My review of the first GBA Spyro game is required reading, as this is very much an iterative sequel. The iterations were welcome though, for the most part!
Most of my criticisms from Season of Ice were addressed. I rarely got lost, as many of the stages have distinctive layouts that lead to confident and engaging exploration; better than that though, there’s now an in-game map function! Achievements within a level now don’t reset to zero upon death, plus there’re checkpoints now, much appreciated! I didn’t feel as hampered with my movement, which is also down to map design. Also, the tedious Sparx top-down shooter and “speedway” levels were removed; however, in their place we have tile-based isometric stages with Sheila and sidescrolling platform shooter stages with Agent 9. They’re better but still not as fun as playing with Spyro.
Other new features include a pinch of ability unlocks, which necessitates a soupcon of backtracking. Maps now have small sub-areas. And Spyro has fire and ice breaths to toggle between, plus powered-up versions and lightning through timed gates. None of these are mind-blowing but they add complexity, so the game ends up feeling a bit richer.
While SoI had a new villain, SoF falls back on bringing back Ripto, whatever. Hunter and Bianca are back, fine, and the various stages have a nice variety of NPCs, a choice few returning from SoF. The different level themes were fun, with the exception of the slightly racist “Irish” and “Gypsy” levels. Hrm. The major collectible this time around is fireflies, whose names are all based on heat-related words.
Not much else to say on this one. The big changes are the game being more diligent with saving your progress within levels, and the map design being friendlier. I’d go as far as to say these almost make it worth skipping the first game and jumping into this one, as they fundamentally further the fun factor. My main regret is the choice to bring back Ripto instead of being more original. Oh well. It’s still quite good!
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