Enter the Dragonfly was the first console Spyro game after Insomniac finished the original trilogy. Unlike the later Hero’s Tail which chose to shake up the gameplay and expand the character cast, this one hews very, very closely to the formula established by Insomniac. Some see this as a weakness but the authenticity of the classic gameplay hit the spot for me, and I enjoyed the game despite its flaws.
Let’s list some of those flaws, shall we? The game was rushed to meet a deadline, and it shows. Besides the technical glitches and agonising loading times, the content feels limited compared to the previous instalments. The levels might be larger and more open, but there aren’t many, and although a few NPC characters return, they mainly show up briefly near the start then disappear. Moneybags, for example, has to be paid off to create a path in exactly one instance early on, then gems become completely inconsequential as a gameplay element.
The major collectible (dragon/orb/baby dragon replacement) this time is dragonflies, which are used to open new levels. There was an effort made to add realism to level entrances, rather than having portals. The levels themselves seemed to me reasonable attempts at Ripto’s Rage-style experiences (the only Spyro game I have significant experience with), including the odd flight course. Taking cues from Year of the Dragon, there are also gimmicky vehicle challenges which are thankfully brief, and no sections playing as Spyro’s friends. As I’ve said before, playing as Spyro just feels good and EtD captures that feeling well.
Enter the Dragonfly is always fighting this tension of following in the footsteps of the classic trilogy and not quite reaching those sublime heights, while at the same time not bringing much new to the table to make a name for itself, or its few new elements being a little clumsy. For example, Stewart Copeland is back composing (good), Ripto is back as antagonist (meh), you unlock different elemental breaths with situational uses (bleh).
On the whole, the game is just what I wanted. I craved another go at that classic Spyro experience, with fresh levels to see and explore. It certainly looks much nicer with that cutting-edge PS2 hardware, especially for returning characters—the flip side being that new character designs are occasionally pretty ugly, like the farmer and bear NPCs. I acknowledge it’s got problems, but I still see it as worth mentioning in the same breath as the classic trilogy.
