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Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly Review - PS2

Traditionally, Nintendo are the king of the console platform game with stellar franchises like Mario and Donkey Kong. But Sony is quickly establishing itself as a serious challenger to the platform title. The previous Spyro titles were fantastic affairs, aimed at a younger audience but with plenty of variety and challenges for the older gamer. Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly is the first game in the series to grace the PS2. Crash Bandicoot, Jak and Daxter, Ratchet and Clank and the recently released, Ape Escape 2 have been hunting the plumber, desperate to knock him off his pedestal. Can Spyro the Dragon finally burn his house down and promote Sony to king of console platformers?

Gameplay

Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly follows Platform Games 101 in terms of gameplay. Yes, the stages are mysteriously littered with gems that can be collected and "spent" to unlock hidden pathways and extra powers. Yes, you have an annoying, and I mean ANNOYING, sidekick who helps collect gems and is actually your energy gauge. Yes, there are power-ups to be earnt throughout the stages that once learnt, can be used on previous stages to unlock unreachable areas. It's all here folks, but we knew it was going to be, so lets move on.

Previous Spyro's revolved around collecting dragon eggs by Dragonfly revolves around, you guessed it: dragonflies. Each Dragon in the Dragon Realms is assigned a dragonfly, but the evil Ripto has sent them sprawling across the various worlds. So it's Spyro's job to capture them all and save the day...once again.

Initially armed with your trusty dragon breath you wonder the worlds collecting gems, capturing dragonflies and completing numerous side-quests. These side-quests are activated by the numerous characters that you find along the way. It's not necessary to complete all of them but you are usually rewarded with a dragonfly. Dragonflies are also used to unlock stages further into the game. There are also other dragon breaths to collect, like ice, electric and bubble. These can be used to unlock gates or reach previously unreachable areas. For example, your ice breath can be used to create a platform that you can use to reach a little dragons kite, which was stuck in a tree.

But there are 3 major problems with Spyro, which really bog the game down and ultimately destroy any fun that's to be had.

Number One: Load times. The load times take me back 15 years to my Amiga days, it's that slow! And it's not just in between levels or at the start, when you approach a character that wants to talk to you, the game pauses for a good 4-5 seconds before the dialogue spews forward! This happens every time you speak to a character - even if you have spoken to them before.

Number Two: I think Spyro has been munching on too many GTA pills as he moves like he's in slow motion. ... (continued next page)