When the original PlayStation hit, I was all about the Nintendo 64, so unlike a lot of folks who grew up in the 1990s, my fondest platforming memories lie with the Super Nintendo and Nintendo 64, namely the Super Mario games. Still, I would be lying if I told you I never dabbled with those kind of games on Sony’s machine, but none of those games ever came close to the awe and wonder that was Super Mario 64 and other even more involved cutesy character games that Nintendo’s offered.
The Spyro The Dragon series is one of those cases. I don’t have a strong sense of nostalgia for them at all, but the same can’t be said for other people in my age range or lower. Spyro is still a strong and fondly remembered name that a lot of players care very much for and demand to see a remaster of. If you’re among that die-hard group of fans, you have much to look forward in Spyro Reignited Trilogy. It’s basically what you’ve been clamouring for: all three PlayStation-era games remade in bright, colorful and smooth visuals, retaining the same gameplay.
While I would’ve been over the moon for the earlier of those, the idea of the latter doesn’t really excite me at all. The Spyro games have always been too much of a cake walk for me, and playing the demo being shown at Sony’s both at Brazil Game Show didn’t really prove me wrong. Yes, this is positively the most gorgeous looking version you’ll ever play of any of the Spyros, but it ultimately felt that besides the facelift, these platformers are relics of the past, even more so when compared to other similar titles that have come out in the two decades that have followed their release.
Putting my bias aside, I was able to have a good time with the demo, even though there was no challenge to speak of. Enemies comically ran away from the purple menace as I spit fire on and headbutted them mercilessly. Even stronger foes armed with shields found themselves cowering behind them as I hardly noticed their presence on my way to collect a bunch of shiny objects, the main objective to the levels being offered in the demo. The only things that stood their ground and did not run away were poor animals who were innocently minding their own business, like rams and sheep, who like the other poor fools in Spyro’s way, fell all too easily to his attacks.
Structurally, there wasn’t a lot to consider when it came to the level design. Everything was very linear and simple enough to get through, which made me think that either these demo levels are from early on in each of the games in the collection, or those are titles aimed at younger players, or that my easy time playing this came from the years of experience that came from burning through polygonal platformers. I can certainly imagine old series fans just going ga-ga over the new visuals and jumping back in to relive their fond memories from that era in gaming, but as a game that newcomers will be having their first contact with in 2018, I’ll be curious to see how they’ll react to its archaic style of play.
All things considered, if you’ve been petitioning Sony and Activision for a return of Spyro, be sure to check Spyro Reignited Trilogy out. It feels like a relic of the past, and whether or not that’s a good thing, it’ll be up to you and just how strongly you feel about that particular generation of platformers.
Spyro Reignited Trilogy will be setting PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One ablaze on November 13th.
