The games I wish I grew up with.
"Oh, so you didn't have a PS1?" Oh no, I did, just didn't have any games for it. I've always loved the mascot of Spyro (Crash too) and I can't really think of anybody else who thinks otherwise, whether it's the game or just appreciation for the character in some form or another and Enter the Dragonfly was my first (not even kidding) and it is considered one of the worst, I only played it that once then returned it because it felt stupid to me.
I didn't fall out of it with Spyro though, I always intended to give it another chance but it just got farther and farther. Then Skylanders came out and would you believe it? I was into it. It's not a whole lot of Spyro (but the game itself and voice of Spyro were good) I just consider it a different game. Since then, I've tried A New Beginning, and it was fun at times but still not the experience I wanted and I do plan on continuing the Legend of Spyro but in the mean time...
I have a soft spot for platformers so when Reignited was announced, it was right up my alley...so what stopped me? Well, I heard the complaint that it's a collect-a-thon and that it might not have aged well for fans that haven't played and enjoyed the originals. That shot my expectations in the water then I saw some speed-running and it made me want to give it a try so here I am, finally trying this game out for size. I'll split it up game by game though and look at them on a modern level since it's technically a modern game now.
I love the little pitter-patter of his feet while he's dashing and the little prance he does when you jump and dash at the same time. Make sure you use the D-Pad while you dash though because for some reason, the control stick just doesn't cut tight turns, like at all.
This game adds cool little flips and flaps to the loading screens and I get that it's a redone PS1 game but there's a lot of them, luckily they aren't too long (I imagine having a PS5 may help a lot in that department). I appreciate the transitions from zone to zone as well with that little flip he does before landing. And I don't know who's idea it was to have an installation after the Artisanal area but it's really stupid because apparently there was a demo from preordering it that was just that area and you could upgrade to the full game after that point but I don't see why they didn't just make it a separate file for the people who aren't upgrading from a demo. Now if you're thinking that I played this right after downloading, the answer is no, I didn't. I downloaded it days prior and it was well past finished when I arrived, not to mention I got it digitally, I doubt it's like that on Switch but unfortunately it is for PS4.
I like how the barriers are stone pillars with gems in them which activate a forcefield to keep you from going out of bounds. I love little gameplay explanations like that. I also like the level design, including the hub worlds. There are a lot of things that I miss about older games but a lot of things that I don't. I believe I've seen some people bring this up but the dialogues for the rescued dragons are pretty bland at times, I love seeing just how different each one looks versus just the cookie cutter ones of the original but they'll often just say "I'd like to chat but I have to go." or just a small throwaway line. I know that there are too many to really do much with and how the original game had that dialogue but just a little thing I feel they could've changed if they wanted.
Now that I have more of a grasp on the game, I can say that I enjoy more than I thought I would. I don't get bored just walking around, all the landscapes are different, I love the atmosphere, I like collecting and actually feel compelled to 100% every level, the "aging" problem I originally had before I bought it is gone, I feel like just watching gameplay doesn't cut it, you have to give it your own shot.
Now there are normal stages, boss stages, and flight stages. Flight stages are easily my least favorite, good luck trying to get me to "All-in-One" those because they have a time limit. I expected a simple little game out of it but I got a lot more meat than I expected. I feel like you can just dash through it if you want (which makes for good speedrunning) but I felt compelled to collect, felt compelled to save the dragons, you only need a certain minimum but I almost don't care, I searched every nook and cranny. Boss stages are barely even recognizable as that, they're a breeze for the most part but I like them and I don't feel like it subtracts from the experience not having bosses the way other games would because it's not necessarily combat focused like the latter-day Spyro games.
Now the one boss that I hate is Gnorc and it's for that same reason, he's not a boss, you chase him around. It's not even that I dislike that though, what bugs me is the level because first you have to chase one of those egg thieves because it has a key, you use that key to unlock another door to another egg thief with another key, chase them then use the key to unlock Gnorc. Why is this so terrible? Because if you die on the Gnorc level, you have to start all over and chase those egg thieves again and you do get used to it but it's annoying as heck, give me a checkpoint! There's challenging and then there's annoying, that's annoying, just leave Gnorc on his own because you basically have to memorize the course so you know every which way to go or else you die and when you die, you lose a life and you only have so many in this game. I went the whole thing easily having around 10 lives on hand but this level made me break out the 99 lives cheat because this was the last level! I'm not going back to farm for lives when I'm in Gnorc's realm doing the same level over and over again, trial and error. I felt that for some of the jumps you have to make with the boost pad like in Tree Tops.
Overall it's a nice precursor for Insomniac, I didn't know Spyro did those news sessions like Ratchet and Clank, it's a nice game overall but it left me wanting just a bit more out of it which is why there are 3 in the trilogy that I suppose would build on that as well as a new Spyro probably on the way that should deliver on that even further.
