Spyro on handheld. What could go wrong...?
It's perfectly understandable that some sacrifices would have to be made in order to make a once fully 3D game where you could go just about anywhere fit onto a small handheld cartridge, but I think the creators almost tried to do too much with too little.
In Season of Ice you're charged with the task of rescuing a group of fairies that have been frozen into ice for the use of some unknown evil force, and as a purple dragon who can breathe fire and fly (or more accurately glide) you're the only one suitable for the task. For some reason thousands of gems have also been scattered across the realms again (though it is not explained why in the story this time) and though no one asks it of you, you are meant to pick those up too.
The graphics are actually very good for a GameBoy game, and at times with the camera giving a constant fixed but overhead diagonal angle of the environment it's hard to tell if the game and Spyro himself are 3D or just 2D. Something I've yet figure out even after beating the game. However, this causes some problems for the actual gameplay.
Sure, the environments are pretty, but once you get to play, you see that aside from the visual difference (spring worlds, winter worlds, ext.) most levels are practically cookie cutters of each other, and you'll spend most of your time doing the exact same quests, just in differently garbed settings, making the game get old rather quickly.
Another problem with the gameplay is the control scheme. By pressing two buttons of the D-pad at one time, Spyro is able to run across the map in a diagonal direction as opposed to the standard left, right, up, and down. You're environments demand that you do this a lot, but at times the controls just aren't responsive enough, and instead you'll end up going in the standard 'left' or 'right' kind of directions, or sometimes nowhere at all. These problems seems to be non-existent when you play the game via GameCube GameBoy Player and use the controller's analog stick (the game controls quite smoothly when played this way) but this takes all the point of portability out of the game if it only works properly with a console and not a handheld like it was made for.
Alas, there is one more environmental/ gameplay problem I'd like to point out. Season of Ice, like it's predecessors, is a platforming game. But unlike most platformers where you can tell if you can make the next ledge because it's short enough or close enough, in Season of Ice, you can't. Literally half if not more of your platforming in this game will be purely guess and check as it is at times impossible to judge the height of the ledge you wish to get too. You may try to glide an area that you know you can reach vertically and it looks like it's the same height as the one you are currently standing on, but alas when Spyro crashes into the side of it and plummets to his doom you come to realize said destination was six stories higher than you.
Lastly, there is little to no replay value in Season of Ice. Once you beat the game 100% you unlock a special bonus stage, but other than that there is really nothing else to do. On top of that there is only one save file, and even if you want to play a new game without overwriting the old file, the game still demands that you delete all of your previous data anyway. So if you're anything like me and you're too proud once you've finally gotten so far in the game, you'll probably never replay again if it sacrifices your only save file.
So overall Season of Ice looks good for a GameBoy game. Gameplay just didn't live up to expectations and there are some minor kinks in the layout and design that make the game majority frustrating. One of said problems can be worked out by using a GameCube GameBoy Player instead of a portable system. There is zero replay value.
Would I recommend this game to anyone? Probably not. If you're a hardcore Spyro fan I suppose you could try it out for yourself, just don't expect too much and be prepared for disappointment.