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Defiance's Spyro the Dragon (PS)

[April 26, 2011 07:38:33 PM]

Spyro the Dragon is a platform game that was for the Playstation. Released by Insomniac Games in 1998, the game features a 3-D world with 2.5 dimensional play, as the protagonist is able to jump as well as glide in the world. The game is single player, and ends with narrative exhaustion: two endings can be achieved, one simply by completing the game, and the other by completing the game and acquiring every collectible item: Namely, gems, dragon eggs, and trapped dragons.

= The Story =

The five dragon worlds lived in harmony. In an interview with the Artisan’s world, one dragon made fun of Gnasty Gnorc, who then froze all of the dragons in green encasements. Spyro, due to his small size, evaded the spell, and now must travel to all five worlds, free all the dragons, and collect all the dragon eggs and gems Gnasty’s henchmen stole.

= Gameplay =

To reach Gnasty Gnorc, Spyro must travel through all five dragon worlds. To continue to the next world, he is usually required to retrieve a number of dragons, eggs, or gems.

Spyro travels by hot air balloon to all of the worlds: The Artisans, the Peace Keepers, the Magic Crafters, the Beast Makers, and the Dream Weavers. Each main world has many different worlds Spyro can enter by jumping through a portal, and one level where Spyro has endless flight ability and must collect items within a time limit.

Spyro’s health is measured by his sidekick, Sparx the dragonfly. Sparx is at full health when his color is gold. If Spyro gets hit, Sparx turns blue, then green, then disappears. After Sparx is gone, Spyro instantly dies if he is hit by an enemy. Sparx also helps Spyro pick up gems nearby, so you must walk over to a gem to retrieve it if Sparx is gone.

= Abilities =

Our protagonist has several useful abilities because he’s a dragon. He can jump, double glide, flame enemies, and charge and headbutt enemies. Although Spyro can fly, he cannot swim, and touching any pool of water takes away a hit point. Spyro also keeps these abilities through the entire game, and does not learn any new ones.

Spyro can flame small creatures such as sheep or frogs in every level. Killing these creatures releases butterflies, which Sparx eats to go up a color.

= Collectible Items =

Eighty trapped dragons are stationary and placed in various areas in worlds as well as sub-worlds. The dragons’ locations range from being placed in your path to areas that I practically had to look into a walkthrough to figure out how to reach to free them.

There are twelve eggs in total scattered throughout the world. Each egg is held by an egg thief, an enemy wearing a blue turban and robe, and you must charge down the egg thief. Once you hit him, he disappears and the egg is added to your inventory.

There are twelve thousand gems scattered through the worlds and sub-worlds as well, and Spyro can achieve gems by picking them up, defeating enemies, or breaking open treasure boxes.

Finally, Spyro can gain lives by collecting silver dragon trophies. These trophies can usually be found in treasure chests.

= Overall =

Spyro the Dragon is a great game for beginning gamers. I would recommend playing to complete the game, not collect all the items as then the game becomes tedious and absolutely frustrating. Strategy is involved including trust-falling and gliding all the way to the other side of a building one is standing on to retrieve the hidden items, which one probably would not find without the help aid a walkthrough. Otherwise, I highly enjoyed this game; in fact, I used to play it for hours on end! Spyro the Dragon receives a 4 out of 5.