"Oh, so you didn't have a PS1?" Oh no, I did, just didn't have any games for it. I've always loved the mascot of Spyro (Crash too) and I can't really think of anybody else who thinks otherwise, whether it's the game or just appreciation for the character in some form or another and Enter the Dragonfly was my first (not even kidding) and it is considered one of the worst, I only played it that once then returned it because it felt stupid to me.
I didn't fall out of it with Spyro though, I always intended to give it another chance but it just got farther and farther. Then Skylanders came out and would you believe it? I was into it. It's not a whole lot of Spyro (but the game itself and voice of Spyro were good) I just consider it a different game. Since then, I've tried A New Beginning, and it was fun at times but still not the experience I wanted and I do plan on continuing the Legend of Spyro but in the mean time...
I have a soft spot for platformers so when Reignited was announced, it was right up my alley...so what stopped me? Well, I heard the complaint that it's a collect-a-thon and that it might not have aged well for fans that haven't played and enjoyed the originals. That shot my expectations in the water then I saw some speed-running and it made me want to give it a try so here I am, finally trying this game out for size. I'll split it up game by game though and look at them on a modern level since it's technically a modern game now.
I love the little pitter-patter of his feet while he's dashing and the little prance he does when you jump and dash at the same time. Make sure you use the D-Pad while you dash though because for some reason, the control stick just doesn't cut tight turns, like at all.
This game adds cool little flips and flaps to the loading screens and I get that it's a redone PS1 game but there's a lot of them, luckily they aren't too long (I imagine having a PS5 may help a lot in that department). I appreciate the transitions from zone to zone as well with that little flip he does before landing. And I don't know who's idea it was to have an installation after the Artisanal area but it's really stupid because apparently there was a demo from preordering it that was just that area and you could upgrade to the full game after that point but I don't see why they didn't just make it a separate file for the people who aren't upgrading from a demo. Now if you're thinking that I played this right after downloading, the answer is no, I didn't. I downloaded it days prior and it was well past finished when I arrived, not to mention I got it digitally, I doubt it's like that on Switch but unfortunately it is for PS4.
I like how the barriers are stone pillars with gems in them which activate a forcefield to keep you from going out of bounds. I love little gameplay explanations like that. I also like the level design, including the hub worlds. There are a lot of things that I miss about older games but a lot of things that I don't. I believe I've seen some people bring this up but the dialogues for the rescued dragons are pretty bland at times, I love seeing just how different each one looks versus just the cookie cutter ones of the original but they'll often just say "I'd like to chat but I have to go." or just a small throwaway line. I know that there are too many to really do much with and how the original game had that dialogue but just a little thing I feel they could've changed if they wanted.
Now that I have more of a grasp on the game, I can say that I enjoy more than I thought I would. I don't get bored just walking around, all the landscapes are different, I love the atmosphere, I like collecting and actually feel compelled to 100% every level, the "aging" problem I originally had before I bought it is gone, I feel like just watching gameplay doesn't cut it, you have to give it your own shot.
Now there are normal stages, boss stages, and flight stages. Flight stages are easily my least favorite, good luck trying to get me to "All-in-One" those because they have a time limit. I expected a simple little game out of it but I got a lot more meat than I expected. I feel like you can just dash through it if you want (which makes for good speedrunning) but I felt compelled to collect, felt compelled to save the dragons, you only need a certain minimum but I almost don't care, I searched every nook and cranny. Boss stages are barely even recognizable as that, they're a breeze for the most part but I like them and I don't feel like it subtracts from the experience not having bosses the way other games would because it's not necessarily combat focused like the latter-day Spyro games.
Now the one boss that I hate is Gnorc and it's for that same reason, he's not a boss, you chase him around. It's not even that I dislike that though, what bugs me is the level because first you have to chase one of those egg thieves because it has a key, you use that key to unlock another door to another egg thief with another key, chase them then use the key to unlock Gnorc. Why is this so terrible? Because if you die on the Gnorc level, you have to start all over and chase those egg thieves again and you do get used to it but it's annoying as heck, give me a checkpoint! There's challenging and then there's annoying, that's annoying, just leave Gnorc on his own because you basically have to memorize the course so you know every which way to go or else you die and when you die, you lose a life and you only have so many in this game. I went the whole thing easily having around 10 lives on hand but this level made me break out the 99 lives cheat because this was the last level! I'm not going back to farm for lives when I'm in Gnorc's realm doing the same level over and over again, trial and error. I felt that for some of the jumps you have to make with the boost pad like in Tree Tops.
Overall it's a nice precursor for Insomniac, I didn't know Spyro did those news sessions like Ratchet and Clank, it's a nice game overall but it left me wanting just a bit more out of it which is why there are 3 in the trilogy that I suppose would build on that as well as a new Spyro probably on the way that should deliver on that even further.