About This Game:
Rating: E for Everyone. Publisher: Insomniac. Year: 1998.
This first game of "Spyro the Dragon" was a huge
success, and rightfully so. It's a bit surprising that this DID
become such a big hit, though, because at the time, and to this day
(2009), the big thing in games is the gory, shoot-em-up, stab-em-up,
monster killer type games. "Spyro the Dragon" is cute all the way
around, and kid-friendly. The 3-D animation is absolutely
beautiful. I don't normally approve of 3-D in video games, but
3-D is a perfect fit for Spyro. Quite simply, you couldn't do a
Spyro game without 3-D. He runs, flies, glides, searches for
treasure, and does all kinds of things that you couldn't capture in a
two-dimensional game.
Spyro is a cute little purple dragon. The
usual thing is that dragons are big, slow, and strong. Spyro is
small, fast, and agile. He is constantly accompanied by a magical
dragonfly named Sparx. Sparx protects Spyro from damage and
collects gems.
In this first game, Spyro must save the land from
the evil Gnasty Gnorc! He must collect all the stolen treasure
from the dragons and free all the dragons from their crystal statue
prisons. This is a big job, and it's not easy to find or reach
all of the dragons and treasure. The player must rely on his wits
to find out how to reach certain areas or how to do certain
things. This game not only entertains, but is great for the
mental development of young and old alike.
What the heck is Gnasty Gnorc? Well, Gnorc is
a race of peculiar, oafish-looking creatures that you see throughout
the game. Gnasty Gnorc, the leader, is by far the largest of them
all. He has a green body, gray armor, gray metal helmet, and a
mace. Gnasty also has a great knowledge of magic. Once you
get to Gnasty Gnorc, he's not that hard to defeat. You have to
hit him twice with your fire breath. The hard part is trying to
catch him the first time, because he runs very fast.
I don't normally pay attention to music in video
games. For the most part, I think video game music is either
annoying or ignorable. The music in THIS game, however, adds a
lot. Stewart Copeland handled the musical score and did more than
a fine job. It's funky enough and upbeat enough to be enjoyable
as you play.
The voice talent is also a plus. I love how
Spyro talks! He's such a cute, tough little bugger! His
voice is done by Carlos Alazraqui. The rest of the voice talent
is excellent as well. And the dialogue is a bit more lively and
amusing than in most video games.
This game is bright, colorful, cute, and
funny. It also challenges the brain a bit. Great fun for
all ages!
History:
Charles Zembillas designed the character of Spyro. Spyro became such a
phenomenon that he became one of Playstation's most recognized
characters; not quite like what Mario is to Nintendo, but close. The first game, "Spyro the
Dragon", was a huge commercial success and received favorable reviews
from most critics (the critics who were cool!). It spawned
several other Spyro games. "Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage" (1999) and
"Spyro: Year of the Dragon" (2000) were released on Playstation
1. When Playstation 2 came along, so did "Spyro: Enter the
Dragonfly" (2002), and "Spyro: A Hero's Tail" (2004).
For some reason, the creators of Spyro thought the
series needed a reboot. In 2006, "The Legend of Spyro: A New
Beginning" was released on Playstation 2. Not only is the basic
story of Spyro a bit more serious, but it seems to be more of a sellout
with top celebrity voice talent like Elijah Wood (as Spyro) and David
Spade (as Sparx). The characters are also designed to look a bit
more frightening. The original Spyro series was delightfully
goofy and provided a good time. This second phase of Spyro is too
much story. The people behind this new Spyro need to loosen up a
bit. Still, it's good that they do what they can to keep the
adventures alive of this cute little dragon.
"The Legend of Spyro" is, in fact, a trilogy.
EVERYTHING is a trilogy nowadays. I guess it's the hip thing to
do. "A New Beginning" was followed by "The Legend of Spyro: The
Eternal Night" (2007) and "The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon"
(2008), all on Playstation 2.
The original era of Spyro also produced games for
the Game Boy Advance. These include: "Spyro: Season of Ice"
(2001), "Spyro 2: Season of Flame" (2002), "Spyro: Attack of the
Rhynocs" (2003), and "Spyro Orange: The Cortex Conspiracy"
(2004). The first two "The Legend of Spyro" games were also
released on Game Boy Advance.
"Spyro: Shadow Legacy" (2005), the last of the
original era of Spyro games, was released exclusively on Nintendo DS
(the successor to Game Boy Advance). All three of "The Legend of
Spyro" games have also been released on Nintendo DS.
"Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly" (2002) was also released on
Nintendo Gamecube.
"Spyro: A Hero's Tail" (2004) was also released on Microsoft Xbox and
Nintendo Gamecube.
"The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning" (2006) was also released on
Microsoft Xbox, Nintendo Gamecube, Nintendo Game Boy Advance, and
Nintendo DS.
"The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night" (2007) was also released on
Nintendo Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, and Nintendo Wii.
"The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon" (2008) was also released on
Playstation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, Nintendo DS, and Nintendo Wii.
Although consistently popular in video games, the character of Spyro
the Dragon has yet to catch on in other media. This is most
likely due to the fact that he has never really been applied to media
outside of video games...yet. An upcoming animated feature film
of "The Legend of Spyro" is in the works and planned for release in
early 2010.
Voice
Talent:
Carlos Alazraqui as
Spyro/Useni/Marco/Hexus/Eldrid.
Andre Sogliuzzo as Sparx.
Michael Gough as Gnasty
Gnorc/Sadiki/Claude/Cleetus/Bruno/Cyprin/Nevin/Astor. This is NOT
the actor from "Batman" films, but another talented guy named Michael
Gough who has done tons of voices in cartoons and video games.
Jamie Alcroft as
Lateef/Cosmos/Kosoko/Zane/Interviewer/Trondo/Oswin/Tomas.
Clancy Brown as
Obasi/Revillo/Unika/Enzo/Maximos/Nestor/Titan/Boris.
Michael Connor as
Tomas/Gildas/Darius/Boldar/Dragons.
Peter Kleiner wrote the
dialogue.