Light my fire.
Spyro has had an incredible journey. He was a household name back in the original PlayStation days. Then he had a series of unimpressive titles during the era following. Activision tried to market him again with the Skylanders franchise, which was a success, but not because of his namesake. Now with the influx of remasters and bringing classic franchise back into the light, Spyro gets a new lease on life. The Reignited Trilogy brings the original three games into the next generation complete with visual overhauls. The results are impressive, but also marred by odd design choices.
I was never a big Spyro player. I remember when the original games launched. They felt lost in a sea of character platform games that were rampant at the time. It also didn’t help that Sony already had a mascot in Crash Bandicoot, so Spyro always felt like a secondary thought. So my knowledge and nostalgia for these games is pretty much nonexistent. Still I wanted to see why so many gamers had held them in such high regard. Blasting through this trilogy has been incredibly fun, and reminds me of a different time in gaming.
MSRP: $39.99
Platforms: XB1 (reviewed), PS4, Switch
Price I’d Pay: $39.99
Everything now is open-world collect-a-thons that involve realistic visuals and hundreds of hours of game play. Spyro bucks those trends by delivering three succinct titles featuring colorful animations and wacky characters. Sure the storylines here are whimsical and often throwaway, but I can’t help but love it.
Each of these three games has been rebuilt from the ground up for newer consoles. Developer Toys for Bob has taken the time to make them feel like new games. If the Spyro name was not attached, this could easily pass for a brand new title. Instead of copy/paste dragons, each one now has their own unique style and characteristics. The worlds feel more vibrant and inviting. Going back to play the original titles it was clearly night and day differences. Still there are some weird drawbacks.
The game runs on a new engine, but for some reason limits itself to 30fps. Not sure if that was by design due to the originals, or just a limitation of time or money. There is also the issue that even when buying the disc version, there is still a hefty download to complete before players can play the second or third game. Finally, the subtitles issue. It is odd for a game these days to ship without subtitles, and even more disturbing was their reason for leaving them out, claiming they are not an industry standard. This is a bad omission, and one I hope is remedied in a future patch. Games are highly accessible these days and there is no reason not to include them here.
It is interesting going through these games now. I could clearly see the evolution of the series. The first game is a straight forward romp with little direction, while the later games offer up more to do and accomplish. I recommend going through them in order to appreciate how the series came into its own.
There is something magical about this trilogy. Sure Crash had more fanfare, but Spyro feels like a piece of history lost. Going back to these games was a pure joyful experience. Whether it was my fatigue of current titles or just that I crave colorful platformers, I cannot recommend this game enough. Even with its blemishes it was a title that I spent the most time smiling while playing.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
