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Playstation | Adventure | Spyro: Year of the Dragon | Review

There is no Boxart for - Spyro: Year of the Dragon
Spyro: Year of the Dragon 18 screen shots
  • GRAPHICS: 4.5
  • SOUND: 4.5
  • CONTROL: 4.5
  • FUN FACTOR 5.0
  • AVG USER SCORE 4.9
  • AVG CRITIC SCORE 4.6
Winner of the GamePro Editor's Choice Award

Review: Spyro: Year of the Dragon

Review by HUMANTORNADO | 11/24/2000 | 14:47:41 PM PST

Spyro: Year of the Dragon brings back more flying and fire breathing action as the little dragon once again is on a mission to rescue the dragon eggs.

Spyro is back in his third PlayStation game! Spyro: Year of the Dragon boosts all the action with a ton of mini games and more.

Dragon Eggs
Yet another villain has absconded with the dragon eggs, and it's up to Spyro (and his mates) to set things right once again. In true platform game tradition, your main objective is to collect all 150 of the stolen dragon eggs by either picking them up or earning them by completing certain tasks assigned to you. The tasks and mini games are great fun, with a lot of variety between them. Spyro even has a skateboard park to thrash in! You also have to collect gems to bribe other characters; the gems are scattered everywhere, so you'll spend a good deal of time hunting for them. You also can add to your health (and lives) by roasting a few sheep, bunnies, frogs, etc. Overall, the game's difficulty isn't too high for an experienced gamer, but there are some very tricky spots. Luckily, the game automatically drops the level of difficulty if you get stuck. It's a sweet feature that will save you a couple of times over the course of the game.

The biggest difference in this Spyro is that you'll take control of some of his friends to complete certain levels as well as compete in a series of mini games scattered around the levels. You'll get to play as Shelia the Kangaroo, Sgt. Byrd (a flying penguin), Bently the Yeti, and Agent 9 (a space monkey). Each has different strengths, and you can't pick between them, since they're only available in specific areas of Spyro's world. Shelia's constant hopping makes her difficult to control precisely, but the break afforded by changing characters is nice.

Dragons Are Us
Controls and gameplay in Year of the Dragon will be familiar to Spyro vets, but there are a few additions. The little dragon has his signature flame breath and charge/headbutt attack, as well as a jump/headbutt move. As before, Spyro's tiny wings let him glide, but he can't flap to gain altitude. There are, however, some power-up stations that give Spyro a boosted flame breath or flying ability for a short time.

The graphics in Year of the Dragon are similar to previous Spyro games. The simple but colorful pastel textures give the game a distinctly cartoonish look. Character animations are very well done, and the environments are a touch more complex than previous Spyro games. The frame rate stays at a good clip, but there is some slowdown when a number of complex objects are onscreen at the same time, which isn't all that often.

The music and voice acting are good and have a pretty soothing and dreamlike effect. It's hard not to like Spyro and his friends, and the world where they live. Even the rhynocs (the bad guys in the game) and other enemies have a goofy and likeable nature. Overall, Spyro's world is pretty enchanting.

Year Of Spyro
Even with its very small problems, Spyro: Year of the Dragon is a great game and will give gamers of all ages a lot of entertainment for their money. It's one of the best games to come out for the PlayStation in 2000.