The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning

Just like TV shows, video games series have a tendency to "jump the shark" at some point. One can only collect so many coins, rings, fruits, etc. before going just a teeny bit insane. The folks behind the Spyro the Dragon series seem to have noticed that their last few efforts haven't been all that stellar compared to the first few Spyro titles so they went back to the drawing board. They came back with a somewhat darker retelling of the Spyro saga that prominently features voice work by high profile stars such as Elijah Wood and David Spade. Is this new approach enough to woo jilted fans? Let's find out.

The story begins with one of the elder dragons trying to hide the last dragon egg from a rampaging enemy dragon. The egg floats it way down a river and is found by a family of dragonflies. Our hero is born and he's then raised by the dragonflies never knowing that he's one of the last dragons. Shortly after starting the game however, Spyro finds out he's a dragon and on top of that he may even be the purple dragon that saves the dragons according to ancient prophecy. From here he and his dragonfly buddy Sparx head off to meet their destiny!

Sometimes I hate the touch screen on the DS. Game designers feel obligated to use it and you end up with games that require you to have three hands. Luckily, Spyro does a good job of balancing the touch elements with the standard d-pad and button controls. Moving Spyro requires just a push of the d-pad while physical attacks and his signature breath weapons are activated via the buttons. You can touch an enemy to lock onto them making your attacks much more efficient, but I found it was easier to just cycle the lock on amongst the targets by using the left shoulder button. You can also touch enemies to knock away their shields or tap plants and boxes to break the open for power ups.

My favorite use of the touch screen is for pickups though. In most games when you need to pickup health of power ups you have to guide your character to the item you want to obtain. In Spyro for the DS, Spyro can be on the right side of the screen and you can touch a power up on the light side of the screen to pick it up. It's super handy if you're engaged with an enemy and run out of breath power or need some health. You can stay focused on the opponent and power back up with a quick brush of the stylus.

There is also a variety of puzzles that Spyro will have to figure out. The majority of these fall into the "glowy gem and mirrors" category. There will be several gems that are sending out straight lines of energy scattered around a playing field. The player has to drag various shaped angled mirrors into the path of the energy to divert it to other gems. These start off simple, but soon you'll be splitting beams in two and having to match up multiple different colored beams to different gems. It's a fun mini-game that is actually a bit educational.

Gameplay: 7.0
Besides occasionally having to swap the stylus between hands, Spyro plays well on the DS. Combat gets a bit repetitive and the boss fights are of the same old "just keep attacking until it's dead" variety. The gem puzzles help break up the monotony though.

Graphics: 7.0
Spyro and and his enemies are all rendered in 3D on top of 2D backdrops. The backgrounds are very well done and the 3D models look pretty decent, but they are incredibly small on the screen which makes it hard to tell what exactly is going on at times. The cutscenes are gorgeous, but they make me wish I was playing a console version instead of the portable one.

Sound: 7.5
The soundtrack is good but it's the little bits of voice acting that make this game fun. Good casting!

Difficulty: Medium
Without the ability to lock on this game would be incredibly tough. Lock on gives you a fighting chance but keeps it challenging. It's not uncommon for Spyro to get attacked by hordes of enemies so keep moving and use the ability to pick up stuff without moving Spyro over it to your advantage.

Concept: 7.5
The last few Spyro games I've played have been downright boring. The fresh retelling of Spyro's origin makes for a good story and the gameplay mechanics that you can only get on the DS's touch screen breath new life into this series.

Overall: 7.3
Spyro fans who want to be able to adventure with the spunky purple dragon on the go owe it to themselves to pick up the DS version of the latest Spyro game. It's a fun game that takes advantage of the DS touch screen without being gimmicky. Hats off to the developers for keeping the spirit of Spyro alive and well.