History of Spyro the Dragon Franchises:
It all started in 1998 when the development team like Insomniac Games had bought their own 3D platformer game, similar to Nintendo's Super Mario 64, to its SONY's own console platform, so that is Spyro the Dragon for PS1.
It stars as a little purple dragon named Spyro and his little dragonfly companion Sparx on their adventure to save numerous of dragons and defeat Gnasty Gnorc.
It's a 3D platformer game featuring a large variety of levels which the player must locate and collect many items as possible to gain access to the new worlds.
At the initial release, it gained solid overall reception by gaming critics for its unique platforming gameplay and colourful graphics design, as well as crediting the Spyro the Dragon as memorable Playstation's mascot alongside with the fellow like Crash Bandicoot.
The game sold over nearly 5 million copies worldwide during the advent of the 1998 holiday season, which led the game's success spawned with two sequels titled Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage! and Spyro: Year of the Dragon were later released for the PS1 in 1999 and 2000.
SCE and Insomniac Games has sold the rights of Spyro the Dragon franchises to Universal Interactive and Vivendi Games in 2000 to create later titles such as Enter the Dragonfly, A Hero's Tail and Shadow Legacy becoming the first threes being released on the multiplatform consoles such as Gamecube, Xbox original, and DS, then it was being transferred to Sierra Entertainment in 2004 to create The Legend of Spyro series, and then finally given rights to Activision in 2008 to create toys-to-life franchise such as Skylanders which also featured a titular hero in the games such as Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure and Skylanders: Imaginators.
In 2018, the original threes of PS1 classics finally getting the HD remastered treatment by Toys for Bob featuring scaled-up HD graphics, fresh controls, and remastered audio.
Spyro Reignited Trilogy PS4 Review:
Spyro Reignited Trilogy is a 3D Platformer game released for PS4 and XBONE in 2018, where as the Switch and PC was later released in 2019. It was developed by Toys for Bob and published by Activision, and it is a HD remastered and video game compilation of first threes in Spyro the Dragon series, which were all originally developed by Insomniac Games for PS1 in the mid-90s.
Back in my old days of gaming as a child in the 90s, I never own the PS1 console at the time when I grew up playing mostly with the SNES, N64, and GBC.
When I read the gaming magazines like Games Master which shows numerous of previews, reviews, game's releases, and many topics related to gaming, I first saw the image of adorable looking purple dragon that attracted my attention and thinking myself that I wish I had the PS1 like many cool kids had it on their collection.
I remember the day when my mum and I went to my friend's house which they had their PS1 console and the copy of the Spyro the dragon, so it is my first time playing it with my friends and I was impressed the hell of the game with the visuals and platforming which is why many of people including my school friends had chose the PS1 console which has a big libraries of games to pick and choose from in regards to SONY's first console popularity.
When I first had a Gamecube in early 2000s, I did not expect to see a beloved purple hero being on the Nintendo console since the previous threes mostly being on the Playstation platform, so my brother had gave me a copy of Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly as a gift on my 11th birthday as I'm looking forward to play it on my Gamecube, but sadly at the end I did not enjoy the game as much due to numerous of long loading-time, bugs and technical issues, as well as clunky controls and short play-length which many people believed that it's nowhere near fun as the previous threes had to offer making it the weakest entry of the franchise and I also hear the later follow-up titles are just as bad which preventing my interest on Spyro's games until I discovered a reveal of the original threes remasters in 2018 titled as Spyro Reignited Trilogy which had me excited to see a return of the everyone favourite purple dragon back in action.
I just finally got a copy of Spyro Reignited Trilogy for my PS4 to see how are these three games really holds up to the today standards, the answer is as much as I previously enjoyed the past HD remasters collection back then, this video game compilation is just what I've wanted which I will go further details on this review.
So without go further do, let's start the review.
Presentation
The compilation packs with three original game to select such as Spyro the Dragon, Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage!, and Spyro: Year of the Dragon.
