The first game is one of the finest games ever created. The second and third, while technically more accomplished and complicated, are more conventional games. There are characters and they talk and have voices and there's a more complex story and you play as different people and have tasks... The original Spyro game, however, was entirely without such trappings. You played as the dragon, there was very little talking or plot, and the feel of the game was exquisitely lonely. The beautiful and often haunting music complimented the levels devoid of sentient life, the simplicity of gem collection, and your silent persona. The skies stretched on forever, and you got to fly at the end--not because it was important to the story, but because that's what dragons do in order to be triumphantly dragons.
The Game Boy games are horrible because they are far too small and the perspective is fixed and wrong. There was no joy in exploring in them.
The next-gen Spyro, Year of the Dragon, was utter shit. The graphics were actually worse than the PS1 titles, there was slowdown and freezing and other bugs, the storyline was confusing, the gameplay was fractured, and the idea of different elemental dragon breaths was stupid.
I recently played the first level of the latest game, A Hero's Tail. It is definitely better than Year of the Dragon--the actual graphics look better (although still not as crisp and imaginative as the original trilogy's) and there aren't many glitches. The main reason I didn't like it was that the gems were infinite. What's the point of Spyro if you're not collecting gems? Instead, they were just used for money, and that system was pretty dumb as well. Again, the story was pointless--the first boss was supposed to be Gnasty Gnorc, except it wasn't. And it was dumb. I was severely disappointed.
I think I'll go back and buy that three-pack of the PS1 Spyros. Yeah.
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ninetydegrees
no subject
on 2006-04-03 03:50 am (UTC)The original Spyro game, however, was entirely without such trappings. You played as the dragon, there was very little talking or plot, and the feel of the game was exquisitely lonely. The beautiful and often haunting music complimented the levels devoid of sentient life, the simplicity of gem collection, and your silent persona. The skies stretched on forever, and you got to fly at the end--not because it was important to the story, but because that's what dragons do in order to be triumphantly dragons.
The Game Boy games are horrible because they are far too small and the perspective is fixed and wrong. There was no joy in exploring in them.
The next-gen Spyro, Year of the Dragon, was utter shit. The graphics were actually worse than the PS1 titles, there was slowdown and freezing and other bugs, the storyline was confusing, the gameplay was fractured, and the idea of different elemental dragon breaths was stupid.
I recently played the first level of the latest game, A Hero's Tail. It is definitely better than Year of the Dragon--the actual graphics look better (although still not as crisp and imaginative as the original trilogy's) and there aren't many glitches. The main reason I didn't like it was that the gems were infinite. What's the point of Spyro if you're not collecting gems? Instead, they were just used for money, and that system was pretty dumb as well. Again, the story was pointless--the first boss was supposed to be Gnasty Gnorc, except it wasn't. And it was dumb. I was severely disappointed.
I think I'll go back and buy that three-pack of the PS1 Spyros. Yeah.