Spyro 2 Riptos Rage

All too often sequels come through our offices that just aren't really sequels-they're almost-sequels. Isn't that annoying? Well luckily we didn't need much convincing with the preview of Spyro 2 we recently played. We were able to see the additions and improvements to this particular sequel almost immediately, in both the gameptay and graphics departments.

The main complaint about the original was the lack of difficulty for experienced players. Well, if you were disappointed with the first Spyro in this regard, you'll be glad to know the difficulty has been increased. Novice gamers will still have a good time, but there's more complicated tasks for the hardcore gamer to complete-thus extending the life of the game further for those who want it extended.

Spyro 2 has loads of mini-games (like hockey and billiards), puzzles and over 100 NPCs to interact with (some who present Spyro with a task or ask for a sum of gems in order to pass a certain obstacle). Gameplay is broken up into two main objective types: Talisman tasks, the primary objectives every player will take part in, and Orb tasks, the secondary, more skill-based objectives hardcore gamers will thrive on. Thus, Spyro 2 plays more like a Banjo-Kazooie type of game than before-there's more stuff to do, and a bigger number of levels to do them in. In fact, there's some 29 themed levels now.

Fortunately Spyro has a slew of new ways to fight his way through these levels. He can now shoot things from his mouth (after gobbling them up), swim, ice skate and gain other special abilities (like supercharge, superspit and our favorite, superfly) by solving puzzles within a level.

In between levels, Spyro 2's story is delivered via cinematics using in-game graphics. From what we've seen, they're very funny. Basically, the story goes like this: On the way to a much-needed vacation, Spyro gets whisked away to a world in need of assistance. And since he's an all-around decent dragon, he obliges. So off he goes to fight Ripto, a Napoleon-esque shorty, with a staple of hulking beasts and other baddies to help him spread evil over the land. And the adventure begins.

When last w e left Spyro the Dragon, the spunky little fire-breather had vanquished Gnasty Gnorc and rescued the dragon families. In Spyro 2, he's on his way to a well-deserved Gnorc-less vacation--when he's shanghaied by the denizens of Avalar to save them from Ripto, a very evil dude. Now Spyro has to burn and headbutt Riptos horde through 30 levels of 3D action/adventure gaming.

Spyro will retain the impressively smooth movement he showed off in the original title; plus, this game will be seriously souped-up. Spyro will meet a menagerie of creatures this time, such as the Bone Builders and the Landlubbers. Moreover, challenges will be tuned for all skill levels, and though each level will have a primary goal, they'll also have at least two secondary goals for hardcore dragon tamers. For example, you might have to retrieve gems stolen by the Bloonie Lizards to beat a level, but you'll also be able to play a match of one-on-one Bloonie hockey to earn advanced power-ups. Little Spyro the Dragon looks bigger than ever this time around.

Overview

I think I was one of the few people out there who was not too impressed with the original Spyro the Dragon game that was released last year. I thought it was okay but just got repetitive and boring. Collecting gems is fine but I really wanted something more out of the game. The rest of the gaming press seemed to not mind this and gave it rave reviews. Well, a year has passed, and it is now time for Spyro 2. With the changes between this game and the original, I will now jump on the Spyro bandwagon and give rave reviews because this game deserves it.

Spyro 2 is a platform adventure game staring a little purple dragon names Spyro. This time around, it is up to Spyro to solve puzzles, kill bad guys, bribe people with gems to obtain new powers or access to secret areas and play a ton of mini-games all while trying to save the land. There are over 30 worlds, tons of new characters, swimming and new challenges that will keep you playing for hours.

Gameplay

This game is so much better than the original that I don't even know where to start. Well, that is not entirely true. It is very simple to understand why the new game is superior but to really get it, you need to know why I was not that impressed with the original. See, flashy graphics are great but if the game is not much fun to play, it does not matter how flashy the graphics are. That was my gripe with the original game. It was just not much fun. I got bored flying around trying to collect gems. It was neat seeing the new worlds but once the newness wore off, it was back to the same old gem collecting. Not too exciting. I have to hand it to the developers for feeling the same way and improving things the second time around so there is more to the game than just collecting gems.