In the first game, it takes place in the homeworlds of the Dragon Kingdom where the pairs of Dragons from the Artisan realm being interviewed on the broadcast TV attracts the attention of Gnasty Gnorc, a villain who was banished from the kingdom due to his abrasive demeanor and sent to an abandoned junkyard, being pissed off after hearing the insults from the dragons which led him into his rampaging attack on the kingdom, using his magical powers to cast the spells across the land turning every dragons into crystallised shell, steals the dragons' prized collection of treasure, turning the gemstones into devious gnorc soldiers to help him take over the dragon worlds.
Spyro and his dragonfly companion Sparx sets out their adventure to rescue all remaining dragons and defeat Gnasty Gnorc to restore Dragon Kingdom peacefully.
Where as the second game takes place after the first original, where Spyro must help their friends to stop Ripto from conquering the home fantasy realm of Avalar, and lastly the third one sets in the land of the dragons where Spyro must retrieve all stolen eggs from the evil sorceress.
The story that involve little purple hero going on his journey to save the kingdom and defeating nasty villains once for all which sounds easier for younger kids to enjoy the entire Spyro's exciting adventures throughout the game.
You have Spyro which I describe him as energetic and likable protagonist with great personalities which is why I liked this type of fella who are very adventurous and eager to fight against the game's villain, where as in later follow-up is acting more mature which is fine, though he continues to trash talk at the enemies such as Ripto which I finding it quite hilarious.
Then you have a tiny-little companion such as Sparx the golden dragonfly who is a Spyro's long time friend which I like the way he speaks to Spyro communicating with the buzzing sounds which sounded more suited than having the actual full voice in The Legend of Spyro series.
There are a supportive characters being introduced in Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage such as Elora the Faun which I described her as a perfect romance interest in Spyro. Then you have Hunter the Cheetah which I finding him quite silly, but also funny at same time I mean come on everyone, who doesn't want his goofy sense of humour?, I do.
I wasn't a fan of the mole Professor which is okay, but not quite likable as the other two I've mentioned on this review.
In Spyro: Year of the Dragon, you have Bianca the Rabbit is kinda like a mixture of Lola Bunny from Space Jam and Sabrina the Teenage Witch being fused together which I finding her quite attractive and also kinda cute when she's angry.
Lastly there's one character who are featured in both two games such as Moneybags who is a big fat money-grubbing bear that never leaves Spyro alone when he charges him with the fees to gain access a new skill, unlocking areas, and releasing an ally. Wow what a greedy fat blob.
Lastly you have villains such as an ugly-looking goblin Gnasty Gnorc always loses his shit when something that he dislikes, Ripto the short-sized Dinosaur is just an another madman type-of-thing loves making trouble and causing havoc which also hates Dragons, and finally Sorceress the big fat Dinosaur does a horrible things than the previous two villains threaten to kidnap any creature that disobeyed her rules or something against her which really adds her cruel personality.
These of the three primary villains just wanting to rule over the homeworld and wanting to get rid of Spyro is what I've liked their crazy charismatic in entire game.
The presentation in the game is absolutely stunning to look at especially with the HD remasters which they ran with the Unreal Engine 4 adding more depth in the environments looking better than what we seen from the original PS1.
The settings and scenery in entire area are colourful and vivid producing more variety of locations such as Sunny Flight filled with train tracks and tunnel arches, Dark Hollow has gloomy night-time settings, Ice Cavern has icy structures, Dry Canyon has big sand castle zone, Skelos Badlands filled with lava and flamed pool, Shady Oasis has huge looking palace with arabian-style environments, Cloud Spires has ancient Greek influence feel filled with puffy clouds and huge pillars around it, and Bamboo Terrace has Asian-structures with big temples and mountains.
This is very well done and well constructed design that makes these kinds of 3D platformers quite an eye-catching and I really liked how these games are designed to be very appealing to explore around the surroundings.
Thankfully being on the HD remastered makes an significant difference with added details and textures does make the game look and feel like new again.
Overall, it has charming story, memorable characters, and stunning presentation.
