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SPYRO THE DRAGON (PS)
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Publisher: Sony.
Developer: Insomniac Games. Released: October 1998 (Europe). Genre: 3D Platformer. Posted 31st May 2020. By Shane Battams © 2020 |
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An unproven developer and a publisher desperately seeking a mascot to rival Mario seems like a disaster waiting to happen, but Spyro the Dragon proved a risk worth taking. Though hardly a trailblazer on a console populated by 3D platformers, it would prove the sturdiest rival to the likes of Super Mario 64 and Banjo Kazooie. While a few flaws hold it back from true excellency, Spyro is a colourful and gleeful platformer that keeps you entertained throughout with its charm.
A brief cut-scene sets you on your journey, as Gnasty Gnorc turns all dragonkind into Crystal Statues and with only Spyro left unfrozen, it’s up to the purple young ‘un to free his kin and put a stop to the green troll’s meddling. You do this by travelling across six hub worlds, each comprising of four-to-five levels each. These contain dragons to free, gems to collect and on some occasions dragon eggs to reclaim from thieves. StD borrows liberally from other platformers of the time, but its streamlined nature is eminently welcome. It’s easy to check what items you’re missing from any given level, and though barriers are presented which force you to collect certain quantities of each item, overcoming them isn’t laborious. It can seem a little easy as a result, but avoids becoming a slog like some of the more extreme collect-a-thons.
A brief cut-scene sets you on your journey, as Gnasty Gnorc turns all dragonkind into Crystal Statues and with only Spyro left unfrozen, it’s up to the purple young ‘un to free his kin and put a stop to the green troll’s meddling. You do this by travelling across six hub worlds, each comprising of four-to-five levels each. These contain dragons to free, gems to collect and on some occasions dragon eggs to reclaim from thieves. StD borrows liberally from other platformers of the time, but its streamlined nature is eminently welcome. It’s easy to check what items you’re missing from any given level, and though barriers are presented which force you to collect certain quantities of each item, overcoming them isn’t laborious. It can seem a little easy as a result, but avoids becoming a slog like some of the more extreme collect-a-thons.
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Spyro is one of the most vibrant and expansive 3D PlayStation titles, though it's a little short on variety.
The structure perhaps doesn’t lend itself to a great deal of variety. Each hub contains five stages: three traditional platforming levels, a special flight level and a boss confrontation. Flight levels task you with destroying four sets of objects within a limited time, with each object rewarding precious seconds. Bosses are perhaps the weakest part of Spyro, almost all of which lack any semblance of challenge and feel more like interruptions than bosses you will remember. This straightforward design can become a bit repetitive by the end, and even with later stages throwing in tougher enemies who require new tactics to defeat, it’s not quite enough to avoid a slight sense of stagnancy creeping in towards the end.
Spyro the Dragon excels in its sheer proficiency. A lot of platformers of the time struggled with controls and cameras in a three-dimensional setting. But Insomniac cleverly circumvented this issue with spacious levels that, despite some basic geometry at times, feel expansive. Spyro’s move set is somewhat limited and doesn’t expand, but one of his greatest moves is the Glide function, which functions remarkably well. Chasms which look too far to reach are exciting to overcome, and though it perhaps doesn’t build upon this foundation with any great variety, the platforming is still a sheer joy. Spyro can also charge and breathe fire, and smartly, enemies adapt to force the player to utilise both. Deaths, rather than coming from cheap falls, feel legitimate. And there’s room for error too thanks to Sparx, Spyro’s dragonfly buddy who allows him to take three hits. Insomniac deserves credit for making the platformer work remarkably well in a fully-3D space.
Spyro the Dragon excels in its sheer proficiency. A lot of platformers of the time struggled with controls and cameras in a three-dimensional setting. But Insomniac cleverly circumvented this issue with spacious levels that, despite some basic geometry at times, feel expansive. Spyro’s move set is somewhat limited and doesn’t expand, but one of his greatest moves is the Glide function, which functions remarkably well. Chasms which look too far to reach are exciting to overcome, and though it perhaps doesn’t build upon this foundation with any great variety, the platforming is still a sheer joy. Spyro can also charge and breathe fire, and smartly, enemies adapt to force the player to utilise both. Deaths, rather than coming from cheap falls, feel legitimate. And there’s room for error too thanks to Sparx, Spyro’s dragonfly buddy who allows him to take three hits. Insomniac deserves credit for making the platformer work remarkably well in a fully-3D space.
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Spyro is also one of the better looking games on the platform. The purple dragon himself is remarkably detailed, with expressive facials and fantastic animation. While enemies and levels perhaps don’t benefit from this same detail, they still bore vivid colours and plentiful in quantity and size, respectively. Even better, the smooth performance never suffers with all the action going on. There’s a lot of technical accomplishments too, including briefer than usual load times and larger draw distances which avoid typical fogging. The audio is rather brilliant too, benefiting immensely from Stewart Copeland, who composed the soundtrack. Each track feels well attuned to the theme, and some truly memorable melodies stick with you. Catchy sound effects and serviceable voice work also make their present felt.
The only other complaint you can levy at Spyro the Dragon is that it is a little on the short side. To simply clear the main story, you’re looking at around seven hours of gameplay, which will fly by in a flash. While getting the coveted 120% could push that up closer to the 12 hour mark, there’s not really much incentive to keep playing once you’ve achieved that feat.
The only other complaint you can levy at Spyro the Dragon is that it is a little on the short side. To simply clear the main story, you’re looking at around seven hours of gameplay, which will fly by in a flash. While getting the coveted 120% could push that up closer to the 12 hour mark, there’s not really much incentive to keep playing once you’ve achieved that feat.
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But Spyro the Dragon is a rock solid, engaging platformer that is held back only by some slight, but noticeable, issues. It’s an extremely polished platformer that sticks to the genre’s roots – perhaps to a fault – but does so remarkably well. The presentation is top notch, the gliding and controls are fantastic and even if the game becomes a touch tiring towards the end, it’s still great fun. It doesn’t quite compete with the best of the genre, but Spyro’s first rodeo would prove an extremely solid foundation for sequels to come, and this would cement Spyro as one of the iconic figureheads of Sony’s fifth generation console.
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VERDICT
"Spyro the Dragon is a rock solid, engaging platformer that is held back only by a slight lack of longevity and variety." OVERALL: 8/10 |
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