Bradygames' Skylanders Giants Guide

Do you ever get stuck in a game and don’t have a way to find out what to next? Worst of all, you can’t access the internet to search GameFAQs and when you finally do, the answer you were looking for isn’t there?

E3 Expo 2012 - Activision Skylanders GiantsBradygames are the masters of the guide, they get most of the licenses to create all the official guides you see available and for good reason; they’re given as much information as possible by the publishers and developers to provide everything you need to know about a game.
The Skylanders series has become quite popular, the reason I say series is because there are so many of them to collect, you see, the idea of the game is that you have different characters that you place upon a Portal of Power which you place the Skylander figure upon to use them in the game. The guide covers all the stats of the characters and much more.
For example, the undead Skylander Giant Eye-Brawl has a special quest and three attacks, but do you know what the quest is and what the three attacks are? Maybe you do, but what the guide helps you with is how to use those attack moves efficiently by providing some strategy information that could mean the difference between you successfully completing each chapter or failing miserably.
The introduction to the guide welcomes you, updates veteran Portal Masters on what’s new, the difference between series one and two figures, a handy checklist you could use to mark off the figures as you collect them and then starts with the character profiles.
The pages are well laid out with the text generally against a light background, making it nice and easy to read. You’re not overly bombarded with unnecessary images in an effort to cover up a lack of information, there are just enough to cater for whatever visual reference is needed. It’s not until you reach the Chapters guides that you start to see screenshots from the game.
Mastering the Portal tells you how to obtain Ownership and Achievement Accolades while Level Mastery & Collectibles explains how to three star a level, what the collectibles are, what you can buy from Auric who’s shop is on Flynn’s ship and when to buy the best items. Also included is what else you can do on the ship while you’re there like collect elemental treasure or participate in Brock’s Arena Challenges.
What about taking on the Heroic Challenges? Completing them will provide your Skylander with extra speed, armour and elemental power, the guide will tell you which challenges will give you a brief description and the achievable bonus. As a bonus for buying the guide, there are 40 stickers on a sheet in the back of the book if you feel like decorating your console, controller or wherever you wish to display them.
When reviewing Bradygames guides, you can’t give them a score out of 10 or whatever other system you might have, and that’s why you’ll only see a yes or no answer on whether you should buy it or not. If you want to get the most out of Skylanders Giants without too many spoilers, then yes, I would recommend buying the guide.
It’s quite cheap on amazon, but you get a poster with it from GAME.co.uk, the choice is yours!