Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure is an entry in the Spyro the Dragon universe and a departure from the previous games as it is tied to a new peripheral and a line of action figure toys. It is part of a new subseries in the franchise called Skylanders . To play the game players must connect the Portal of Power peripheral included with the game to the device the game is played on. The Starter Pack , which is the default release, includes the game, three real-life action figures (Spyro, Trigger Happy, and Gill Grunt), a collector's poster, trading cards, a sticker sheets, and a number of web codes.
The game is set around Spyro and his Skylander friends who have to 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) tied to the eight elements that are in the game: air, water, earth, tech, undead, magic, fire, and life, with four characters in each element.
The gameplay revolves around collecting coins, upgrades, and hats, which can be used to unlock new abilities for each character. Experience also leads to new abilities, unlocked by discovering certain hats, and eventually a tertiary attack. The Portal of Power is used to save data from the game directly to the action figure toys.
The game features a cooperative mode where a second player can join in to play with a single player or co-op. There's also a player-versus-player mode, where players can battle against each other in arenas filled with traps, weapons, and obstacles.