The Game Boy Advance debuted in
2001, and now, in 2007, it’s on its way out. It’s a sad but inevitable part of
every system’s lifecycle: the death, when new games are no longer developed for
that platform. The Game Boy Advance saw some truly remarkable titles, including
the Advance Wars series, three amazing Castlevania games, and of course,
pixel-perfect recreations of some of the Super Nintendo’s finest, from Final
Fantasy to Zelda to Mario. Who would have thought that one of the best games on
the system would not only come out right here at the end, but also that it would
be a Spyro game? But that’s what’s happened — Legend of Spyro: The Eternal
Night, from Amaze Entertainment, is not only the best Spyro game since the PS1,
it’s also one of the finest 2D platformers you’ll ever have the pleasure of
playing.
Eternal Night picks up where the
previous Spyro game, A New Beginning, left off. Spyro has defeated Cynder, an
evil dragon and agent of the Dark Master, only to find that not only is she
actually a child under an evil spell, she’s also Spyro’s sister. Gaul, the
Ape-King, has taken her place as the Dark Master’s resurrector; ignoring the
advice of his dragonfly companion Sparx, Spyro takes off into the night to
confront the evil he has been dreaming about. The story is remarkably
well-written, and even has some genuine laughs from Sparx. That said, anyone who
didn’t play New Beginning will have to pick up what’s going on from context, as
there’s very little recap of that game’s events.
The story takes you lots of strange and
interesting places.
Spyro begins the game with little
more than the ability to run and jump, but that soon changes — the tutorial
level grants you plenty of abilities that you’ll be using throughout your
adventure. After learning several ways to explore your environment (climbing,
double-jumps, gliding, and so on), you begin to learn the real interesting stuff
– combat moves. Spyro’s basic attack is a three-hit slash-slash-tail-swipe, and
that gets the job done, but then the game introduces the combo system. See, the
game tracks your combos, and much like the Devil May Cry series, the key to
succeeding in battle lies in chaining massive attack sequences together. Right
off the bat, you can do juggle attacks, charges, and aerial combos. Before long,
you gain the ability to add breath attacks to the mix (fire is the first breath
power you gain, followed by ice, electricity, and earth); you also gain special
moves, like dodges and wall-jumps, that can further mix up your attack
sequences. Creating long attack combos (and not getting hit in the process)
grants you bonus blue gems, used to power up your various abilities, so it
really pays to learn to chain long attack sequences. Adding more depth to the
battle system, enemies can be launched into each other, doing damage and sending
them flying. Enemies also have unique strengths and weaknesses; a hard-shelled
enemy might have high defense, but be vulnerable once you’ve juggled them to
expose their underbelly, for instance. The combat system’s depth combined with
the variety of enemy types (and the various strategies that must be used against
them) ensures that you’ll never get bored from beginning to end.
Get used to facing multiple baddies
simultaneously,
stringing attack combos between each.
Besides having one of, if not the
deepest combat systems available on the system, Eternal Night impresses with its
visuals. Characters and enemies have large, detailed sprites, and tons of
silky-smooth animations. Backgrounds feature multi-layered parallax effects and
a remarkable amount of movement — grass blows in the wind, spiders spin webs in
the branches of trees you walk past, fires crackle and blaze. All these little
details in the environment add up to make you feel like you’ve stepped into a
living, breathing world, with an entire ecosystem that you’re but a small part
of. Graphical effects are also common and impressive; crystals shatter into tiny
shards when you attack them (these shards restore your health and magic), and
while Spyro’s elemental breath attacks start out small, by the time you’ve
leveled them up completely, are awesome displays of magical power. Overall, this
game dishes out some of the best visuals of anything on the GBA.
Multi-layered backgrounds really give the
environments a feeling of depth.
Sadly, the game’s not without its
flaws. For starters, you’ll probably be able to beat the whole thing in an
afternoon, as the game’s about four hours long. While beating it on the standard
difficulty unlocks a harder mode, and this mode will take you a little longer,
it’s still a pretty short game. It’s also pretty easy to get lost in the
sprawling levels (especially the four Elemental Temples), which are vast and
sometimes have branching pathways. Expect to wander a bit before you figure out
which way you need to go.
But these are small things. Spyro:
Eternal Night is an amazing platformer with some of the deepest, most enjoyable
combat you’ll find on any system, let alone the Game Boy Advance. I can’t think
of a more fitting send-off for Nintendo’s great handheld system than this. Don’t
skip it just because you think it’s a “kid’s game,” because it’s not; this is
hardcore 2D action/platforming at its finest.
Review Scoring Details for The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night |
Gameplay: 8.7
The platforming is fun, but what really impresses is the combat system. With a
depth reminiscent of the Devil May Cry series, Spyro: Eternal Night gives you
plenty of options with which to trash your opponents. It certainly doesn’t hurt
that Spyro controls like a dream.
Graphics: 8.5
This is some of the most complex, detailed 2D spritework the GBA has ever seen.
Outdoor areas feature layer upon layer of parallax scrolling, characters are
huge and animate beautifully.
Sound: 7.6
The songs are good, dark-fantasy tunes that are low-key enough to not get
irritating when they loop, which they do somewhat often. Sound effects are
varied and crisp.
Difficulty: Easy
While you can unlock a harder difficulty setting, on the default difficulty
setting you can probably breeze through the game in a scant four hours.
Concept: 8.4
This is exactly the sort of game that you don’t see nearly often enough anymore.
Taking the best parts of the recent 2D Castlevanias and the Devil May Cry series
works beautifully, while still feeling like a Spyro game.
Overall: 8.6
An incredibly fun, beautiful 2D action title that’s deep and accessible at the
same time. While the Spyro name might make some wary, anyone who misses this
one is really missing out.
