Spyro The Dragon Review
A
Journalistic Review by DefiantParrot
*Warning: Contains Spoilers*
Originally Written 07/29/2018
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| Hello, old friend |
Developer: Insomniac Games
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Platform: PlayStation
Genre: Platformer
Release: September 9, 1998
So
we’ve had fun here haven’t we? I like to think that we have, we’ve explored my
missed PS3 opportunities with games like The
Last of Us and inFamous. We’ve
experienced newer titles such as Ryse:
Son of Rome and Life is Strange
and even gutted that piece of shit Hercules with a rusty fishing knife.
What I’m saying is that I have very much enjoyed our time
together but, there’s one thing I haven’t really done here yet., and that is
talk about the games of my childhood. Oh don’t get me wrong talking about Spider-Man was fun and all but what were
the games that really defined my childhood, today we’re going to discuss one of
the icons of little Parrot’s life. This is Spyro
The Dragon.
Okay well to be honest I actually played the Spyro games
in reverse I started with Year of the Dragon, then played Ripto’s Rage and then
played the original when growing up. Here on The Parrot’s Nest we do things
chronologically… sort of, so we’re starting here.
I have so many memories of this game that this is going
to be the first time I have to try and overcome nostalgia and be completely 100
percent honest and not let any bullshit pass me by. So let’s do this.
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| Grandpa? |
So the game begins confusingly with a… news reporter? or
something, interviewing somebody’s grandpa dragon who doesn’t remember how much
land they own or how much money they have. Probably doesn’t even remember his
own name, when another dragon steps in and insults Gnasty Gnorc a green idiot
who then, overhearing them somehow, turns all of the dragons into crystal.
All save for one a spunky little purple dragon named
Spyro.
And so the adventure begins to free every crystalized
dragon, reclaim the treasure from Gnorc, rescue all the eggs taken by little
annoying fuckwit and set Gnorc’s overly large ass on fire.
Spyro is a simple platformer and collect-a-thon in the
vein of other PS1 games of the time, I immediately want to compare it to Gex:
Enter the Gecko, Spyro however is more of a sister series to the orange
marsupial himself.
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| My ears orgasm every time hear it |
Anyway the first thing you’ll notice in this game is that
it is beautiful, PS1 games graphically don’t tend to hold up very well, I’m
looking at you Tekken. But the cartoony and colorful world of Spyro lends
itself very well here. I particularly love the gems in this game. The treasure
you gather is beautiful, sparkling in the distance, multi-colored to signify
value, and make a noise when bouncing or being collected that is recognizable
and has stayed with me almost twenty years after I originally played it.
Speaking of the sound in this game, I love it for the
most part. The sounds of the gems as I said I love, the crunch of charging an
enemy, or the sound of Spyro’s flame breath is also memorable to me.
The enemies taunting Spyro, or the delightful tune heard
when finding an extra life are all memorable. The music is also delightful,
Stewart Copeland was the man behind this and clearly the man is a genius. I’ll
admit I don’t find myself humming the tunes to myself when I’m doing something
else but when I’m in the game and fighting Gnasty’s minions I’m bobbing my head
and swaying back and forth lost in the rhythm of this game.
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| I miss Spongebob |
The voice acting on the other hand… Egh, mind you there’s
not much of it here, just the opening and ending of course, Dragons saying
something when they are freed, and Spyro himself sometimes. Mind you I don’t
expect much from a game such as this but… and I know this isn’t fair but… I
HATE SPYRO’S VOICE IN THIS GAME!!!!
No disrespect to Mr. Carlos Alazraqui I loved him as
Denzel Crocker and Juandissimo Magnifico on Fairly Oddparents but I played so
much Spyro 2 and 3 that Tom Kenny is the official voice of Spyro to me. Like
how David Hayter is Snake and Charles Martinet is Mario.
My next complaint with Spyro is also a tad unfair so I’ll
get this out of the way here, he doesn’t really have a character or personality
or anything. He wants to stop Gnasty Gnorc and says several times how he’ll
“torch” him and that’s it he seems disinterested in anything else. He has no
quips or funny lines like in the next two games, seemingly no bravery or
courageous attitude as I’m used to him having his character is fleshed out so
much more in the next two games that I’m starving for any of that here.
I know, I know it’s the first game in the series and
nostalgia goggles here but, still Spyro in this game doesn’t compare to Crash
or Gex.
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| The game is still solid |
The controls in this game are surprisingly still pretty
good today, I was expecting to struggle with it and while I did a little at
first having to adjust back to using the L2 and R2 buttons for the camera, I
did get used to it. Having free control of the camera is great and after a
while I was able to charge, glide, and flame to my heart’s content.
The only complaint I have with the controls is that Spyro
doesn’t hover in this game, which will be added in Spyro 2, still unfair I know
but the hover is awesome and I miss it. And Spyro has a dodge roll. It sucks,
nothing more to say it doesn’t dodge shit.
But Spyro isn’t alone on this adventure he has Sparx the
Dragonfly with him who can pick up treasure for Spyro and acts as his health
meter. If Sparx is golden then you are at full health, Blue and you’ve taken a
hit, Green and you’ve been hurt twice and if Sparx is gone then you only have
one hit left, and picking up gems without Sparx SUCKS!
Again though, aside from a couple of mentions from the
dragons there’s no interaction with Sparx in this game, Spyro himself doesn’t
even acknowledge he’s there which is quite offputting considering their
relationship in other games.
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| These are plentiful so you're never starving for a save |
After freeing a dragon Spyro can step on any of the
pedestals that they were previously trapped on and save his game, the game also
saves when traveling between worlds. Whether the hub worlds or levels within
the hub worlds.
Which by the way I love the transitions in this game from
flying to the new worlds or traveling by balloon it really feels like this is a
world and not just a video game.
The way the game loads the levels themselves is great too
when playing a level in Spyro objects in the distance aren’t as detailed as
anything up front and as you travel closer, the objects become more detailed.
This saves on the processing power of the PlayStation and keeps it from
catching fire and again adds to the immersion of the world of Spyro.
Every hub world also has a speedway level in which Spyro
inexplicably gains the ability to fly for however long he wants and must fly
through rings or flame a certain number of planes in a time limit to complete
it. These are fun if admittedly unneeded.
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| This one makes me laugh though |
Oh and if you die in a level you don’t have to restart
the whole thing! Thank You Dragon Jesus!
The game is not that difficult of course it’s meant for
kids but it’s still fun most of the time, but that lack of difficulty certainly
rears its head during the boss fights. None of them are that challenging
especially the final fight with Gnasty himself which was disappointing even
back then to 11 year old Parrot.
The main story should take maybe, 6 hours if you don’t
know what you’re doing, I completed this game 100% and my time was about 9 and
half hours so there’s a decent time sink here, standard for the time I suppose.
It’s not hard to complete obviously but there’s not really much rewarding you
if you do.
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| Doesn't take too much time to get this |
All in all Spyro was a blast from the past for me and a
lot of fun to go back and re-experience especially after so long. But what
should my rating be? Well taking into account the games Pro and cons, how it
compares to the sequels and with the Reignited Trilogy coming out
soon I’m going to give Spyro The Dragon my…
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| For when the Marsupial gets a remake before you |
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