Review: Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning (PS2)

It's quite telling that the three PSone Spyros are still far better than any of the many sequels (and this prequel). Spyro was among the best of the best on a 32-bit machine, but the wee beastie just doesn't have what it takes to remain a platforming icon for this generation (plus the appeal and novelty of playing as a cute baby dragon has completely worn off). A New Beginning is in some ways an admirable and brave attempt by Krome to move the series onward, but it falls flat.

As suggested by the title and Spyro's even more creepily doe-eyed appearance, A New Beginning is a prequel to the very first Spyro the Dragon. This means that for the first time since Spyro 1 there's no UFO-piloting nonsense or that annoying halfwit Hunter the cheetah. Initially, Gamestyle was enthralled by this old-school return to the roots of Spyro, but as we played on we became more and more disappointed, thinking "is that it?" once we'd finished.

The changes to the game are quite bold. It tries much harder to be more like a film, with more sweeping and epic music and cutscenes; the intro being like something out of a fairly low-budget cgi film. A starry cast has been wheeled in to supply the voices, with Elijah Wood as Spyro and Gary Oldman as the wise old dragon Ignitus, and Spyro now has melee moves besides nutting things with his horns, plus the ability to chain these moves together; both with each other and with his new breath powers. As a fan of the early Spyros, Gamestyle was understandably pretty excited by all this.

To imagine what happened next, think of a game you rather like, and would happily pick up a sequel to. Imagine playing said sequel to find it's more of the same, and 98% of the enemies are just standard grunts. There's only one kind of enemy in A New Beginning, they being chattering baboons in the service of Spyro's evil sister Cynder. Times must be hard for evil geniuses if that's the best they can get from Goons R Us. There are a few big bugs that get in your way too, but they seem to be in the wrong place at the wrong time rather than on Cynder's payroll. It makes the game feel as though it's still in a test phase, with the enemies just in as filler until more character models can be made.

It all starts off so promisingly, with a romp in the sun-dappled forests of Spyro's home, followed by a trip to the training arena to learn all the new ways of flinging baddies around. Then there's an on-rails flying section to get to the obligatory ice level, which is actually fairly atmospheric. After laughing at the pitifully easy boss, you then get to go to Generic Jungle, Staple Lava Fields and Cliched Chaos Realm. And that's it, all in under 6 hours - though it would have been less if not for the needlessly respawning waves of enemies, all of whom must be defeated before you can enter the next room. Perhaps Gamestyle is being harsh for criticising a title aimed at 8-12 year-olds as being too easy, but we've not met any 8-12 year-olds who would put up with such repetition and seen-it-all-before-ness. We're also fairly sure even they would spot the trick of having short levels made to seem long by having too many enemies.

Your reward for sticking it out is an interview with Elijah Wood, in which he does nothing but state the obvious and try to endear himself to the player by constantly mentioning that he's a gamer himself. And you can begin a new game with all the breath powers unlocked right from the start. Oh, Sierra, wiz zees you are really spoiling uz!

This game still manages to be on the higher side of average, thanks to the thought that's gone into the ideas behind it - it's a genuine attempt to claw back the brand from the tarnished image its mediocre titles have earned it. Where it fails it's merely bland and tired rather than incompetently put together. Like the first game, A New Beginning is charming and polished but devoid of any depth. The difference is that it was new and exciting the first time around. Now it's just sad, like a prize fighter still fumbling his way along long after he should have retired. Your time is over, Spyro - be a ducky and take Crash Bandicoot with you, would you?

Rating: 6 / 10

Words by Anna Ghislaine