The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon

Far from the masterpiece it deserves to be

I actually feel bad for Gary Oldman, by far my favorite actor. Like Hollywood movies, video game projects sometimes generate enough buzz to assemble an all-star cast, only to fall apart in the final outcome. Such is the case with the Legend of Spyro Trilogy. It started out with promising verve when Etranges Libellules picked up the franchise and engrossed our favorite purple dragon in a classic tale. The first two games were somewhat average but they built the story up for an epic ending, and though Dawn of the Dragon wraps things up nicely story-wise, gameplay and levels feel rushed and uninspired. Like previous titles, Spyro again fails to leap into the horizon of fantasy by offering us a mundane title in a pretty wrapper. The all-star cast did their part but the game's designers seem to have run out of flame where it mattered.

Outdoor levels are rather poorly designed. Details are lacking and none of them give the impression they are part of a "real" world. This is mainly due to blocky and artificial layouts. Forests and landscapes look like man-made plastic mazes or arenas. All levels are man-made, obviously, but good ones don't give that impression - they are organic. It's hard to convey that feeling when the same giant boulders or trees are blocking strategic locations for the sake of creating artificial paths, which is the case in Dawn of the Dragon.

Cities are basically large square areas surrounded by walls and blocking volumes. After having collided with numerous invisible barriers blocking what look like areas you should be able to access, players will be conditioned to mistrust the very maps they play in, expecting force fields at every turn. Mistrusting the game you play is not a good thing. If that wasn't enough, certain meshes float in mid-air because of careless placement and many surfaces are oversaturated with lighting.

Stages are created around the tasks our two protagonists have to solve. This isn't much of a problem in underground areas specifically designed to be giant puzzles, but in outside levels this is a negative. For instance, at one point you must bring a raft to an injured character. To do so, players must first get a key from a hermit living in a cave, then use the key to open a door to a room located at the base of a mountain in another part of the map. The room's sole purpose is to contain trigger stones, which for some reason the hermit has a key for. The stones are used to unlock an ugly raft that happens to be hanging on a platform in the middle of nowhere by a river. And it should be noted that the hermit has no apparent relation to the raft... Everything feels tacked on and manufactured.

Controls are simple on the ground, decent enough in the air but atrocious while climbing walls. Since the dragons are linked by a magical chain, failing to attach to a surface or running along a wall will lead to both characters falling. And fall they will... often. Sometimes the dragons won't connect to a surface even though timing and positioning was spot on, making a large part of the game a living, fire-breathing hell.

The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon finishes the Trilogy with a rather disappointingly rushed third installment. Levels are unprofessional and puzzles are either too easy or made needlessly complicated because of gameplay issues. So what can Spyro do to improve future games? For starters, it should improve its level designs. They suck. They have nice themes and pretty concept art, but in practice they are boring. Secondly, Spyro should focus on "gamefun" not "gameplay"  it's the only way it can appeal to both the young and old. Lego games hit the nail on the head with perfect gamefun, where getting as much out of levels is what matters, not simply completing them. But that requires details and good level designs, something the Spyro franchise has yet to master.