The Legend of Spyro Dawn of the Dragon

Some games start off gradually in the hopes of getting players acclimated to a new world, others start off with a bang. The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon seems to want to impress its players from the very beginning and starts new players off with a wild ride they’ll never forget.

This is the third and final game in the Legend of Spyro series, and the developers seemed determined to make it as exciting as possible.

Excellent graphics and audio

One of the first things you notice as you enter the game is the beautiful graphics. The game is stunningly detailed, while still holding true to a traditional 3D gaming style. It’s clear some thought was put into the graphics, and the audio is equally well done. Voice actors include Elijah Wood, Gary Oldman, and Christina Ricci. They work together to give life to these characters.

Hack-n-slash style

The game is a mix of action and platformer and has quite a lot of hack-n-slash action to go with it. You’ll often find yourself combating wave after wave of enemies including a final, huge boss. If you’ve ever played God of War, you’ll find the set up quite similar.

Frustrating game mechanics

Unfortunately, Dawn of the Dragon has some flaws that detract from the game. The most frustrating aspect of the game is with flight. The game allows you a huge amount of freedom in terms of how high you can go and where you can fly, but this is often changed in confusing ways.

For an example, you can fly up a cliff face in one direction, but if you try and fly back the exact same way you’ll end up getting pushed down by unseen forces. This can get very annoying after a while since you never know when you will get pushed by an invisible wall.

Another problem is a design of the game, but can get very annoying after a while. In the beginning of the game you learn that you are chained to another character. You can never be too far from the other character without getting yanked back.

This essentially means you have to switch between two characters when climbing cliffs to avoid being yanked back over the side. This is especially frustrating during platformer sequences. The character you’re not controlling is controlled by AI, which typically means you get clotheslined semi-regularly trying to pass through these sequences.

Pros:

• Well thought out graphics
• Big name voice cast
• Both action and platforming sequences
• Open world for flight

Cons:

• Invisible walls
• Frustrating game mechanics