The Legend Of Spyro: Dawn Of The Dragon – Review

	Available On: Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 Format Reviewed: Xbox 360 Publisher: Sierra Entertainment Developer: Etranges Libellules Players: 1-2 Online: 0

An entire decade has passed since we first met Spyro back on the original PlayStation. Throughout that time we’ve seen a few brilliant Spyro games, accompanied by a glut of downright average ones. It makes you wonder if the purple dragon and his fellow platformer Crash Bandicoot should have just packed it in after their first three games. The franchise has switched hands for both development and publishing several times, and the latest to own the license is Sierra. Back in 2006 they began a new trilogy of Spyro games, and the latest title, Dawn of the Dragon, is the finale of that series. Has Spyro finally returned to us with a fun, engaging platformer, or this another one to file under average? Head inside for the lowdown.

The Legend of Spyro trilogy was marketed as a prequel to the original Spyro games, but in actual fact they are a total reboot of the franchise. Let’s face it, after Insomniac dropped the series following the release of Year of the Dragon, things went a bit downhill for the purple dragon to say the least. So when Sierra got their mitts on the license, they decided to start anew with the appropriately titled Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning. It got very mixed reviews, but regardless Sierra upheld their promise of a trilogy with a sequel entitled The Eternal Night. It, like its predecessor, also received mixed reviews, but Sierra still decided to go ahead and finish off the trilogy with Dawn of the Dragon. And that brings us to today.

Tagging along with Spyro and Sparx in Dawn of The Dragon is Cynder, the female dragon that was Spyro’s arch-enemy in A New Beginning. She accompanies you throughout the entire adventure, and is playable at any point in the game by just hitting the ’LB’ button. She possesses powers and a skill set that is vastly different to Spyros, so there are points when you are required to switch between the two characters. Alternatively a second player can grab a pad and you can play the entire thing in co-op mode, which I must say works very well. What’s also handy with the co-op is that, should your mate decide he doesn’t want to play anymore, he can drop out and the game automatically reverts back to single-player mode, allowing you to carry on from that point. It’s the same kind of drop-in-and-out gameplay made popular by the LEGO games.

The combat in Dawn of The Dragon is definitely not one of the game’s strong points. It drags on and on, and isn’t very intuitive. Much like the Werehog sections in Sonic Unleashed, when enemies come along they just don’t go away. Not only are they strong and take a lot of pounding to defeat, but they come at you in dozens, wave after wave. And while there are absolutely tons of different moves available for you and Cynder to use, they all involve bashing either the ‘X’ or ‘Y’ button several times over. The elemental powers such as Fire, Earth, Wind and the like that you receive at the beginning of the game are fun to use on enemies, but they require ‘mana’, which runs out pretty quickly. So you are soon back to button bashing again.

With all of the graphically astonishing games that have hit the 360 over the last couple of years or so, the bar is frequently getting raised higher and higher. Dawn of The Dragon, I have to say, has moments that look pretty darn…well, pretty. There are loads of bright, sparkling colours used in the environments, which is always a good thing in a video game. The soundtrack however, isn’t quite so tasty. The entire game is comprised of very repetitive music and annoying sound effects that will have you reaching for the remote to find the mute button. The voice acting on the other hand, is good stuff. Granted, the cast may be comprised of total unknowns like Elijah Wood, Christina Ricci, Gary Oldman and Mark Hamill, but it doesn’t matter because they do a good job here.

Of course, I am only joking. The voice acting cast in Dawn of The Dragon is mighty impressive, comprising of several A-list Hollywood actors, which must have cost Sierra quite a bit of the good old hard earned. Elijah Wood and Gary Oldman have both been voicing their respective characters of Spyro and Ignitus throughout the whole Legend of Spyro series, whilst others such as Christina Ricci, Mark Hamill and Blair Underwood are new to Dawn of The Dragon. They can be heard a little during the game, but mostly the voice acting takes place during cutscenes. Speaking of which, they do drag on a bit at the beginning of the game. I mean, I know video games need at least a couple of minutes to explain to the player that your character is the only being in the universe capable of destroying some super-evil bad guy once and for all, but it shouldn’t be any longer than that.

Honestly, I was very much surprised with Dawn of The Dragon. I wasn’t really looking forward to reviewing this one, what with the series’ having been so mediocre over the best part of this decade, but I actually found myself having fun with it. Just like all of the other Spyro games that followed the PS one classic Year of The Dragon, it doesn’t capture the magic of the original Insomniac games, but nevertheless, it is still a decent little platformer when you aren’t fighting those endless waves of boring, generic enemies that simply refuse to die. Overall it is a fun little game, and one that you should look at picking up if you are big on your platformers.