Gameplay
The game packaged with three titles to select on menu screen. You get to play as Spyro in 3D perspective as your main goal of all three is to rescue all dragons, gaining many orbs, retrieving all stolen eggs, and of course defeating bosses, so you will have the list of objectives in each visiting areas on the pause menu which tells you that how many collectable items and gems you gathered so far on progress.
Each of the home world has six groups of levels such as three regular levels, a boss levels, and a flight level to complete, so you'll be exploring around the areas while picking any of portals that will lead you to the level.
You take control of Spyro with the left stick or d-pad to wander around the area, where as the right stick uses as camera control to look over the surroundings. Pressing the X button that allow Spyro to jump while pressing again in mid-air will make him glide through the levels. You can break objects or attack enemy by pressing the circle or R2 button to burst flame at them and also using the charge dash by holding the square button which also acts as charging attack and breaking objects too.
The gems can be located somewhere in the areas which can be found by defeating the enemies, breaking objects, and somewhere hidden in the levels which you can use them for collectable and currency throughout the game.
For example: You need to give these gems to Moneybags to access to various realms and unlockable abilities such as swimming underwater and ground pounding the objects in Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage, whereas freeing the allys that are imprisoned will unlock them as playable characters in the Spyro: Year of the Dragon such as Shelia the Kangaroo who does double hopping and kicking about, the big and cool masculine Yeti welds with icy club as a weapon, military penguin Sgt. Byrd that fires with rocket launcher and flys with jet pack, and of course non-stopping monkey Agent 9 zaps with laser gun.
There are lot of interesting segments in these levels that it's not just relying on the platforming, but also involving stuff like skateboarding race, solving the block puzzles, chasing after blue thief holding an egg, battling with goalie at game of hockey, make it through all the bubble rings, taking down lava lizards while protecting the giant eggs, using sowing seeds to make platforms, shoot down the flagkeeper to retain flagpole, play hide and seek with agent zero, destroy the sand castle, shoot down the umbrella Rhynocs from above, completing all tasks in speedway challenge, and many more cool objectives that really adds the depth of the gameplay.
So far, I am pleased to see the whole remastered of these classics turns out to be fresh and plays smoother than was before thanks to revamped controls making the player's movement and camera system a lot easier to get into, or you may also want to go for a old-school controls like the original PS1 version which can be configured on the option menu for nostalgic purposes, but I'm much rather preferred the Reignited settings instead are much easier to play, so choose any of these configuration what really suits your playstyle.
I've managed to enjoy the playthroughs which I been spending time wandering around the levels, collecting numerous of gems and eggs, completing all speedways challenge, and beating all bosses is what kept me playing over the hours of fun.
The things that I dislike the most is the loading screen in every visits and of course after death which took about 10 to 20 seconds to get back in the game, so at least we can stare at the screen of Spyro flying through while it's loading, but I rather have it loaded now so that I can move on with the game please.
The biggest flaws that put me off is that these two games such as Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage and Spyro: Year of the Dragon are required to download update patch with the internet connection to fully play these.
I mean come on, is it really hard for them to fit all these games into physical disc.
Even the Crash Bandicoot: N'Sane Trilogy can fit all 3 games in one disc, so why not with Spyro Reignited Trilogy!? I totally understand the restrictive size limitation but at least can we have a 2 discs in one complete package please.
Despite the flaws, all Spyro games are still plays great with lengthy single-player platforming over nearly 30 hours of playthrough depending on how much completion you have progressed, and it also had a bonus ending to it which adds the game's replay value.
Overall, it has solid controls, great playthroughs, and many levels and stuff to discover.
Graphics
Like I've mentioned earlier about the game ran on Unreal Engine 4 on the presentation, you can clearly see the levels on this version are much more detailed than the ones on the original PS1. For example: the castle, the grass, the flowers, the waterfalls, and background layouts in the Artisans Home looked more detailed with added textures mapping and environmental objects feels like they just give the game an big enhancements to make it look more updated which proves the remaster looked incredibly better on modern PCs and consoles.
