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Monday 14 January, 2008
GAMEPLAY:
Well, I finally met the Chronicler in person, and he actually did tell me all I wanted to know. And I didn't even have to punch him. What did he tell me? Well, play the game and you'll find out. I'm not saying anything. Suffice to say that the Eternal Night is bad, and the Dark Master is more badass than I thought he was.
About the gameplay now... well, remember when I said twenty enemies at once was hard? That's nothing. I hit the final dungeon and the difficulty about doubled. There were monsters that were invisible, monsters that teleported, monsters that buffed the other monsters, monsters that came back as skeletons when you killed them and had to be killed again, monsters that could only be damaged by a specific element... not to mention waves and waves of sub-boss level monsters, platforming in rooms so dark that it was basically jumping blind and hoping you hit that one patch of darkness that was darker than the rest, and one misstep meant a fall to your doom. Needless to say, it was intense. After the last major battle before the boss, when I finally beat it I had to just sit there for like thirty seconds, take a couple of deep breaths, and go, "Holy crap."
Another major thing about the final dungeon: I finally noticed the music. It was epic. There is no other word for it. Dark and scary and speaking of impending doom... and in the chamber just before the boss, filled with nothing but a massive statue of the Dark Master himself, it swelled into a massive orchestral melody that just hit you and made you just stop and listen and watch in awe. It was epic.
And then there was the boss battle itself. Introduced by a movie-quality cutscene, it was against the toughest boss I've faced in any game in a while. That's what I like about Spyro bosses. They are not the type that say, "I have no will to live, here is my weak point, hit it now." This boss had no weak point. It had no massive period of time where it just stood there and let you hit it. It had a period of maybe two seconds where it was safe enough to approach it without getting whacked. If you were lucky, you got in four hits. About an eighth of its health bar. And then, when you finally got rid of its health bar, just like Cynder before him, it completely refilled and you moved onto phase two. Which was also epic, but I'm not going to spoil it. And then phase three, which was incredibly awesome, even if it was incredibly easy. The first two phases more than made up for it.
The only thing that minorly detracted from this dungeon was a few problems with the camera and it not wanting to go where I wanted it to go, making one major fight a bit harder than it was already. But other than that, I detected no flaws. A few things that were really, really hard, but nothing that was bad (although with the number of times I died, it might prove to be frustrating to some people, especially ones that aren't too good at video games).
In short, the ending was epic. I've been saying that word a lot because it's TRUE, damnit. I'm just waiting impatiently now for the final game in the trilogy, where I have almost no doubt that we'll be facing the Dark Master himself. Bring it on.
DESIGN:
What I think is most unique about the design of the game is the idea of upgradeable breath weapons, as well as how Spyro approaches the idea of different elemental breaths. Most games that use elemental attacks have some kind of system where each specific enemy is weak or strong against each particular element. Spyro ignores this- you can use whatever element you like against whatever enemies you like, for the most part (occasionally, there were enemies that could only be hurt by one element. However, all these enemies were nice enough to be color coded).
What differs is that each elemental breath is vastly different, used in a different way and useful in different situations. Each breath has two different styles, the breath weapon itself and some kind of elemental strike. For example, the fire breath weapon was the simplest- a simple cone-shaped burst of flame that did decent damage and damage over time, but the most important use of the fire breath was that it made enemies flinch away- and that could be vital to staying alive when Spyro is surrounded. The ice breath shot an ice ball that exploded on contact with anything, freezing any enemies it touched solid, removing them from the fight until they broke out, or making them into convenient targets. The electric breath was also a ball, but it shot out and rolled, shocking anyone it touched for minimal damage, until you pressed the button again to detonate it, at which point it shocked anyone nearby and catapulted them into the air, from which they fell prone and could be whacked. The earth breath was a ball and chain connected to Spyro, which could be swung around, whacking enemies nearby. However, it consumed magic incredibly quickly. I found a it far more useful to take advantage of the forceful way it emerged- using it over and over again quickly instead of holding it out could wear down even the toughest monsters incredibly quickly, though it drained magic just as fast. The elemental strikes were just as diverse, from turning Spryo into a jetting fireball or a spinning electric cyclone, to knocking enemies away or smashing them into the air for an aerial combo. Deciding when to use which breath was most of the strategy in the game, and mastering it was the only way to stay alive towards the end.
The breaths are also upgradeable, as I mentioned before. There are four types of crystals in the game- red recovers health, green recovers mana, purple fills your Fury Meter, and blue acts almost like expereince that you can use to increase the power of your breath. Each elemental breath can be upgraded three times, each time making it not only look cooler, but be more effective. This is also unique to Spyro, I believe, and it is more interactive than some sort of arbitrary leveling system.
Other than that, however, the game is a fairly standard action-adventure game, albeit with far above average dialogue and pretty good music. It just switches the normal sword and shield for a dragon's claws, teeth, wings, and elemental breath. It has a very steep difficulty curve, and at the end it is incredibly hard- hard enough that I wouldn't be surprised if quite a few people gave up in frustration. But persistence eventually pays off, and for me, even when I die, the combat is incredibly fun, possibly because it's so difficult and I have to be fast and clever to win, even with the powerful Fury Attacks in my reportoire.
The game probably isn't for everyone, as a lot of people probably wouldn't be able to beat it, and there are other, easier games out there in this genre. But if you enjoy a challenge and can appreciate humor (and a love of dragons won't hurt either), then it's a great game and you should check it out. Though I recommend playing through A New Beginning first, as this game will be quite a bit more confusing if you haven't played it.
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