The game is basically constructed in the same fashion as the original: there are different worlds which have gems scattered around. To access the worlds, you will find warp portals that take you to the different places. All of the worlds are huge, detailed and fun, ranging in terrain from mountains to ice to water. You will spend a good amount of time swimming (at least until water all of a sudden starts killing you -- more on this in the 'things I did not like' section). You will fly, glide, hover, and smash your way through all of these worlds doing more than just collecting gems, although gems are still important.

So, the single biggest change in the game was the fact that there are now multiple objectives in each level. Not only are you trying to gather gems, you are also trying to collect orbs and a talisman from each level. Usually right when you enter a new level, you will be greeted by a character from that level. The characters will talk to you and ask you to help them in some way. If you are successful in helping the character, you will be rewarded with the talisman. A lot of times you will have no choice but to help the characters because without them, you will not be able to access different areas in the world but it was still a cool addition that really adds to your purpose for playing through the levels.

Another neat thing that they added was that in levels, you will find other characters who will ask you to help them solve some small puzzle that will reward you with an orb. Sometimes these puzzles are as simple as figuring out how to make a grid of blocks all the same color and other times they can be something like freeing frozen Eskimos with your fire breath. Some levels have a couple of different challenges as well as the main objective so you never know what to expect. These things help to keep the game fresh and moving along and really give a purpose for playing.

Collecting gems, completing level objectives and completing puzzles would be enough to keep the game fun and exciting but the developers did not stop there. They have also added mini-games to help pump up the excitement. The first of these mini-games is playing ice hockey, which is a blast. Okay, it is nothing like real hockey but it is still pretty fun. There are other games such as target shooting and firing fish into the mouth of a statue. These mini-games usually rewarded you with an orb to add to your collection and do a great job of breaking up the action of the game.

One thing that I have always thought was kind of lame in platform games was collecting items for no reason. You know, collecting coins, rings, fruit, or gems. Sure, if you get 100 (or whatever number the game chooses), you get a free life. Whoopee. First, in order to complete this game 100 percent, you have to get each and every gem, which is no easy task. It will take you nothing short of forever to pull this off. But the really cool thing is that you can actually use the gems to purchase special powers or services. See, there is a guy named Moneybags who just happens to have all of the connections in this game and if you pay him with enough gems, he will take care of you. He can teach you a new power or he may grant you access to a new area. Moneybags always seems to show up when you need him most and is always willing to help if you have the gems. I found it refreshing to have some sort of motivation for collecting the stupid things other than finishing the game 100 percent and this was a great way to motivate the game player into spending the time to collect the gems.

While I really enjoyed the game there were a few minor annoyances, the most notable being the camera. While it is not terrible, this is a full roaming 3D game so we all know that spells camera trouble. There were a number of occasions that frustration occurred because I could not get a good camera angle so I would miss a jump or an action. I will say that it is not as bad as a lot of games out there but there are still a few issues. My other complaint is that they seemed to change the rules partway through the game and forgot to tell me. The example that sticks out most to me is that in the entire first world, you spend a great deal of time swimming. So naturally, you would think that water would be safe throughout the entire game, right? Apparently not because without warning, water is deadly to our little purple hero. I have no problem with changing this type of thing in the middle of a game but at least let me know before I waste a life doing something I have done a hundred times before.

Graphics

This is one of the best-looking Playstation games out there. The backgrounds are not very detailed but the focus points of the game are detailed and colorful. Everything looks smooth without too much of the jagged look you can sometimes get in Playstation games. Spyro looks great and the rest of the characters you come across during the game also look good. The surprising thing was that with the amount of detail displayed, the game never showed any signs of slowdown. Pretty impressive.

Bottom Line

This game may have my vote for platform game of the year. I really am impressed with the changes that were made from the original. The addition of the multiple objectives and mini-games will keep you playing for hours and hours. I was really surprised because I went in thinking that the game was just going to be more of the same and it really wasn't. I recommend this game to anyone who enjoys playing a solid action adventure game but I must warn you, it is addicting.