Spyro the Dragon the first of 3 games developed by Insomniac Games and is an excellent platformer, where Spyro must free his fellow Dragons that are trapped inside crystal by the games main antagonist 'Gnasty Gnorc'.
The graphics of Spyro the Dragon were defiantly some of the best the PlayStation has to offer, featuring fairly large fully 3D worlds to explore. The game engine was very impressive from a technical standpoint with short load times which were hidden when the games protagonist Spyro goes through a portal to another environment, the game is loading in the background. Levels in the game stay pop-up free and the game is just as good artistically with great looking creature designs and diverse levels.
Audio in the game is just as strong as the graphics, voice acting is well done, and sound effects are what you would expect to match its cartoon graphical style. The music is composed by the drummer of 'The Police' Stewart Copeland, and features some catchy themes some of which are very bass heavy while others more atmospheric. The music really sets the tone and atmosphere of the level and is the best aspect of the sound.
The gameplay mechanics consist of a flame breath, charging, and gliding. The flame breath attack and charging with Spyro's horns are used to kill enemies; some larger foes are not vulnerable to Spyro's charge attack and must be killed with the flame breath. Charging is also used for running quickly and is used for chasing enemies that try to flee. Platforming moves are a jump by pressing the X button then by pressing X again while jumping allows the player to glide to far away platforms.
Most of the games levels consist of eliminating various enemies, collecting gems, and freeing Dragons and exiting the portal back to one of the games homeworlds. Once all levels are completed within a homeworld then the player can proceed to the next homeworld. These levels are fun to play through but it could have done with some mini games or side missions to add more variety.
There are some speedways in every home world which are really fun. These levels allow Spyro to fly and the player must eliminate various targets which reward you with gems and must be completed within a time limit. The speedways mix up the gameplay and have a good amount of replay value not just because there fun to play but also to see if you can beat your best time.
There are also bosses in each of the home worlds but that appear at the end of the level they are unique in appearance but are all similar to defeat as all you do is flame them chase them repeat.
There is a bonus level after beating the game but in order to enter you need to collect all the gems, dragon eggs and freeing all the dragons. This does add some replay value and is worth completing all the levels 100% to access the bonus level.
Spyro the Dragon is an excellent platformer and one of the best PlayStation games, a classic.