'...on the whole this is irritating, unnecessary, and should be avoided...'
I get somewhat nostalgic thinking of the original Spyro, running around as a smart-ass purple dragon, burning and head-butting stuff. One of the first playstation game's I played, I loved it to pieces. With each sequel though, it's the exact same thing, done worse, with a few extra, unnecessary features.
And it's the same again with Hero's Tail, the 5th in the series. Essentially it's a half-arsed platformer that isn't quite as imaginative as the original, but with a ton of other things just shoved in for show. For example, learning new skills, four playable character and some linear free roaming. But rather than adding to the experience, these things take away from it, complicating what should be a nice simple platformer for a younger audience.
Some of the fun from the original game is still here, running around head-butting things as a dragon being part of it, but on the whole this is irritating, unnecessary, and should be avoided.
4.0