Spyro: Season of Ice
Reviewed by MaxH
Spyro is a hard game to judge. On one hand it offers
an epic sense of freedom and visual grandeur not seen
in any other handheld title to date. On the other
hand it has some crippling design issues that will
serve up game over screens again and AGAIN.
Developers Digital Eclipse have realised that Spyro
just couldn't work as a 2-d platformer, the main draw
of luscious worlds to explore would be lost, so they
have created a sprawling isometric adventure.
If you haven't played the previous Playstation
installment in the series, Spyro: Year of the dragon,
then the plot will make little sense to you. After
the sorceress' army was defeated, the remaining
troops were discharged and sent home. But one rather
useless one who never got a chance to fight, Grendor,
was a bit jealous. So he steals the sorceress' magic
book and conjures up a spell to make himself more
powerful. The spell goes wrong and Grendor grows a
second head. So, enlisting the help of the rhynoc
army, he sets about doing all he can to remedy his
problem. This apparrently entails trapping all the
fairies of the land in ice. You, Spyro, must save all
the fairies and defeat Grendor.
And so it begins in an absolutely massive world
animated beautifully with fiery grass and drooping
trees, as well as a few bubbling streams. It's the
autumn world and it's absolutely beautiful. This is
the first hub of the game, you can charge around it
as you please, finding the level entrance portals
(Some of which require a certain umber of fairies or
gems to open). It really is a HUGE place, and that
leads to the first problem.
You get lost. A LOT.
Now it's only the hub levels that are so wide and
sprawling, the actual levels themselves are split
into islands clustered near to each other (Although,
in essence, are still just as big). But even then
you'll be constantly losing your way. Now if you're
going to make a large-scale isometric platformer,
this is a problem you can't really avoid, but you
could at least have a map feature. Now, you can put
up with this, but sometimes it goes too far. Example:
in all the levels (Including the hubs) you are given
the task of flaming five or so small objects that are
scattered around the landscape, be it lighting jack
o' lanterns or just melting ice crystals. Generally,
the pumpkins are well hidden and placed wide apart
around all areas of the level. If you die, all the
pumpkins you've flamed, or ice crystals you've melted
will be reset. Now you must go around the whole level
(Not an easy task, as finding your way around is a
tricky process that doesn't get any easier) and flame
all the objects AGAIN. This can take an hour for each
level, and I'm not even counting the other tasks,
just flaming the damn objects. Now, surely this
wouldn't be a problem if you were just careful and
didn't die. But that's the problem
You die. A lot.
Discounting bosses and the Sparx levels (I'll explain
this in a bit I only died TWICE in the game from
enemies. It's almost impossible to die this way. For
one, most of the enemies seem to run away from you
when you approach and then stand still so you can
kill them, which isn't too challenging. How do you
die? You fall off the edge, and you do this a HELL of
a lot. The hub levels generously lift you back onto
the ledge if you fall up, why this isn't done in the
normal levels (Where there's even MORE risk of
falling off) is beyond me. And because of the
isometric view, getting from one island or ledge to
another is a cumbersome and frustrating task. Often,
due to the slightly fiddly controls (Isometric
handling has never been my strong point) you'll fall
off the edge when just idly walking around, and
there's not much you can do about it. And this is the
frustrating thing, although they're big, the Spyro
levels hold no REAL challenge beyond their design niggles.
However, if there's one thing the game does well,
it's redeeming itself. If you look past the faults
(Which you can, with some effort) there is a magical
quest just waiting to be finished. The level tasks do
repeat themselves (Kill all the enemies, ring/light
the bells/lighthouses, flame all the objects
etc) but there's some devilishly tricky tasks to
perform that add some variety. For instance, although
ringing the bells requires you to flame them (As you
have to do with every other task), you must do it in
order, which is considerably more difficult. And,
quite simply, it doesn't matter what the tasks are,
as they are just means to get you exploring the
worlds. And doing so provides the same magical
feeling that it did in the dragon's 1998 debut. The
levels have been designed so you can visit any part
of the them you want at any time, it's real 3-d
freedom (Almost more free-roaming than the
playstation games). And hopping about picking up gems
is the same strangely appealing, idyllic experience
that has given the series it's name.
