a lot of replay value and I give it 5 stars and recommend it to all ages.

An exclusive version of Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure brings Activision’s fusion of toys and video games to Nintendo 3DS. - Nintendo Power, August 2011

Top 15 things We're Psyched About

#2: Skylanders' innovative hook, however, adds the immersive new tweek to the expected adventuring. Using detail-drenched, hand-painted figurines of the in-game characters and a magical "portal," players are able to expereince Spyro's imagination-piquing world like never before" - Wizard World Digital Magazine, August 2011

Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure invades 3DS along with consoles, PC and Web. Activision is adding another dimension to its already multidimensional Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure: a 3-D version of the game for the Nintendo 3DS. - USA Today, July 26, 2011

Here is how you take a three-inch high plastic figurine and pull him into your 3DS, without wires, memory cards, or the device's camera. Just set your character from Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure on that portal, and aim the 3DS at him, and wait for the beam of light. - Kotaku, July 20, 2011.

"Skylanders Spyro's Adventure is the next blockbuster of Activision" - France

"This game makes me want to be a kid again." - Germany

"With Skylanders, we have probably given you a great idea for a Christmas gift for your children!" - Italy

The Big 10
The toys have brains in Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure

Interaction figures: Don’t credit (blame?) us for the easy pun in the above headline. That’s straight out of the marketing materials for Activision’s new take on Spyro the dragon. But don’t dismiss it, either: It is, perhaps, the most apt description for Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure, an innovative toy/game hybrid that might have what it takes to dethrone the Pokémons of the world. - Playstation Magazine - July 2011

Skylanders listed as one of the top games to look out for at E3 on website of UK’s biggest daily national newspaper.

"Skylanders is not just a game – it’s a brand new exciting concept where the game and real world figures interact meaning you can literally ‘Bring your toys to life’." - UK

"Skylanders is more than a simple new Spyro adventure" - France

"Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure really blew us away, as it represents something really new in the gaming panorama" - Italy

"The idea of this game is brilliant!" - Germany
 

Spyro enters toy territory

Successfully marrying physical toys with an immersive video game expereince has been the Holy Grail of sorts for those in the kids business. At the New York Toy Fair, Santa Monica based gameco Activision introduces Skylanders Spyro's Adventure - Kidscreen Magazine, April 2011Spyro enters toy territory

Successfully marrying physical toys with an immersive video game experience has been the Holy Grail of sorts for those in the kids business. At the New York Toy Fair, Santa Monica based gameco Activision introduces Skylanders Spyro's Adventure - Kidscreen Magazine, April 2011

"The graphics are better than the previous two and the career mode has more to it. If you were a fan of the first two, then you will enjoy Modern Hits."

Vicarious Visions snuck one past all of us and made GH3 one of the Wii's absolute must-buys.

Kids honored their favorites by casting over 90 million votes in 18 categories. VV won favorite video game!