The character's design are also looked good in the remaster especially in the cutscenes and in-game playthroughs which I like how someone like Elora, Bianca, and Hunter are looking so much better compared with their terrifying look on the PS1 version did not hold up well as today, so I'm glad they give all the characters overhaul treatment they deserved in these 3 fully remastered games.
While the game ran well most of the time, there are some frame-rate hiccups that I encountered in Agent 9 mission from Fireworks Factory and Honey Speedway which I had to close the game down and relaunch the game again to get it work properly, so if you ever notice the frame drops during the play then do the same method as I've mention on this review, so I don't know that's just me or is it the game itself.
So far, everything looked magnificent filled with colourful environments, enormous level design, and cartoony animations really adds the game's appeals making it the best looking visuals for video game remasters since Crash Bandicoot: N'Sane Trilogy.
Overall, it has added textures mapping, enhanced environmental objects, and great character's design.
Music and Sounds
I got to say the remastered soundtrack is a excellent arrangement of the originals delivers a mix of nostalgia sounds with newer instrumentals which I kinda liked the upbeating music in each stages, so you do also have the options to change the style of music on the sound settings menu such as the original which based off the PS1 version or go for the Reignited one are just fully arranged.
It was composed by Stewart Copeland, who is a well-known drummer of the British rock band such as The Police, had previously worked on his original score for three Spyro games was re-recorded by Stephan Vankov, where as Copeland did wrote a new main theme for the compilation.
The sound effects are quite decent in each levels with wacky sound design, atmospheric noises, and of course the voice role in many characters are sounds fantastic especially with Tom Kenny, who did the voice of the titular protagonist in two follow-up games, reprised his role in the remaster after 16 years with re-recorded lines including the first game in which Spyro was originally voiced by Carlos Alazraqui.
Overall, it has excellent soundtrack, decent sound design, and fantastic voice acting.
Special Features
In addition to this remaster, it featured skill points in the first game and ability to roll-side in later installiments were unified across all three games, and also the first and second game does come with extra levels after beating the game once where as the third one that you need to collect all gems and eggs to have the true ending.
Overall, an fine features.
Advantages
Charming story
Memorable characters
Stunning presentation
Solid gameplay
Magnificent graphics
Excellent soundtrack
Disadvantages
Some frame-rate hiccups
Moderate loading screens
Required to download patch to play two games
Final Verdict
Presentation 8.5/10 - charming story, memorable characters, and stunning presentation.
Gameplay 8/10 - solid controls, great playthroughs, and many levels and stuff to discover.
Graphics 8/10 - added textures mapping, enhanced environmental objects, and great character's design.
Music and Sounds 8.5/10 - excellent soundtrack, decent sound design, and fantastic voice acting.
Special Features 7/10 - Skill points, ability to roll-side, extra levels, and true ending.
Overall 8/10 - As much I've enjoyed remasters like Crash Bandicoot: N'Sane Trilogy back then, Spyro: Reignited Trilogy is another great video game compilation that the fans of the originals threes been wanted for years since the PS1 days.
This comes with fully overhauled visuals, enhanced gameplay controls, and packed with three games to play (even the twos that are fully required to download instead of being on the single disc) which I honestly to say that I really starting to like Spyro since I had a terrible reputation with games like Enter the Dragonfly which I disliked the most, but thankfully I'm glad that I've played this HD remastered collection that do not disappoint me.
With colourful and wacky presentation filled with simple straight-forward story and likeable characters, solid playthroughs are fun to explore, discover and collecting stuff around with added replay values, and has great platforming adventures with many segments and bosses to encounter is what made these games so special back in the days are finally being featured on the modern day platform to welcome the newcomers can able to enjoy the threes fully remastered titles.
The price of the game cost around less than £15 for physical copy, where as the digital platform are slightly higher as £35 for all PC and Consoles platforms, so the physical is the cheapest by far which you will see mostly lower price from online store.
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