Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly Review

Developer	Universal Interactive
Publisher	Universal Interactive
Genre	Action

Gamers have seen it all, haven’t they? A speedy, blue hedgehog, a box smashing bandicoot, a vacuum wielding cat, I could go on. More to the point is the main character seen in this fire-breathing episode on PS2, Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly – a purple dragon you say? Yes Spyro, a purple, wing-flapping, ace swimmer, fire breathing, dragon saving dragon is the centre of attention in his fourth outing for Playstation. Spyro is all grown up now and has been taken to the next level in gaming entertainment, but still remains to live up to his PSone antics that, sadly, didn’t go that extra mile to please gamers and fans alike of the series.

Gameplay – From the top then – is Spyro any better this time around? Quick answer - no. Though there have substantial improvements made to the game’s graphical capabilities, Enter the Dragonfly sadly fails to make any changes to the stiff gameplay presented throughout the earlier titles on PSone. The game -- taking it’s title from the hit Bruce Lee movie, Enter the Dragon -- sends Spyro on a hunt to search for a batch stolen dragonflies. These dragonflies were stolen during a fair; at which Spyro and his friends were enjoy the day’s entertainment, by a nasty gang of idiotic monsters called Riptocs. Being the heroes they are, Spyro and his friends plan on saving the dragonflies from the evil clutches of the Riptocs.

Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly, is conveniently split into stages, or worlds so to speak, with each world holding a specific number dragonflies that must be rescued in order for the game to progress. Of course, this sounds simple, but each level has a host of varying scenarios, whether it being an obstacle of mini games or tasks, which must be completed in order to gain a dragonfly, which then pushes the game forward a step. Each level is as interesting as the last, but stages often become dry in gameplay, as you’ll find yourself wandering aimlessly around the worlds in search of any tasks or dragonflies to be had. During the first few stages, you will feel as though there is no objective to the game only to collect the darn dragonflies, but sealed in every world is a Wise Dragon, who unlocks a portal to the adjoining worlds. However, these Wise Dragons cannot be opened upon discovery, as Spyro will have to use certain abilities to help un-seal the dragons.

Once you start to unlock the handful of worlds, you will often find yourself travelling back and forth to open hidden areas with newly obtained abilities, sometimes as far back as the beginning stage. Throughout the journey, players will get that Banjo-Kazooie feeling, as they begin to follow the stepping stones of new level – mini game – puzzle – new level – mini game, and so on. To help Spyro on his journey is a handy book, entitled Atlas. This helpful glossary will give you an indication of what needs to be completed within certain worlds, whether it being to collect the remaining dragonflies, treasure (small gems) or complete the mini games. It will also give you a helpful % to each stage to notify you when a specific world has been completed to the 100% mark. The gameplay feels very basic, and it’s only a matter of time when you’ll find yourself at the half way stage, without even feeling as though you should be that far. Nevertheless the game can be expanded somewhat be revisiting some of the fun, but un-rewarding mini games scattered amongst the worlds. Mini games include time trial races, where Spyro has to complete a set amount of objectives in a strict time limit, and a whole basketful of others, such as controlling a tank around a battlefield, and destroying checkpoints with your abilities. The mini games are an exciting part of Enter the Dragonfly, but can only be played through a few times due to the rewards becoming useless. The first successful time round in any mini game will leave you walking away with a dragonfly, but any other time round and you’ll be competing with your already set time or point record, in order to get the quickest time or most points scored - Pointless, but fun.

In this installment, Spyro is able to breathe fire and other damaging effects, such as lightening and bubbles in order to help Spyro in each of the worlds. For example, during some stages, there are magically sealed gates, that when attacked with the right breath will unlock, unveiling whole new areas of surprises and extras. Also, as standard, Spyro is able to attack with his deadly horns, knocking away barrels or boxes containing treasures, or attacking enemies. Among all the fun and games brimming in the worlds, Spyro is also under the threat of nasty Riptocs with differing abilities. However, each Riptoc can be disposed of by a singular horn attack and breath attack or with a combination of both, resulting in pointlessness and lack challenge. Some Riptocs may be blocking passageways to new areas, but with one blow or breath they are disposed of, clearly identifying the simple challenge and target audience at which the game is aimed. However, despite the lack of challenge and difficulty seen in the game, Enter the Dragonfly can prove to be a fun and exciting game whatever the player’s age or gaming preference. The only downfall being, the game doesn’t play as good as it looks or should do when compared to earlier installations.

Graphics – It goes without saying that the visuals seen in Enter the Dragonfly are by far the best aspect of the game. Right from the beginning of Spyro’s adventure the player is faced with exciting and impressive visual effects, from washing waterfalls, swaying grass and particle effects. The water actually looks likes water, which trickles, ripples and splashes like water should. In fact many of the water-based effects can be compared to Xbox’, Blinx: The Time Sweeper, as it glistens and ripples in a fulfilling way around Spyro when he’s submerged in water. Another mean feature can be seen when Spyro steps into a gathering of leaves or shrubbery, because they move realistically around Spyro as he stomps around the plants. Pleasingly, Enter the Dragonfly is structured with quality real-time cut scenes, outlining the main event or plot for the certain section. Each character has been animated well, although there have been a few sightings of bad animation and drab movements. Specifically, Spyro is the only character to have accurate movement (if only you could motion capture a dragon) when being controlled around the worlds and seen in cut scenes. It seems as if the animation for the non-important characters has not been worked on enough, which sadly shows throughout the entirety of the game letting the player down on close up shots and speech scenes. It appears that each NPC (non-playable character) has restricted movement also, and when watched for a period of time standing on the same spot, you will notice a rapid repeat in their actions. Once this little perk has been noticed, you will be able to spot it from a mile off, which somewhat ruins the over-all display of animation seen in the game. I’ve ruined it for you now haven’t I?

Sound – Enter the Dragonfly is seamlessly pieced together with real-time cut scenes and pretty animation effects, but this aspect is let down in one foul swoop by the game’s sound department of poor voice acting and minimal sound effects. From the very beginning scene, players will feel un-easy when hearing the forced and tiresome voice acting for the characters. You can almost taste the lack of effort, as the characters spew out predictable phrases, which are slowly paced and structured for the ears of a 5-year-old. However this may have been the very intention from the start, but even so, a little more effort wouldn’t have gone a miss. On a good note (a musical note), the musical accompaniment for each world is fun, lively, but at times a tad slow and repetitive, annoying the player along the way. There is also a lack of sound effects, which makes the game feel slow and un-paced with very little sound reacting with gameplay. The often whack of fire breath and barrels bursting is a common sound throughout the title, which is very agitating to say the least.

Overall Value - If you’re a die-hard platform fan, then Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly may be a worth while investment, but on the other hand if you get annoyed with games that feel like they’re not moving then maybe not so. Enter the Dragonfly, has a barrage of cute graphics and sublime water effects, but that’s really it. The gameplay is not very addictive and feels more of a farce than an enjoyable adventure game. To sum up, Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly, to any fan, will be an appealing and exciting game, and even more so to the fans of previous Spyro outings. But if you’ve never tried your hand with the purple dragon as of yet, then Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly is probably not worth the case it is packaged in.

Review by Craig Harwood