a slight improvement in the series, however its still sub-par, contrived, dated, unoriginal and mediocre beyond belief.
User Rating: 5 | The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon PS2
Well, as a third installment and closing of this series, I have to say that "dawn of the dragon" could have been worse. Many people consider this to be the best of the "legend of spyro" series. well, I have no argument with that. frankly, the other games were abysmal and very, very mediocre, dull, cliche, repetitive, unintuitive, uninventive, bland, dated and they effectively stomped on everything the series has been about. I dont want to get into that right now. I will attempt to stay on topic about this game in particular. the series, up until now, has focused on extremely tedious, sub-par "hack-and-slash" action, and a shockingly bland and unoriginal storyline. "a new begining" introduced this and "eternal night" managed to only recycle and regurgitate it. I will say, right off the bat, that the storyline in "dawn of the dragon" is just as stale and flat as it ever was. In fact, I would venture to say that this one has the worst storyline. It does have more of a focus on developing the plot, but frankly all it does is steal from movies, books and other video games for nearly every scene, every sub-plot and every major event. lets just say the creators must really, really, really like lord of the rings. and what better way to show that affection by directly stealing from it on a constant basis? Maybe Elijah Wood has something to do with it....... I dont know. anyway, the game does have good features that make it a step up from its two predecessors. it doesnt focus quite as much on that tired concept of linear levels and countless barrages of enemies. the action is a bit better, and its not quite as dull as it was before, however its nothing to write home about. It does suffer from rudimentary pointless puzzles and lots of boring flying. that is another problem. the flying controls are kind of awkward and not nearly as smooth as the ones from the classics. it tries to emulate alot of the action dynamics of games such as god of war and devil may cry, but it fails. Any gamer who is familiar with the basic classics of the PS2, will see through this facade and will go back to playing some real hack and slash and and adventure games. this game truly has nothing to offer in terms of action, story, environments, characters, and replay value. this game is very behind the times and doesnt succeed as a worthy edition to its genre. it doesnt have anything that cant be offered by other games in the adventure, hack-and-slash, and platforming genres. im not even mentioning the fact that this entire trilogy has butchered and changed everything from the classics and has effectively lost all charm, originality and purpose. even if I was willing to accept these alterations, the game still fails in its own right and its own aspiring category. I would recommend that you pass this game up. I would recommend that you play spyro 2 and 3 on the PS1. they are far better games in general and they excel in the area of platforming. they are far more entertaining, have smoother gameplay and controls, much more content, more original charming stories, and much, much, much better music. Kids and people new to gaming may enjoy this game, but if you know anything about gaming in general, you should avoid this travesty at all costs. this "legend of spyro" series has failed to be anything other than a bland, pretentious waste of time and this latest and final edition is only a slight step up from its brethren. in light of the budget, technology, resources, actors, trial and error of the previous games, and past material for reference, there is absolutely no reason why this game and entire trilogy couldnt have been as good as the originals. it wasnt ruined by the concept and changes alone. a serious spyro series could have worked, but the creators simply didnt put enough effort into being original, innovative or trying to stick out in the crowd. what we got was just another throw-away game in a throw-away trilogy. go play "ripto's rage" and "year of dragon." thats my last word on the subject.
