Review #556: Spyro the Dragon

 Finished on the same day I started it. It's good. It's really good.

Lean, mean and purple.

 After years and years of neglecting the Dragon, I finally decided to take the plunge, and boy, had I been missing out!

 So, there're 5 dragon kingdoms, and as luck would have it, the Artisan Dragons are being interviewed, and they've little good to say about Gnasty the Gnorc. They've also little to defend themselves when a scorned Gnasty turns them into statues, save for Spyro the teenage Dragon. Now it's up to Spyro to save his elders and stop the Gnorcs. A simple, but serviceable setup that works quite well for the game. There're 6 different worlds, with about 6 stages and a disappointingly easy boss each, 80 dragons to rescue, 12000 worth in gems and 12 dragon eggs. It all lasts about 6 hours and boy, is it a fun romp.

Rescue those dragons in order to obtain tips.

 Spyro's moveset is small but comprehensive. X is used to jump and glide, Square lets you headbutt enemies or dash and circle is your fire breath. L2 and R2 can be use to roll sideways... which have absolutely no use whatsoever. With those tools you'll have to traverse the entire game, and for good or bad, you won't get any new moves. That said, you'll have to learn which enemies can only be damage with the flame breath and which can only be hurt with the headbutt, learn which distances Spyro can glide by himself or which require you to use dash pads in order to boost your jump.

 If there's something to complain about in the control department is how slippery Spyro is. I think I only died once due to him slipping all over the place, but Spyro's moveset and levels take it into account, so either they make it so that jumps don't need to be so precise, or turn a narrow bridge into an obstacle to contend with Sypro's movement.    Spyro can take up to four hits, and you can tell how many hits are left by the color of the firefly trailing behind you: Gold means you're at perfect health, then comes blue, then green and then... he's gone, until you find a fodder enemy, such as sheep, and defeat it for a health pick-up.

The draw distance is incredibly large, for a PS1 game.

 Levels are varied, and enjoyable to explore, although, truth be told, some of their secrets are rather tough to figure out without outside help. Not that it matters since you don't need 100% to finish the game, unless you want the bonus level. If there's something to complain about, it's how little rewarding collectibles are, your only motivation is triggering the balloon guys, which let you travel to another hub-world, and each one has a different requirement, either a certain amount of eggs, treasure or rescued dragons. It would've been a good idea to have some upgrades or something to obtain as you collect the various McGuffins.

 Spyro the Dragon was a fun little collectathon that was shockingly good for a first iteration, Insomniac's second game ever to boot! They knocked it out of the park with Spyro, and I'm looking forwards the next game.
 9.0 out of 10