There's many great 3D platformers I have unfortunately never beat or even experienced before, and the Spyro series is one of 'em. I've never so much as touched a Spyro game before this playthrough of Spyro 2. A sequel's typically not the best starting point, I know, but I do know this isn't exactly a story heavy series (aside from when they tried that later to...uh, varying degrees of success), so I don't think I missed out on much. I quite liked my time with this game, its simple but effective. It can be a decent challenge, especially with some of the tasks you have to do for collectibles, but if you're just looking to beat the game, most of the game's not gonna give you problems. Took me a good three days or so to beat, split over a long period of time since I took significant breaks between play sessions.
Spyro 2 is a fun little collectathon, somewhat similar to your Banjo-Kazooie and Mario 64 type games with a bunch of decently sized 3D levels to explore for collectibles. If you're looking to just complete the levels normally (as in not 100%), you just need to grab the Talisman, which is usually very easy to get since, most of the time, you just need to reach a certain end point. Sometimes you will have to do something special to get the Talisman, like freeing the shaman in Crystal Glacier, but its always something very simple and quick to do. If you do decide to go for 100%, the Guidebook in the pause menu has pages for each level that tell you what you're missing to get 100% completion in each: beat all the enemies, collect all the gems (basically the game's currency which you can find either lying around or in vases, crates, or big gems you need a special weapon to break), and find all the orbs...and get the talismans, but I mentioned that already. Orbs are probably the most important collectible; each level has around 400 gems, so it won't be long until you rack up WAY more than you need to spend for upgrades. As for orbs, there's a certain amount of orbs different between each level - per level minimum of 2, maximum of 4 - which you'll almost always get as a reward for fulfilling some sort of side mission for an NPC. The only thing that I don't really like about this system is the way the game gates content behind orbs. That in itself isn't much of a problem, but the orb requirements aren't really communicated to the player well, since the amount is pretty small throughout most of the game until you reach the final world, where you go from needing a measly 15 orbs to needing 25 orbs for the final level and a whopping 40 orbs for the final boss. The game has 64 orbs, so having to grab 40 orbs does let you skip a good chunk of 'em (and thank god because some of those are a PAIN to get, I heard the horror stories of the Alchemist escort quest even as someone who's unfamiliar with Spyro), but it feels like such a drastic leap when the game makes you think it'll be smooth sailing before that. The core gameplay loop is fun and enjoyable, but I will say that I can't shake how Spyro's controls feel rather clumsy, especially when you're trying to quickly turn around or walk in a straight line instead of from an angle. Granted, you can definitely get used to how Spyro controls and the movement can even feel pretty good at times, but sometimes it feels quite rough, especially when you're trying to do those orb missions to chase down bandits. Flight controls also kinda suck, but at least they don't feel anywhere near as terrible as Super Mario 64's (to me that game's flying feels horrible) and the flying challenges aren't TOO challenging. I do really like how simple yet fun Spyro's toolkit is, though: all he does is dash, jump, and glide, and, though he gets some extra tools, most of it just feels like slight enhancements to your base kit like how swimming in this game is pretty much just dashing underwater.
There isn't a ton of story here, so I'll instead talk about the visuals. The environments are VERY pretty, possibly one of the most pleasant looking PS1 games I've played so far. Colors are so vibrant and, despite the technical limitations of the time, you can tell this game is going for a unique art style. There's a sort of dreamy nostalgic feel to so many of the levels, especially if you're playing on a CRT. The game's character models do look very goofy and outright bizarre; I admittedly can't tell if that's part of the art style or just a product of the PS1's limitations, but I feel it overall enhances the game's charm once you get used to it. I mostly played this game on low volume so unfortunately I missed the majority of the music, but, from what I got to hear of it, that's also pretty good.
Overall I quite liked Spyro 2. There are definitely some more frustrating bits and I would have liked if the game better communicated just how many orbs I need to beat it normally, but, as a whole package, the game's a good time. Sounds like another 4 star to add to my collection.
Spyro 2 is a fun little collectathon, somewhat similar to your Banjo-Kazooie and Mario 64 type games with a bunch of decently sized 3D levels to explore for collectibles. If you're looking to just complete the levels normally (as in not 100%), you just need to grab the Talisman, which is usually very easy to get since, most of the time, you just need to reach a certain end point. Sometimes you will have to do something special to get the Talisman, like freeing the shaman in Crystal Glacier, but its always something very simple and quick to do. If you do decide to go for 100%, the Guidebook in the pause menu has pages for each level that tell you what you're missing to get 100% completion in each: beat all the enemies, collect all the gems (basically the game's currency which you can find either lying around or in vases, crates, or big gems you need a special weapon to break), and find all the orbs...and get the talismans, but I mentioned that already. Orbs are probably the most important collectible; each level has around 400 gems, so it won't be long until you rack up WAY more than you need to spend for upgrades. As for orbs, there's a certain amount of orbs different between each level - per level minimum of 2, maximum of 4 - which you'll almost always get as a reward for fulfilling some sort of side mission for an NPC. The only thing that I don't really like about this system is the way the game gates content behind orbs. That in itself isn't much of a problem, but the orb requirements aren't really communicated to the player well, since the amount is pretty small throughout most of the game until you reach the final world, where you go from needing a measly 15 orbs to needing 25 orbs for the final level and a whopping 40 orbs for the final boss. The game has 64 orbs, so having to grab 40 orbs does let you skip a good chunk of 'em (and thank god because some of those are a PAIN to get, I heard the horror stories of the Alchemist escort quest even as someone who's unfamiliar with Spyro), but it feels like such a drastic leap when the game makes you think it'll be smooth sailing before that. The core gameplay loop is fun and enjoyable, but I will say that I can't shake how Spyro's controls feel rather clumsy, especially when you're trying to quickly turn around or walk in a straight line instead of from an angle. Granted, you can definitely get used to how Spyro controls and the movement can even feel pretty good at times, but sometimes it feels quite rough, especially when you're trying to do those orb missions to chase down bandits. Flight controls also kinda suck, but at least they don't feel anywhere near as terrible as Super Mario 64's (to me that game's flying feels horrible) and the flying challenges aren't TOO challenging. I do really like how simple yet fun Spyro's toolkit is, though: all he does is dash, jump, and glide, and, though he gets some extra tools, most of it just feels like slight enhancements to your base kit like how swimming in this game is pretty much just dashing underwater.
There isn't a ton of story here, so I'll instead talk about the visuals. The environments are VERY pretty, possibly one of the most pleasant looking PS1 games I've played so far. Colors are so vibrant and, despite the technical limitations of the time, you can tell this game is going for a unique art style. There's a sort of dreamy nostalgic feel to so many of the levels, especially if you're playing on a CRT. The game's character models do look very goofy and outright bizarre; I admittedly can't tell if that's part of the art style or just a product of the PS1's limitations, but I feel it overall enhances the game's charm once you get used to it. I mostly played this game on low volume so unfortunately I missed the majority of the music, but, from what I got to hear of it, that's also pretty good.
Overall I quite liked Spyro 2. There are definitely some more frustrating bits and I would have liked if the game better communicated just how many orbs I need to beat it normally, but, as a whole package, the game's a good time. Sounds like another 4 star to add to my collection.