Spyro the Dragon

Developer - Insomniac
Publisher - Sony
Players - 1
Extras - Memory card, Analog, Dual Shock

The bit on the box

"The Dragon Lands have been taken over by Gnasty Gnorc and his Gnorc army. All of the dragons have been transformed into crystal statues and only Spyro is left. Glide, charge and torch your way through an astounding adventure. 6 massive fantasy worlds with over 30 levels. That Gnasty Gnorc is toast!"

Graphics

After seeing the graphics in Spyro the Dragon I can safely say that the PlayStation has just about been pushed to it's limit these days. The game consists of well drawn, well animated polygonal enemies throughout, and Spyro himself is superbly animated and full of character. The creatures all have a Pandemonium feel about them, as they are likeable without being overly cute. Any polygon clipping I noticed in the game (which wasn't often) was minimal and I could see a hell of a lot of work had gone into Spyro's production to keep a high level of cosmetic consistency throughout. There is no slowdown during play either, mainly because of a clever pop-up technique (as opposed to fogging) which only shows the textures on the walls Spyro is closest to. All this in high resolution and those who love eye candy are in for a treat here.

Sounds

The sound effects are many and sound much like those used in Pandemonium, but in more abundance. They are also used to give clues to the player, hinting as to the whereabouts of hidden lives (the chests that contain extra lives make a clinking noise) or the ever elusive thieves (who chuckle and make fun of you from a distance). The music has been well produced and doesn't become annoying during play, but I did notice it was very sleep inducing if you were watching someone else play and not participating in the action. The sounds overall round off the graphics nicely.

Gameplay

It was the area of gameplay that I found my first real criticism of Spyro. Even though the controls are excellent most of the time and good use has been made of both analog and digital modes, as well as dual shock, I did find that it could all be a little over sensitive at inopportune times in the game. Sometimes an apparently easy jump can turn into sudden death for the gallant dragon as he over-runs a platform or falls short because of a slight nudge left or right in direction. Admittedly practice makes perfect and all it takes is a little getting used to, and the game does have excellent back-up features such as the glide and mid-air stop to prevent Spyro from plunging to his doom too often. There are also the odd flying stages during the game, and the final (bonus) stage combines both normal gameplay and flying, something of which I wish was used more often on the earlier levels.

I feel a verdict coming on

Though the control system could use a bit of tightening up I can safely say that Spyro the Dragon is the best 3D platformer on the PlayStation (that is from the "true" free flowing variety, not the Crash Bandicoot "action on rails" type game). Say what you like about the graphics, sound, and controls but what it all comes down to is that Spyro is terrific fun. It may seem a tad easy for veteran gamers, but there are plenty of levels and a huge amount of game time if you should decide to go for the bonus level by collecting 100% treasure. The best part of this game is that it is definitely family friendly, and will appeal to young and old alike, so parents can also have fun embarrassing themselves in front of their children.

Review by D.R.T.Barrett