darkSpyro

I find the Wii version to be a huge improvement over S:SA.

Much better music, overall a very fun game, but they screw with the figure releases too much.

Post your thoughts about it.

^ Did the Wii have different music?

Giants was great, but the dialogue wasn't as amusing, and every skylander talking was kinda annoying. Didn't notice the music as much, both had good soundtracks.

Segment of my review from the Spyro Wiki Blog, which sums it up.
What I liked:
Bigger and Better Levels

Better Graphics (Mostly, see below)

More memorable characters.

Awesome new battle arenas!

Giants, like big Hulks!

Some cool new normal characters, such as Sprocket.

Some fun new NPCs like Brock and Ermit.

Return of lots of familiar faces.

Flynn's customizable new ship.

Stores.

The cool light up features of the Giants/LightCore. Still not sure how they did it, I thought it would be done with light-conducting tubes, but instead, they light up even when only near or partially touching the portals.

What I Didn't Like:

New Voice Actors. Some captured the characters well, but others, not so much (looking at you, Stealth Elf)

All Characters have lines. This if fun for certain characters, but some, such as Wrecking Ball, just don't seem like they should have voices (and Sonic Boom with a bit of British accent? C'mon!).

Characters only say their catchphrase when activated. I preferred having multiple initial cries in Spyro's Adventure.

Old Characters Getting New Movements (Worse Graphics). While some characters look fine, others, specifically while talking, look like someone just moved their jaws up and down, making for some cheap animation (so far Prism Break and Bash seem the worst in this regard, but I haven't tried out all my old characters).

This is sort of half-in-half: The Hidden Treasure no longer works in the Hub, making it a lot harder to get easy upgrades or reset your characters. It also only activates once in a level.

Yeah, I always get a kick out of letting the end credits play and listening to Flynn and Chompy Mage's idiotic conversation.

What I like is that the Hidden Treasure has no limit now, you can just collect them over and over, they don't dry up this time. Levels get repetitive doing that, though. They seem to have less treasure in them though, and that's terrible.

I also like that they changed Cali. She had this HORRIBLE condescending attitude in SSA "Want to try a challenge? I don't know if you can handle it, they're tough" then if you say no she's says something like "Yeah, I thought so, they ARE tough". If you lose the Heroic Challenge, it's something like "Thought you weren't up to it, told you they were tough. Maybe this Skylander is too pathetic, maybe how about another Skylander?" (Okay, I'm exaggerating on this one). That one bugged me (almost) the most, because it's a stupid suggestion. Another Skylander won't help me get it for THIS Skylander, I'm not trying to get through the challenge, I'm trying to boost someone's stats! Then if you win, "Didn't think you had it in you!". Nice vote of confidence, thanks a bunch. Even when you win she manages to be negative. My most hated is my most heard: "Not all chompies are bad" LIAR! "This dungeon has the rare purple chompy". A few failures, and I wanted to choke her for her lies.

Since this condescention seeps into every word she says, I have to think that her writer must be that condescending in real life too, and probably doesn't realize how nasty he/she comes off, LOL! Cali is SO much better in Giants. "Please accept this reward as... a reward." The ONLY line of hers I liked previously was for the kidnap one in the islands, I think Gill Grunt's Heroic Challenge. "They kidnapped some Mabu, right after they promised not to do that anymore!", that always makes me smile, almost laugh.

"Not all Chompies are bad."
Then why do they STILL attack you? They should've programmed them to just follow you.

i enjoy giants but i think i kinda like SSA more at the moment...

i dislike that dark spyro doesnt say his catchphrase, i also dislike that spyro says his catchphrase too fast and the one they chose (i prefer "dont dare the dragon") also i dislike SOME of the voice actors (gill grunt) but other than that i like everything especially sunburns voice actor

I like how the levels are more fun, but there is a lack of levels(15 compared to 22??). I like how there are difficulty levels, makes it much more fun. I don't like how some the Skylanders' voice changed and how they only say their catchphrase. But, best of all, you can use your old Skylanders for this.

lack of levels is because they didnt introduce many new characters...16 new characters=16 soul gems=16 levels

All in all we find it very entertaining. We got it for kids originally but me and my wife got hooked on it too.

