When you sit down to play Spyro: Enter the Dragon on PS2, you may wonder if
you would be playing a kid’s game, or if it would be entertaining enough for an
adult. After playing, you may feel left somewhere in between.
You play the role of Spyro the Dragon as he tries to earn his wings within
the dragon world by rescuing the dragonflies captured by the evil Riptocs. These
dragonflies will someday become dragons themselves, so the fate of the dragon
race is in Spyro’s hands, er, well, paws at least. You must free a total of 90
dragonflies within several realms by completing quests, fighting baddies, and
freeing imprisoned dragons.
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A frozen friend. |
The game begins in the very benign homeworld, where the worst things running
around are some very yummy sheep. You can talk to you friends Hunter, Bianca,
and Zoe, among others, who will help you get used to maneuvering through the
game and how to go about reaching other levels. Also, your ever present
dragonfly companion Sparx will give you loads of information on what you are
trying to accomplish.
The homeworld is also a great place to get acquainted with the game and its
controls. The graphics themselves are pretty decent; the landscape and creatures
are very sharp. Especially nice is that anything in the distance is still crisp
and easily identifiable. Even better, the 360 degree view does not get confused
in itself when Spyro is looking around while running up hill, or turning around
in a corner. The sound is good, too. Other characters’ voices are easy to
understand, although the attempt to give them accents is at times quite comical.
The controls at first seem rather clunky, requiring the use of all buttons to
really make a go of getting around. However, after about a half hour of use,
control becomes quite comfortable, and you are really left with quite a bit of
flexibility in maneuvering Spyro. Take your time in the homeworld running
around, jumping and attacking the sheep; getting a good handle on the controls
here will make you fly through the other levels when you need to contend with
the Riptocs.
Once you and Spyro are acquainted with moving around in the homeworld, try to
complete the first quest that Hunter introduces you too. Once you get the hang
of moving around, you should be able to complete this challenge within a couple
of tries. Then it will be time to move on to the next level, which is very
reminiscent of a Japanese garden built high in the mountains. Here you must
unfreeze several dragons that have been captured by the Riptocs, as well as find
a couple more challenges and tasks to complete. You will find yourself needing
to bounce back and forth between this world and the homeworld as you gain new
talents which will open new areas to you.
The next world you will come to after gaining your electric breath ability
will be a farm invaded by alien Riptocs, from which you must rescue the farmer’s
kidnapped cows. Quirky idea for a world, but visual appeal of the graphics will
get you by the oddity of the task at hand.
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