Spyro 4 - My review.
At the moment this is only a 'first impressions' review; I've only has it two days and I'll only be able to write a proper in depth review when I've played it some more.
This is the GBA version, not the PS2 version, which has apparently been cancelled. Maybe Spyro 5 will appear on a 128-bit console.
Graphics and Camera:
Well, after hearing that the GBA was as powerful as a PSX, I made the mistake of thinking that its graphics and sound would be of like quality. However, even though the GBA is a 32-bit machine and in theory has the procesing power of a PSX, it's the television to which the PS is connected that conveys the images and sound. and the GBA has weedy little speakers and a small screen, and so the graphics aren't mindblowing.
Having said that, they are impressive for a handheld. Spyro himself is gorgeously animated; not a point or edge to him; he's rounded and smooth all over. His charging and flaming animaations are super-cute as well.
Instead of the 3D free-roaming landscapes of its ancestors, Spyro 4 is an isometric platformer (think Age Of Empires; everything diamond-shaped), which is one hell of a comedown. You can't see what's on the horizon ahead of you or see from a 1st-person perspective; the closest the game comes to the 'look around' function is the ability to hold L and use the D-pad to move the camera 0.75 of a screen in any direction. Not adequate.
It's also sometimes hard to tell whether you're standing on a precipice or whether that's a higher ledge in front of you; you only ever get one perspective.
Because Spyro's movements were only mapped out in 8 directions, changes in direction look jerky when gliding or charging. Walking looks fairly seamless though.
The levels look as though they've been put together like the 'custom landscape' thingie in AoE too; the tiling of backgrounds (water, lava, sky etc) is really obvious; and many levels look very samey throughout; I often found myself badly lost, and only realising I was going round in circles when I found myself talking to the same llama/mermaid/caveman three times in a row.
Graphics: 6/10 - good for the machine, but is that really its full potential?
Sound:
Well, this did impress me. Expecting the bleeping and farting of the GBC, much of the twinkly sounds when collecting gems or navigating menus, and the boingy sheep sounds, from the PSX games were still intact. And the music was proper music, from Stewart Copeland, and was recognisable as such. Some sounds were rather too tinny, however, and there's no speech; when someone talks to you, it's in the form of a text box.
While it's nowhere near as good as a proper console, the sound is a big step up from the GBC. Nice one.
Sound: 8/10 - there's quite a limit to what you can do with those tiny speakers, but DES have made the most of it, it seems.
Gameplay and Controls:
Well, it's really trying to provide a wide variety of tasks like 2 & 3, but it comes over very Spyro 1-esque. Not that the first isn't great and wasn't a hit in its time (hell, it was 1998's second most popular game!), but it's not what we want today.
This game needs more fairies (that's what you collect, like the orbs in 2 and the eggs in 3) to be earned, not simply found lying over the place.
Actually, I do take that back. The balance of finding vs earning is pretty good, but the tasks are very repetitive. They all seem to boil down to wandering round the level killing/finding/activating 3 to 5 things, for which a grateful but stupid creature will give you a fairie encased in ice (they've been encased in ice due to an evil spell from a Rhynoc), which they often think is a strange seashell or rock. No! We need more shoot 'em ups, logic puzzles and dogfights! More variety!
And here's the most stupid thing of all... SPYRO HAS FORGOTTEN HOW TO SWIM!!! You don't even get a chance to jump out and save yourself, like you do if you fall into blue ooze in a previous game; touch water and you die instantly. It's also easy to lose but hard to acquire lives; I've had about 6 game overs so far, but as you don't lose anything by getting a game over, they should've just gone the whole way and given you infinite lives, a la Jak & Daxter.
There are a few little things that will make you smile inwardly. In the home worlds, Spyro cannot die by falling off an edge; if he steps off a precipice, some pretty blue twinkly stuff whooshes him back to safety, and I've often found myself throwing Spyro off cliffs for cheap thrills. Spyro also jumps about 12 feet in the air when he burns himself in lava!
The speedway levels are as tough as pooing a melon; instead of a free-roaming flying level, they've become linear, with Spyro's route automatic, and all you do is move him round the screen to dodge/shoot things. What's really annoying is that pressing up makes Spyro fly up, and down makes him go down. In the previous games, when flying, the up and down buttons dictate which way Spyro's tail moves; press up and he nosedives, push down and he soars. He doesn't even bank or pitch in 4; he remains perfectly horizontal at all times, and it just feels as though you're moving an image on a screen. With its precursors, you could almost believe you were a flying dragon.
What was once an aerial ballet is now a shooting fest; all you do is fly through rings and shoot/dodge bats/rocks/flying serpents. Shame.
And you'll really wish you had an analogue stick when you've been chasing that bloody thief for half an hour and your left thumb aches with D-pad-induced RSI.
The controls do become fairly intuitive after a while, but they're too different from previous Spyros for my liking.
Gameplay: 5/10 - we deserve better than this, damnit!
Overall (not an average): 6/10
It's a good little game, but it just doesn't feel like a Spyro. Nice try DES, but we expect better from you next time. Try the PS2 or XBox next time, not a 32-bit handheld.
Well, as I said, this is first-impressions only. I'm still in the first home world, and the game may drastically make it up to me later on. We shall see, but at them moment I'm of the opinion that it's the bad egg of the Spyro bunch.
Has anyone else played the game? Post your thoughts here.
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Hand me my flamethrower... it's the one that says 'Bad Motherfucker'.
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