The game was a big improvement from Spyro's Adventure in graphics( I have the Wii version as well), music, humor, and boss fights( Robo-Kaos is now on my top 5 BBBE list).

The only thing that bothered me was Flynn and Cali having all the most screen time out of every other character in the game. Even Master Eon barely got any screen time.

I found it a moneymaking scheme that i got swindled into. At least make the story longer. Not gonna waste any more of my money.

swap force should have 32 new levels instead of 22 and shoving soul gems into one level

I liked how Drill Sgt spoke, before he just made robot noises.

Quote: Matteomax

"Not all Chompies are bad."
Then why do they STILL attack you? They should've programmed them to just follow you.

^This, LOL! And anything automatic attacks them. Ghost Roaster I had to call a mulligan and give up, because by the time I tried this he was fully upgraded, and any attack left a ghost which attacked them. The automatic attacks seem to think they're bad, I say they're bad.

Not only are they AS bad, they're worse! Regular chompies leap, hurt you, that's it. Purple chompies leap and latch on, and if you dare shake them off, that counts as a kill. At least a shake should detach them unharmed. Some of the slow guys I amped up their armour, and anyone who latched on, I finished the challenge with them still hanging on. Really annoying as I would have to time my attacks, since this would interrupt many. I remember Eruptor specifically having a hard time with his lava explosion.

Quote: niceguy1

Quote: Matteomax

"Not all Chompies are bad."
Then why do they STILL attack you? They should've programmed them to just follow you.

^This, LOL! And anything automatic attacks them. Ghost Roaster I had to call a mulligan and give up, because by the time I tried this he was fully upgraded, and any attack left a ghost which attacked them. The automatic attacks seem to think they're bad, I say they're bad.

Not only are they AS bad, they're worse! Regular chompies leap, hurt you, that's it. Purple chompies leap and latch on, and if you dare shake them off, that counts as a kill. At least a shake should detach them unharmed. Some of the slow guys I amped up their armour, and anyone who latched on, I finished the challenge with them still hanging on. Really annoying as I would have to time my attacks, since this would interrupt many. I remember Eruptor specifically having a hard time with his lava explosion.

It is hard with giants, they can just walk over Chompies and they die. But I did it with Thumpback.

I was relieved that they toned down the difficulty of the Chompy challenge on the PS3 version (55 in Giants versus 100 in the original). I personally found the game lacking the charm of the original, but still fun.

Except for Machine Ghost. He can go away.

Well we like both the only thing that we really enjoyed more in Giants was the voice acting and the character lines. oh and my wife was very grateful that they changed the opening of chests and throwing of bombs from the right toggle to the triangle button.

I kinda miss using the right stick for opening stuff and using keys, LOL! And I REALLY miss being able to use multiple keys at once... I loved getting 2 or 3 keys, saving them all up, and positioning myself to insert them all at once, I loved seeing them all work together.

Console version
Like:

• Levels are longer and their areas fit together better.
  
• NPCs have more personality.
  
• Better graphics/camera.
  
• Sprocket
  
• More Skylanders and more extras on them(more Heroics and Level Ups, Quests).
  
• Difficulty levels.
  
• Arena Battles.
  
• Less stuff "hidden" in plain sight.
  
• Levels have seperated indoor areas within them.
  
• More bosses.
  
• Cali's dialog is much better(*agreement with person who posted about this before*).
  
• Menus are decidedly better.
  
• Troll Home Security and Molekin Mountain and Drill-X's Big Rig and The Oracle
  
• More postgame content(Skystones, Arenas etc.).

Dislike:

• Every Skylander speaking English now- it's cool hearing them talk but sometimes gets repetitive, and on some Skylanders not speaking and being able to make a personality for them was the fun.
  
• Less levels.
  
• Not really much different from SSA.
  
• Adventure Pack levels are ported poorly.
  
