Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly

"Amateur companies shouldn't try to do classic series!"

I have been a big Spyro fan for awhile, and when I went to spyrothedragon.com and saw the preview of this game, it made me look forward to a sequel even more. I couldn't wait for it to come out! Just goes to show that previews don't always show the true nature of the game... it just doesn't live up to the reputation that Spyro has earned. It's like Wrath of Cortex all over again... why do companies pick up great series and make mediocre games? Well, enough of my complaining, on to the review!

Story
Wait, there's a story? Couldn't tell it from playing the game! Basically what you see is a bunch of dragonflies buzzing around and it looks like they're having some sort of party (what for, who knows) and then Ripto shows up, does something with his scepter and they end up scattered throughout the worlds. What he was trying to do, I also never figured out. Anyway, after that happens he leaves and Spyro has to go gather all the dragonflies up again... apparently the dragons are helpless without them. So Bianca performs some spell to give him special breaths... which he can't have without picking up runes anyway so I'm not sure what the point was.... and he's on his way. If you read the manual it explains it a bit more, but it's nothing more than the usual ''Collect so many [insert object here] to stop [insert villain here] from taking over/destroying the world.'' From here on out you will be lucky if you can figure out what on earth is going on half the time, and I saw exactly one cut scene throughout the whole game, so the story is definitely not it's strongest point. Actually, the whole game is pretty confusing at times... what exactly it is you're supposed to be doing... and when the portal to fight Ripto appears nobody lets you know or even tells you what it is, it's just this huge sucking hole in the ground that you are quite wary of jumping in!
1/10

Graphics
The surface of the water is amazing. The ripples, the way they move, they did a fantastic job. Well, in shallow water anyway.... in water you can dive in it's just the same old lame stuff. The frames are shaky.. when you charge it looks like an earthquake or something, and when you are watching things move (after you light them off or whatever) it sometimes glitches so badly that you start to wonder if they even bothered to play the game after they made it. Also, sometimes you run into things that aren't even there... try to hug that wall so you can glide around it? Would have been no problem in Spyro 1.. but wait, the game says you ran into it when you clearly didn't! What on earth?? Or, just barely catch the edge of a platform.. you can see his feet land on it... and then slide off, or fall through... so much for that life! Really, it was pathetic in some places. But I really loved the water! The scenery was also nice if you stood still and looked at it. Nothing spectacular, but it didn't suck.
4/10

Controls
What is it that games these days have against the d-pad? Not all of us like the joystick! It seems at first as though you could use the d-pad... but he doesn't turn all that great, especially while charging or flying. You end up running into walls and off ledges and it's really a pain. So I used the joystick... I've done it before, it can't be so bad, right? Well, the joystick is somewhat jerky.. not all that easy to use. Trying to aim a shot was virtually impossible, especially on far off targets. But, they are simple and easy to learn, which is a big plus. Anything new is told to you early on in the game and...then several times after that...
6/10

Audio
The music is all right, hasn't gotten stuck in my head which is one of the most annoying things ever, so that's good. Sounds fit everything okay... nothing special, nothing horrid. The voice of Bianca is sort of irritating, but everybody else's is okay. Sometimes a sound will get ''stuck.'' Like if you walk past something (portal, whirlwind, something buzzing with electricity} and then walk away, the sound stays. Then the music cuts out and all you can hear is this CONSTANT buzzing even when you pause it or look at your atlas and you can turn the sounds and music down in the menu and it STILL won't go away!! Well at least when you exit the level it stops. Luckily it doesn't happen super often, but once is more than enough.
6/10

Gameplay
There's a total of 9 levels (including the homeworld) that are filled with mini games. Most of these are pretty fun, and they're about the only thing that saves the game. Between sliding down a giant slide (my personal favorite) and flying a spitfire (ooh, missiles!) there's a good amount of variety. Most of them are done more than once, but the game is fairly short so it doesn't have the chance to get old. The main part of the levels aren't bad either... apart from some frustrating glides, they're actually pretty fun. It would have been in it's favor to have a map, but perhaps that would have made it too easy to find somehow hidden areas. The atlas is a lifesaver... it tells you how much treasure and dragonflies there are in each world, and how many you have. Sometimes when you go to look at it the background pages disappear, but it's the information that counts, right?
8/10

Replay Value
Some of the mini games might be fun to redo, but I've never thought that platform had that high of a replay value in the first place. I might play it again just to see the ending (which I think I accidentally skipped through thinking it was just credits...oops) and I don't think it'll be torture, but I see myself getting a tad bored in places. It's really no worse than the usual platform in this aspect.
8/10

Rent or Buy
It's pretty short so you could probably save quite a bit of money just by renting it. In fact, if you haven't played the first three Spyros, I suggest you get them instead. They're greatest hits anyway so they should be fairly cheap. But some of you are probably like me and just like to own games to add them to your collection, and it's certainly not the worst game ever, so I'm not discouraging you from going either way.
Could get away with renting, but buying is an option, too.

Conclusion
For the diehard Spyro fans out there, you will probably be pretty disappointed. It doesn't live up to the standards but if you forget about that and just try to enjoy what's there, it really isn't so bad. If you already have the other popular platforms that are out (especially Ratchet and Clank) and are looking for another one to fill your time, I suggest you get this one. If you haven't gotten the other ones yet (Ratchet and Clank!!) I suggest you do that first and save this one for when you're bored. Or get this one first so that the other ones seem even better by comparison, your choice! Well, I averaged out all the ratings I gave it (added in gameplay twice since it's the most important) and came up with a 5.8, so I'll round it up to 6 which feels about right.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 12/30/02, Updated 12/30/02