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The fiery one is back and he is as bad as he wants to be. That’s right, Spyro the dragon returns in November with Spyro: A Hero’s Tale. Promising in-depth platforming goodness, bizarre humor, and the same impeccable game play that fans of the series are use to; Spyro looks to capture the fans that are adventurous again this winter. I had a chance to sit down with an early version of Spyro for the PS2, and so far, the game is shaping up rather nicely. Sporting some very unique environments filled with enormous baddies, vivid colors, and more jumps than an evening with the US Olympic team, the worlds in Spyro: A Hero’s Tale are huge. Adding fun to the mix, there are certain areas you must revisit once you complete a certain task. For instance, you come across a locked door and you are asked to bring back a dragon egg to prove your worth. This quest will take you some timely jumping to complete, but once you do this quest, more of the world opens up. You will find other ways to free up the world as well including puzzles, traps, and other additional quests that will keep your fingers nimble and you working that brain.
Spyro returns with some of the smartest humor in video games, all complete with some pleasantly well-done voice acting. A funny moment from early in the game puts you in a situation when you need to break open the dark gems. When asked by the elder dragon to collect items, he forgets what Spyro collects. His first couple options are collecting heart pieces, collecting coins, and a few other platform classic items that will make old school gamers chuckle. The script seems to be well written and the voice talent makes the game come to life. Controls in Spyro are tight, responsive, and simple to pick up and play. When you learn new abilities, you are given the button combinations in which to perform them. Some places in the game cannot be reached until you have learned a technique, so expect quite a bit of backtracking. Fans of the genre should be more than use to this by now, so it is not as painful as it sounds. The game puts you through over 20 unique levels that will test every bit of your twitching skills. To break up the monotony, you’ll also get the chance to play as four other characters; Sparx, Hunter, Blinky the mole, and Sgt Byrd. Each character has uniqueness to their levels, as the flying missions for Sgt Byrd, which you shoot, objects in the sky and drop bombs. Spyro is coming together very well thus far, and minus a few camera problems, looks to be another strong platform title for fans of all ages to enjoy. The game is colorful enough with ease of game play for the kiddies, yet challenging and full of more mature innuendos for adults to get a kick out of. Look for Spyro: A Hero’s Tale in November on the Xbox, PS2, and Game Cube.
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