Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly
A game by Universal Interactive Studios
Pictures Found By: Koushi-san
Reviewer: CBIzumi
Version of Game Played: Playsation 2
"Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly" is the famous purple dragon's first foray into the world of the Playsation 2 and Gamecube. It's also (to my understanding) the first one Universal's done without Insomniac. I'm not sure about the two GBA games, though ^^;; But, anyway, I'm getting off-path. For this review, I'll be touching on what I liked, didn't like, and really didn't like about the game. To find out the plot, go to spyrohints.com or IGN :P
Final note before I begin. What is contained from here on forth are my own opinions. You may like the parts I don't, or vice versa. And if it sounds like I get too harsh at times, I am merely stating my truthful thoughts on the game. And no hateful e-mails, please. If my opinions happen to be different from your own, that's fine. A little diversity never hurt anyone *nod*
Now, let's begin with what I liked about the game.
The Good
One thing I obviously liked about this game: It's Spyro. Spyro the Dragon is one of my favorite video game characters. Mostly cause he's a dragon, and he's purple :P Again, I'm getting off-course. So, back on track!
One of the things I liked about this game was the overall look of it. Everything was smooth, vivid, and colorful. Everything from the glittering whirlwinds to Sparx' sparks were wonderfully done. Bianca and Hunter coulda used a little more work, and Spyro looked too young, but more on that later :P The worlds themselves looked great too. Ice looked icy, water looked wet, and leaves looked, well, leafy. Both good and evil beasites looked nice, and imaginative.Speaking of those on both the side of good and evil, lots of old faces returned. I've already mentioned Bianca, Hunter, and the obvious addition of Sparx, but there were others. Bartholomew (Bentley's younger brother; Spyro 3), Ripto (with his cronies in tow) and the ever-annoying-but-fun-to-chase Egg Thief are a few of the notables. Too bad the same voice actors didn't return for all of them (Bianca for example) but oh well.
The particular breath weapons Spyro has at his disposal in this game are nicely chosen and animated. And now, when you use them, the surrounding area is actually lit up! This nice feature helped me get through some dark areas. The ones Spyro can use in this particular game are:
Fire (What's Spyro without fire?)Ice (Similar to Frozen Altars from Spyro 3)
Lightning (Try zapping some sheep *evil grin*)
Bubbles (for capturing Dragonflies)
The Ice Breath in particular is one of my favorites, but that's mostly because I just like cold things ~_^ One final note on the breath weapons: Fire, Ice, and Lightning leave temporary scorch/freeze marks on rock walls and the like. Very nice.
That was the nice part of the review. Now's where I get down to the nitty-gritty.
The Bad
Call me nitpicky, but I like it when the original voice actors return for a sequel. As I touched on earlier, some of them came back for ETD. But for the ones that didn't, it was obvious. Again, I cite Bianca. Try a little harder next time, guys.
Plot-wise, it was a little underdeveloped when compared to the Insomniac-produced Spyro games. Since when did the dragons need dragonflies to do use magic, when it was pointed out several times in "Year of the Dragon" that it was the dragons themselves that were the key to magic? Sidenote: the baby dragonflies look like winged maggots.
Is it me, or were the previous games more expansive? Spyro 1 and 3 (truthfully, the only PSX games I've had the chance to play ^^;;;; ) each had 4 complete worlds, at least. Spyro 4 has all of one, with seperate little levels that get available when you gain certain weapons or a number of dragonflies. And it's because of its shrunken size that the game seems, or is, so short. A definite rental as for how long one should take to defeat it.Having to find relics to gain certain breath powers was a little annoying, but I suppose that was put in there to make it challenging. But next time, have it so that when you find the relic, you gain the power then, instead of having to finish the entire level where you found it, then lug it back to the home world. 'Course, I could just be impatient ^^;;
That was the easy part, believe me. Die-hard Spyro fans who're already probably very mad at me, read on with extreme caution. This is where we get to....
The Ugly
*ahem* Message for UIS..... SPYRO IS NOT POKéMON
Sorry, just had to get that off my chest right off the bat ^^;; I'll admit, Spyro 3 had a capture quality to it, as does Spyro 4. But "Year of the Dragon" was more of an Easter Egg Hunt, while "Enter the Dragonfly" is, well, more like Pokémon. At least in the fact that you capture dragonflies in spheres (bubbles here) and underneath is the caption "You caught _______!" (with Tom Kenny--Spyro's VA--saying it outloud as well). The first few times I found dragonflies, I half expected "______'s data has been added to the Pokédex" :P
Way back in the positive part of the review, I mentioned how smooth everything looked. I also grazed across the actual look of the characters. I'll go into detail here. Some of them, like Bianca and Hunter, looked a bit too chunky. Others, like Spyro, looked too young (Spyro's about adolescent age now, not younger than he was in Spyro 1!). The baby dragonflies were actually bigger than Sparx, but that's a moot point. And is it me, or does Ripto's bottom lip love to stretch way out alot?Frame rate was a little off in some places, especially when Spyro begins to charge. Sometimes it looks like he's sliding through the area instead of running....which actually happened to me sometimes. Sliding, I mean. His feet would just freeze, but he'd keep going. Speaking of sliding, that's about what happens to the sheep when you headbutt them. They smoothly scoot past/through Spyro on their bottoms before becoming blue butterflies. I may be crazy, but I always liked ricocheting the butterfly animals off nearby walls in the previous titles ^^;;...
Characters Spyro can talk to have always had looped movements, played over and over while their voice speaks, without any care if the mouth or motions match the text. Well, in this game, they match even less. Hunter's particular loop stands out in my mind, mostly because I found it funny. But still, the movement was exaggerated to the point of "fast-forward-through-the-text-so-they-stop-moving." Hearing Spyro actually back talk some of the characters was a plus, though.Overall
This game, as I mentioned earlier, is a bit....short. If you're curious about it, I suggest renting it. "Enter the Dragonfly" can be beaten in a day. If you wanna play it that long. The game has its good parts and its bad parts--mostly bad parts, IMO--but it can be a worthwhile play, if one can get beyond the things I mentioned. But if you don't agree, don't let my opinion keep you from buying or renting the game. See what you think. As for what I think, UIS should give Spyro back to Insomniac.
I suppose that's about it. I could go on to more things, but other parts that stick out in my mind are insignificant, like not being able to flame while in a whirlwind (I always liked doing that, dunno why). Hope you enjoyed the review. Once again, no hateful e-mails or anything of the like. My opinions are my own. That said, see you later! ^^
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