The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night

Review - Tom spirals around this new aventure

If you take a look through any gamer's game collection it will reveal something about them. There is something deep within our psyche about what we enjoy playing; on a subconscious level it might be something to do with role playing. Every time that you switch on that racing game, that deep desire to be Lewis Hamilton arises. Or perhaps that stealthy FPS reveals the James Bond in you. It's for this reason that I believe that I have passed over a lot of the more kitschy junior titles preferring to stick to the more full blooded affairs. This was not always the way but as I have grown older it has become more apparent. This has resulted in me not giving a second thought to the Spyro series. First established some near 10 years ago Spyro has been on many adventures but admitting this is my first foray with the purple fellow, I join him on his seventh adventure, the second in a trilogy from Krome Studios, the third development company to add their sparkle to the series.

The Eternal Night, as stated earlier, is the third instalment in a trilogy, the story following on exactly where the last one ended with Cynder defeated. Spyro returns to the Dragon temple powerless after the last fight. At the temple, he and his scaly companions are attacked with Spyro having the fortune to pass out only to be taken to a magical dream realm where the Chronicler re-enables the powers that lie dormant inside him. This periodically happens through the game introducing new powers to the mauve warrior until finally toting four powers of fire, ice, earth and electricity. Each are utilised in different ways from the classic fire breath to firing electric orbs. A new addition to the gameplay is Dragon time or cough bullet time to you and me, this has to be masterfully used during certain sections, during boss battles and for leaping onto speeding platforms. Quickly refilling it is an essential to completion of this new game.

The essence of the game and plot sees our intrepid soldier trying to stop the Dark master being resurrected and save Cynder in the process. The voice acting is top notch with Elijah Wood as Spyro, Billy West taking over the reins of Sparx. For those thinking who is Billy West, he provides the voice of Fry in Futurama and sounds uncannily similar in this (no comments about acting range). Sparx does help add some much needed comedy and helps the cut scenes keep a lighter tone. The Chronicler is voiced by the not so well known Martin Jarvis but adds much needed vocal tone for the voice-over sections that paint a wonderful story telling approach. The cast is then rounded-off by none other than Gary Oldman as Ignitus. It's refreshing to hear quality voice work in the game, for too long I have played mythical fantasy titles that try to mimic the Hollywood blockbusters on a shoestring budget making the cut scenes more unbearable than watching Big Brother with feigned interest around a girlfriend's house.

Graphics are average with a few touches of class; these mainly revolve around the abilities that Spyro accumulates. There is the odd instance of poor draw distances, and at one point I stepped onto a rope walkway that would seem to stop mid-air. A pretty impressive soundtrack helps enable a sense of purpose and grandeur to the title. It's little wonder that a Spyro film is in development.

The plot really has little bearing on the overall game as Spyro spends half of it being captured and fighting his way free. The controls are easy to master; there simply aren't that many moves that he can make. Square and triangle control the magical power moves of which you have a limited supply, recharging through the gaining of green crystals whereas X and circle are jump and melee attack respectively. Spyro's magical abilities can be upgraded throughout the game via the collection of blue crystals increasing the ferocity of these attacks. The early levels will see some frantic circle bashing whilst the abilities are still in their infancy but progression sees variation being used more often, and with occasional laziness as it's easier to toast foes to death rather than to get up close and personal. The last attack mode is present in the 'rage' attack. Upon gathering the required amount of purple crystals from vanquished enemies, Spyro can unleash his rage attack in whirring/true Matrix inspired glory sending most things to a fiery/icy/earthy/electric (delete as appropriate) doom.

Large numbers of enemies can see things get rather tricky later on. Until the final levels the enemies are not usually dispatched in large numbers, with a more likely death falling from the edge of the arena likely. Here in lies one of the faults with the game, you die a lot. This isn't from the enemies but more commonly the platforming sections where it is too easy to miss that ledge sending an Elijah-inspired cry as Spyro plummets to his death. Fortunately most of the time you are respawned at the beginning of the section from where you met your maker previously. There is no punishment for dying countless times, apart from the frustration that starts to set in. For an adventure game the focus has been firmly switched to a combat intensive experience, and there are few challenges or puzzles that you must undertake, most involving moving an object on to a sensitive pad or loading a cannon ball to destroy a blocked path. Aiming at an audience of seven-years plus it is hard to determine how much more complicated the puzzles could be. Indeed there are times when something is required and there is absolutely no help to guide you, you'll then be relying on more luck than judgement to see you through.

There have been comments that there are sections that are just too difficult to master thus resulting in a frustrating playing experience for some Spyro fans. I'm not, however, sure that I concur personally; in all honesty I have a very short tolerance level with games and lose it fairly often but not so with this game. Perhaps this is aided by the good respawn points that mean I am not going over the same sections countless times. There are small annoyances in the persistently replaying cut-scenes at certain respawn moments but this is common with many titles. It does have its tricky moments but these can be overcome with a few attempts, usually I found myself cursing my own stupidity rather than the game's. A specific moment with Crab buttons springs to mind as being the most exasperating instant in the whole game, especially when no details are provided on how to get past the little blighters. Overall I became quite fond of the violet dude, probably more appealing to the younger audiences but nevertheless fans of the series should not be disappointed.

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