When I first played this game I was pleasently surprised at how much an improvement it was over the last game.
User Rating: 9.1 | The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning GC
The game follows the same basic premise, retains a good deal of the elements that made it unique in its design, but has definitely turned over a new leaf in both the gameplay design and execution. Not only does the game have a strong presentation style, complete with a ton of story, tons of actual 3D camerawork, and a strong initial sense of style, but Sierra actually spared no expense on giving the team tools necessary for success. Voice acting is done by Elija Wood, David Spade, and Gary Oldman for the main three characters and the entire game is scored with huge orchestral compositions. The origins tale has nearly as much scripted story as it does actual gameplay, though the moments always seem to interrupt at the right times, as the game's pacing is pretty solid overall. Where the game really proved itself, however, is in the general navigation and combat. While it's still a basic action/adventure game like so many others, Spyro's combat engine is solid, allowing players to use melee attacks, pop-ups, air combos, fire combos, distance attacks, and huge supers. Oddly enough, the game actually emulates titles like God of War, having players go into a sub-menu where each individual special attack can be upgraded (with the same layout as God of War even, obviously intended to pay honors to the game). The general combat is slowed down for the younger audience, but it seems that every facet of the game can be paralleled to the PS2's most successful action title. The way enemies are presented is nearly identical, having players battle a new enemy in a one-on-one situation to get them familiar with the enemy's attack patterns, and then treats them as a normal baddie from then on. Even the colored power-ups are nearly identical, having players earn red, green, and blue gems from defeated foes that add life, fire fuel, and experience to each respective bar. It really is an odd comparison, but the design emulation is obviously intentional, and it works. Aside from the basics, Spyro does an overall decent job of delivering opportunities to break up the general combat, working in flight portions, training areas, and tons of different abilities to keep the action fresh. The flight controls are as expected, having players navigate with the analog stick, speed up and slow down with the shoulder buttons, and barrel-roll and fire with face buttons. The overall feel is decent, though it's apparent that flight areas play second stage to the main platforming. The game finds a ton of depth in the different dragon attacks, however, having ice, fire, earth, and electricity attacks that can each be powered up to multiple levels. The design may be formulaic and a bit of the predictable side, but the execution is solid, making Spyro a game that I can still get behind. Though the game is running off current-gen systems only (without the aid of progressive scan, mind you), Spyro is actually pulling off some pretty strong visuals as well. There are some solid distortion effects happening, and battles are constantly making use of tons of explosions, bloom lighting, advanced particle effects, and some strong real-time lighting. For a game that have that lacks the overall "next-gen" feel, Spyro had a solid visual design, and was shockingly impressive at times.
