Difficulty:

Hard

Time Spent:

10 to 20 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Broken"

I started the Legend of Spyro series with Dawn of the Dragon and, having enjoyed that game (despite its flaws), I decided to pick this one up to get some of the backstory. I found that this previous installment was frustrating to the point of being nearly unplayable.

In a platforming series like Spyro, one would expect to find some decent jumping and gliding sections at least, but there's no chance of that here thanks to broken game mechanics. In order to perform a double jump, for example, you must press the jump button twice within a very small window of time. Failing to time the button presses exactly will reward you with a scene of the purple dragon falling to his death, often followed by a smarmy remark from his companion, Sparx. Another platforming issue is that Spyro seems to be able to grab onto some ledges but not onto others, and the only way to find out is to fly over to one. Even if you manage to make it to a ledge, Spyro may simply slide right off anyway if you don't plant yourself in the exact center of the thing. Dragon-time, (ie bullet time) is also used often in these sequences, and running out of it in the middle of one is jarring and often deadly.

Combat in this game is the reason you should wear the wrist strap on the wii remote, because I guarantee you will want to hurl it into the T.V. Enemies are extraordinarily cheap: they hit you when you're down (often stunning you multiple times), they hit you when you're in the middle of performing a combo on them, they knock you back all the time (sometimes off ledges), and they throw things at you while you're trying one of the already aggravating platforming sections. Oh, and let's not forget that Spyro can only take a few hits from any normal enemy, plus the game often throws entire armies of them at you at a time. Don't expect to get very far combat-wise without becoming well-acquainted with the bullet time button and Spyro's magic attacks; his melee is virtually useless without slow-motion and is an excellent way to become stunned and/or dead.

As for production values...well, meh. The graphics aren't anything special, and although the game has a celebrity voice cast, the dialogue is mostly tired and sometimes irritating. Also, maybe it's just me, but Spyro's facial expressions have always looked very awkward in this series. It's like he doesn't know the difference between a sad/concerned/alarmed face. In any event, neither the graphics nor the voices are anything to rave about.

All in all, it's too difficult for the younger crowd, not engaging enough for newcomers to the series, and barely tolerable for those of us who find the storyline interesting. I'd suggest skipping it and going for Dawn of the Dragon if you really want to see what's become of Spyro. Better yet, play some of the old PS1 classics.