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| Don't mess with the dragon... |
I’d never even have thought about buying Spyro the Dragon back
when it was released on the PS1, and frankly I wouldn’t have thought to buy it
now. However, last year my partner Kirsty bought the Spyro: Reignited Trilogy
on the PS4, which I played when I wanted a game I could play around my young
daughter.
It turned out to be really good! It is a 3D platforming game
where you control a little dragon called Spyro on a quest to free the other
dragons of the world from a spell put on them my Gnasty Gnorc that caused them
to turn into jade statues. You run around the various stages, defeating enemies
by charging in to them or burning them, and collecting treasure in the form of differently-coloured
gems, before setting off on a hot air balloon to the next one. And having now
not only played through the game but completed it 100%, I can honestly say that
I don’t play enough of this type of game!
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| It's not looking good for that chicken... |
Back when Spryo was first released, around the middle of the
5th console generation, 3D platforming was still in its infancy, and
while there had been some notable successes, (Mario 64, Banjo Kazooie etc) they
were often poorly presented and didn’t handle very well. With Spyro, the
rulebook had been thrown out of the window. The whimsical, fun design of the
game wasn’t usual for Playstation games, (at least, not without being overly
silly,) but opened the doors for a wider audience. The level design – bang on
point, for the most part – had to compensate for the fact that Spyro can glide huge
distances, so they are more explorative in nature. Different enemy types responded
to different attacks; some were vulnerable to charging, and some to fire. And
while the game’s enemies rarely present much of a challenge, finding all the
collectables and rescuing all the dragons was a large part of the experience.
But the best thing about the game is the support from the dual analogue sticks,
which allowed you to control Spyro’s pace as well as the position of the camera.
All of this makes the game fluid and an absolute joy to play. The flying levels
in particular, while little more than showing off, are a great change of pace
and offer a different kind of challenge to the rest of the game.
The graphics and sound are very good; the art style works
well on modern consoles and will still look good in years to come. The music
was composed by Stuart Copeland, and while not particularly memorable after the
fact, supports the game very well. The voice acting was good as well; it knows that
it’s camp, silly and fantastic, and makes no pretence to the contrary.
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| It was actually harder to get the trophy for making Gnasty run around the level five times than it was to beat him... |
I probably could have blitzed through the game in a single
afternoon if all I wanted was get to the end, but I found that the real fun of Spyro
is exploring the levels for the treasures, hunting around for those last few
gems, and figuring out the secrets. For the most part this works well; it’s always
good to have the answer to the problem lie somewhere in the level design, and
the skills and move set you start the game with. The only slight clanger are those
sections where the solution is based on the charge jump: By the time you’ve
done the first one, you’re moving far too fast to plan your move; it’s going to
cost you a few lives as you veer off the edges and plummet to your doom. I
admit to having to look up some guides to find out what to do – if I’m looking
to 100% a game I don’t want to get bogged down – but none of this is required
to beat the game and is thankfully rare.
Spyro the Dragon is a great little game that I’ve thoroughly
enjoyed my time with. It’s competently designed and great fun. It’s not for
everyone – hardcore gamers will find the presented challenge too easy, and even
completionists may be expecting a little bit more – but for most people who
enjoy playing games, you’ll have a great time with Spyro.
Final Score: 4/5: Great
game.
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