Spyro the Dragon
Price: 5.99
Original Release Date: September 10th, 1998
Release Date on PSN: October 29th 2007
Size: 341 Megabytes
Story
Spyro the Dragon is the baby of Insomniac Games, the second party Sony studio that is famous for not only this series but the Ratchet and Clank games, and the Resistance games.
These guys are known for creating great worlds, and really this game is no exception. The world is colourful and there are some really nice characters in this game, like Spyro, who is a great game character, but story wise there isn’t much to this one. It’s a collect the Dragons game and really after a few hours of collecting Dragons, it got a little tedious.
Now Spyro has to collect these Dragons that have been frozen by Evil Villain X. But I don’t have too much direction in this one, and it doesn’t draw me forward. BUT! Then again this is a game built for kids. So I don’t expect Shakespeare, but at least Mario has a chick he wants to get with.
Gameplay
Playing as Spyro is fun no doubt about it, but the controls at times are a little clunky. He moves fluidly, but most of the time after charging an enemy I find myself charging head first off a cliff, having to restart the level. Needless to say this got a little frustrating.
The game is built up of an overworld and many smaller worlds that are entered through these gates with their names floating in front of them. Very much like Mario 64’s overworld with different entry points. But sadly though the gameplay doesn’t hold up to the Mario platforming standard which is tough I know, but the speed I usually get going I feel more like I’m playing a Mariokart game without any rails in stead of a platformer.
But the dragonfly is cool, and lighting people on fire is too.
Graphics
Really I think this is where Spyro really shines. The game is really well coloured, animations are great, the characters despite being of few polygons (being a PSone title of course they would be) have surprisingly good voice sync. Really it looks like a game that could have been released for the PSP.
The voice work in the game is stellar as well, there are a few voices I even recognized, like the Brain’s voice from the old TV show Pinky and the Brain (a childhood favorite of mine). Music is good too, it’s certain that this game is eye candy, but once again for kids.
How it holds up today
I had problems with this game’s controls, but really it wasn’t made for me, it was made for kids. The animations are great, the story is simple to be sure, but it’s about young Spyro saving the older Dragons, a story that kids would love. It’s a colorful world with cute characters and good music to boot! If I had a child (hopefully I won’t for a while) I would show them this game and see if they’d like it. It seems like a great game for that generation, but for me a seasoned gamer with adult tastes it’s not something I would recommend.
8/10 for your child, it’s a fun game for them for sure.
6.5/10 for adults, it just didn’t hold my attention.
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May 30th, 2010 on 6:30 pm
I personally would rate it higher for adults– even though the trappings are sickeningly colorful, and Spyro has the most obnoxious voice ever, it’s still pretty fun. One place it actually compares favorably to Mario 64 is the combat; the game plays more aggressively, with more enemies and more visceral means of defeating them.
It isn’t the best game, but it’s definitely a very good standard 3D platformer.
June 1st, 2010 on 3:06 pm
I did enjoy it, but for me I just couldn’t get into it. The gameplay just seemed a little too loose for my tastes. At least in Mario 64 when you screw up you know it’s your fault. You might enjoy it more, but for me I just didn’t love it. Personal taste I guess.
May 1st, 2011 on 1:34 am
As a big fan of Spyro I have to agree that the first spyro wasnt exactly the best. But I think you should definitley try Spyro Riptos Rage which gives spyro new abilities. Unlike the first one where you just go into levels and the same thing in the second one each level has their own orb challenges or mini games.My personal fav is Spyro Year Of The Dragon the third in the series. I think it has the best story line of the three games. You can also play as Sheila the kangaroo, Sgt.Bird the flying penguin with rocket launchers, Bentley the yeti, Agent 9 a monkey with a gun, Hunter the Cheetah, and u can even play as Sparx the dragonfly. The best thing is they each have their own minigames.The third game also bring many vehicles, each homeworld has one portal with a skate park and skate challenges. You can also fire cannons,ride tanks, and ride space ships. All three games also have great music. Hope this helps and encourages you to try more Spyro gaames.
May 1st, 2011 on 1:53 am
It surely will! That’s quite a lot of information on Spyro for sure, and perhaps I’ll get into the other games in the series after I finish my massive backlog. I’ve heard that Spyro 3 is the best in the series as well, but I had to start off with no. 1 just for continuity’s sake.
Great comment! check out some of my other reviews, maybe you’ll find something you’ll like that you haven’t played before, I think my personal fav so far is Soul Reaver. What a great game. (MGS and Silent hill too, really too many to mention).