Spyro Shadow
Legacy is the latest installment of the Spyro series, this time for the
Nintendo DS system. Spyro is on vacation, when a mysterious storm blows in and
traps his teachers in the Shadow Realm. Spyro will have to travel back and
forth between his world and the Shadow Realm in order to rescue the Elders.
So much for
the story. Anyway, Spryo: Shadow Legacy is the latest adventure starring the
cute, spunky little dragon. This time around, the viewpoint isn’t isometric,
but features 3D characters freely roaming in a 2D world. It’s also not a
platform game anymore, it’s now an RPG. Spyro gains experience by defeating
his enemies. These enemies are pretty easy to defeat and don’t offer much of a
challenge. The dual worlds of Shadow and real world serve the purpose of
having Spyro travel back and forth between the worlds, but there’s not much
difference between them except for the lack of color in the Shadow Realm.
Spyro spends
a lot of time moving around to different levels of height in the game on
ledges, but it’s hard to see where the ledges start and end, which can end in
poor Spyro’s demise. He gets stuck behind things, too. And, as too often
happens in handheld games, he just can’t jump very well. At least, sometimes
he can’t. Sometimes he makes it, sometimes he doesn’t – and dies. Alas, poor
Spyro, we knew him well.
The gameplay
is adequate, but not anything to jump and down about. At first it’s fun, but
it soon becomes repetitive. And, the dialogue can be way too long, too. Spyro
has his usual fire and head-butting moves, but he doesn’t actually have to use
them that often. There are a few puzzle elements like switches and platforms
to stand on, but they’re too easy to be much fun.
The game
looks really pretty. Spyro and his friends are oh-so-cute, and the backgrounds
are very nice, too. The colors are pleasing and fit the theme of the game. The
music is nice and cheerful, and kids will especially enjoy it.
Overall,
this is a pretty average game. The GBA versions of Spyro are all much better
than this game in terms of fun and action. While the game could have been fun
as a RPG, there’s just not enough to do to make it very interesting after
awhile. However, there’s nothing very bad, either. It’s just a very average
game. Young children will probably have a decent amount of fun with it, but
tire of it fairly soon. Older kids will probably not be all that impressed.
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Gameplay: 6.0
The gameplay is
fun enough for the first few times playing it, but then it becomes quickly
repetitive and ho-hum. There’s really nothing to keep anyone’s attention for
very long. The RPG elements seem like they would be fun, but aren’t, really.
Graphics: 8.0
The graphics are
nice and brightly colored. Children will enjoy the cute characters and the
vivid colors.
Sound: 7.0
The sound is
good, and not annoying as in so many of these type of games.
Difficulty: Easy
Very easy to
play.
Concept: 6.0
Nothing new here,
and the presentation isn’t very well designed.
Overall: 6.5
A wholly average
game that young kids will enjoy for a short time, but there’s really nothing
much here for anyone else. And, even the kids will tire of it after awhile.
However, it’s not a frustrating game, and it’s pretty easy, so parents may
want to give it a whirl.