• Some of the levels feel too gimmicky or drainingly long*stares at Arkeyan levels and Aerial Attack*.
  
• Inferiority of Series 1 Skylanders.
  
• RELEASE FRAKING SCHEDULE ABSOLUTTERLY SUCKS.

3DS version
Like:

• Time Challenges are optional now.
  
• Revamp of Elemental Challenges(they're longer, and have gates now).
  
• Sprocket
  
• More Skylanders, and them being able to reach Level 15.
  
• Levels have wider area to explore, and indoors areas.
  
• Sand Dune Seas and Westernland and Tunnel of Love and Rust Marsh and those two pirate themed levels in the second last world
  
• More boss battles.
  
• Levels are more integrated with story(but don't get me wrong, it isn't a bad thing that they weren't in SSA).
  
• No need to select language each time you boot the game, and you can use another file and exit to the title without closing the game completely.
  
• Time Challenges are optional now.
  
• TIME CHALLENGES ARE OPTIONAL NOW.

Dislike:

• Very, Very Buggy, and lags in some levels. (Thankfully, the last 3DS update has also made it run slightly better, but it's still buggy.)
  
• Less levels.
  
• Much easier.
  
• Wow Pows have no explanation in Upgrades menu.
  
• Pirate Bay- it's the most boring, overly simple tutorial level ever and I have never replayed it unless I had to for completion.
  
• NPCs and storyline are uninteresting and cliché.
  
• Adventure Pack levels are ported poorly.
  
• Loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong loading times. (Especially bad, since you need to return to the hub each time you want to choose another level now.)
  
• RELEASE FRAKING SCHEDULE ABSOLUTTERLY SUCKS.

Also, on the Wii U version, GamePad-only Play is RAD. I can watch TV whilst I do the Heroics now or play quick sessions without needing to repetitively change the AV every time. The jump up in graphics is nice as well. Two main reasons I kept Giants.

Overall I like the console version about as much as SSA, although its leaps were not significant enough for me to accept it as a true sequel, and more like a filler expansion- bring on Swap Force! Faith in Vicarious!

Giants 3DS was still a good game, but a number worse than SSA 3DS- which makes me worried about the future of the 3DS games' quality. I hope that n-Space just take the improvements from Giants and blast them Up To Eleven. Their changes with Giants were risky which is nice, but they didn't quite make it work as it should in the end.

Character wise, both playable and NPCs, I really enjoyed the newcomers and some of the voice changes of classics. I love Sunburn's voice in Giants, his constant SQUAKS in SSA really annoyed me as I played with him. Also enjoyed all the mini boss battles in the game, Drill-X being my favorite.
Now for things I didn't like. Shorter story mode was a bother but didn't really sour it for me. What did sour it for me, however, was the release schedule of characters and the creation of SERIES 2 SKYLANDERS........ The release for this time around was really a chore and when I finished my giants collection with Polar Whirlwind from Amazon.it recently, I didn't feel as fulfilled as I did when I finished SSA. Series 2 Skylanders are one of my biggest gripes though. I feel it was a big middle finger to people who bought all the characters from the first game.I haven't bothered to buy a single one except the few I got through starters and battle packs, even then I don't use them. I know some people may disagree but that's just my two cents.

LIKE:

• Cali is less annoying.
  
• Cool New characters.
  
• Giants have cool designs.
  
• All Skylanders talk now.
  

DISLIKE:

• Some Skylanders just sound wrong. (Gill Grunt, I'm looking at you! Seriously, he sounds like a hillbilly!)
  
• Giants just seem like Big Skylanders (They all have similar attacks to other Skylanders.)
  
• Some Giants are exactly the same. (Swarm and Hot Head; both have an upgrade path upgrading two easy powerful attacks [Attack 1 and Attack 2], and an upgrade path upgrading a finicky 3rd Attack [Swarm Form and Sizzle Shower.)
  
• Story is shorter. (16 compared to 22.)
  
• Brock being the new Cali. ("Look, if you're not going to be serious about this, we don't need you!" ARGH!)