Where's the action you ask? Well it comes in the form
of speedway and sparx levels. The speedway levels are
limited, but fun, forward-scrolling shooters of the
Starfox ilk. Although they may not provide as much
challenge and variety as the aforementioned game,
they certainly inject a welcomed dose of diversity
into the game. And rushing to get to the end in time
provides some quite tense moments. Better than that
though, are the Sparx-levels.
Viewed top-down they see you buzzing around semi-maze
levels blasting enemies and finding keys. It may not
sound like much, but the enemies come thick and fast,
and the shooting is satisfyingly furious. The bosses
provide an especially tough challenge and call for a
lot of quick timing.
This is easily the most attractive game I've seen on
the GBA. The whole foundation of spyro's style has
been the beautiful worlds. Without them you wouldn't
be compelled to explore. And the GBA handles them
beautifully, levels are wonderfully designed with a
dash of fairytale style everywhere you go. The
backgrounds are particularly attractive. And all
those little details from the playstation games have
been realised wonderfully. The gems look the same,
Spyro moves beautifully and Sparx the dragonfly still
follows him around (Indicating the dragon's health by
his colour). The character animation is absolutely
stunning, and a perfect down-sizing of the stuff
we've seen in the past PS games. Obviously the
developers have had to forgo some of the detail due
to the restrictions of the handheld, but they have
still delivered a breathtaking looker.
The sounds are also fantastic. The sound effects are
basically identical to the ones we recognise from
earlier games. They are clear, accurate and of a
decent quality. I still love the pitter patter noise
of the charge move. And the music is a great
mood-setter as well. It doesn't have quite the same
effect as the first three games, but you can't really
expect it to. Like with the graphics, certain things
have been sacrificed, but the overall quality oozes
style and personality.
There are 25 levels to explore here (Although about
ten of them are Sparx or speedway levels) and there
are several goals to reach in each of them. So this
will take quite a long time to finish fully, and it's
quite a compelling game. Okay, some of the playtime
will be due to the constant deaths and hopeless
searching, but more of it will be put towards an
enjoyable experience. You're looking at about 15 or
so hours of play here (Could have been longer, I
didn't time it) and there will definitely be a day
when I go back to it.
Really Spyro provides everything you could have hoped
for on such a limited console. It's the only thing
like it on the handheld market, and the same calm
brilliance is yet to be successfully pulled off by
another series. It has some AWFUL flaws that really
do affect the gameplay, but behind them is a real gem
of an adventure that genuinely deserves your perseverence.
Is that a dragon in your pocket, or are you just
pleased to see me
+ Excellent Spyro atmosphere
+ Lots to do
+ Three different gamestyles. All a lot of fun in their different ways
+ HUGE worlds. Lots of exploring to do
+ Clever, epic level design
+ Splendidly mythical sense of style
+ Absolutely gorgeous graphics
+ A long lasting challenge
+ A lot of effort has obviously put into everything.
The little details are great, the bouncing sheep are back!
+ Like nothing else on the GBA
+ Good music
Old flame
- Controls too fiddly
- Ruined by the appalling amount of unfair deaths.
You'll rarely get anything done without having to do
it all over again. Several times
- You are ALWAYS bumping into walls
- The glide move is near impossible to pull off
- You are constantly getting lost
- Some more challenge outside the unfairness would be appreciated.
If you like this....
Spyro the dragon - similarly good but not perfect
calming exploration-based adventure
Spyro 2 - Easily the best platformer on the
playstation. offers up the beauty of the first game,
but is more adventurous visually and has tonnes of variety
Spyro: Year of the dragon - Not as fulfilling as the
previous two but still immense fun and a massive challenge.
Overall: 7 out of 10