Written by Tom Moore
Being one of the most iconic characters from the original PlayStation era, Spyro the Dragon has seen quite the struggle since the franchise was bought by Activision back in 2008. The purple dragon was seen as an original mascot to PlayStation alongside another classic mascot, Crash Bandicoot and ironically the two have seen similar treatment since their original trilogies. They have gone pretty much dormant in recent years with Spyro being relegated to appear in the Skylanders series as a side character. Thankfully, though, since Crash got a great remaster series of his original games, it was only a matter of time that Spyro got similar treatment and I am happy to say that time has finally came.
The Spyro Reignited Trilogy brings players back to the dragon’s original 3 adventures (Spyro the Dragon, Spyro 2: Ripto’s Rage, and Spyro: Year of the Dragon) with a fresh coat of paint and some tender love and care brought by the Skylanders creators, Toys for Bob. Just being back in the original three games would be a treat in itself, but Toys for Bob truly giving these games the updates they deserve.
Gliding over lush grasslands, swimming through the underwater level of Aquaria Towers, and even head-butting and breathing fire at every enemy in sight feels incredibly new all of over again. This is because of how Toys for Bob approach remastering the controls of Spyro by just fine-tuning them slightly without try to completely reinvent them.
Oddly enough, I felt like I had better control of him this time around even when I had the speed power-up and had to run through obstacles like I was The Flash. The same, however, couldn’t really be said for the other characters players play as in Year of the Dragon. Sheila, the Kangaroo and other characters just felt incredibly stiff compared to the purple dragon and their movements felt a little more robotic during moments where you had to play as them.
Each game as a whole also flew by this time around as I not only completed each game, but perfected each game in roughly seven and a half hours. Now, this isn’t a complaint as frankly it is more likely than not that I’m just better than when I originally played them when I was about 8 years old. It also feels like Toys for Bob accounted for this and added some more challenges to the game in the form of skill points and clever achievement and trophies for players to return to some of their favorite levels to play them in a different way.
Players will undoubtedly want to return anyway, though, as Toys for Bob has slapped on some Skylanders styled graphics that not only update some of the classic worlds and characters fans love, but give it a more vibrant personality. The funny dialogue and cut scenes are kept mostly the same throughout all of the games and the worlds feel like they actually move with this update with wind actually moving the grass and things feeling a little less static. Even the opening and closing cut scenes in Ripto’s Rage feel like they have more personality and have some great Looney Tunes styled violence that just isn’t seen any more in kid’s games.
Even the updated looks of characters are great and even while I didn’t love how certain characters were updated, I’m looking at you Hunter, it still great to see that much effort to be put into making something that both old and new generations of gamers can love. Frankly, I wish Toys for Bob actually did more of this kind of updating as I found myself feeling a little tired seeing and hearing some of same dialogue from the original games.
While it’s nice to get updated looks and personalities for all of the dragons players will save in Spyro the Dragon, it would have been nice to see more effort be put into updating their dialogue. A lot of their dialogue feels like more tutorial hints and I would have seen their dialogue be more conversational and funny with Spyro. After all, do I really need to be reminded that I have to head-butt metal enemies and not use fire on them three hours into playing?
Now, with any remaster obviously comes the gripes that any fan would have about things that didn’t make a return. Do I miss that when I’m traveling between worlds that I’m not seeing the gems I just collected all fall into my total at the bottom of the screen; of course. Am I upset that some of the classic sounds effects are now different: just a little bit. Does it bother me that in Skelos Badlands that Ooga’s skeleton friend now does the Floss dance rather than do tons backflips and disco moves; no since that’s actually a pretty cool update. Even with these gripes, though, where Toys for Bob has really won me over is how they have handled one of the most iconic parts to Spyro: the music.
The score of Spyro has always been of the best parts of the series as it always made each world feel truly unique and special. Toys for Bob does an excellent remaster of the score as well and bringing updates to it that fans didn’t even realize it needed. However, if your one of those purists who can’t live without that original score, like me, there is an easy option setting so that players can feel nostalgic all over again.
Playing through Spyro’s classic games has honestly made me fall in love with them all over again and that’s really what any remaster is supposed to do. It’s kind of ironic thinking that the people who basically used Spyro just to sell Skylanders have now made a true Spyro game. The Reignited Trilogy is perfect for both old fans wanting some classic nostalgia and a new generation of gamers looking for that challenging, rewarding, and cartoony platformer that you can relax into and play. If you’re looking for someone to get their first experience with gaming ever, the Spyro Reignited Trilogy wouldn’t be a bad place to start.
Review Score: 9 out of 10
Spyro Reignited Trilogy is now available at video game retailers everywhere.
