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The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning - First Look Mini Preview
Chris Leyton
17/07/2006
"Ratchet & Clank meets God of War for Kids..."
Poor little Spyro seems to have had his fair share of troubles struggling through adolescence; hopping between publishers, developers and struggling to adjust to the shifting demands of gamers. Unwilling to change the formula too much, Spryo's last two adventures have suffered from the stuck in time syndrome, refusing to move away from the safety of the kid friendly content that dominated the 90's.
Vivendi are hoping to change all this with the release of The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning for the Playstation2, Xbox and GameCube; literally ripping up the pages of history that were initially laid down by Insomniac Studios, before they became wrapped up in the antics of Ratchet & Clank. There appears to be some confusion that this game serves as a prequel to the previously released games in the series, but let's dispel that myth right now, Vivendi are hitting the 'reset' on Spyro as we know it, there will be no plot cross-over, no sense of continuity to other characters, a new story behind the origins of Spyro himself.
Of course after this change Spyro is still a purple dragon, his best friend is still a dragonfly named Sparx and crystals still play an important role, but that's where the similarities end as Vivendi attempts to re-establish its fallen hero. The term "multi-layered" cropped up on numerous occasions throughout the demonstration, and it's this concept that Vivendi hopes will ensure Spyro remains attractive to younger gamers and equally appealing to those that have grown up along with it - not to mention an unusually high proportion of the girls out there, when you're not playing The Sims it seems!
One area identified by the team right from the start is the need to improve the series combat, in turn weaning the emphasis away from exploration and collecting. With a variety of melee, aerial and elemental breathe attacks (fire, ice, earth and electricity), Spyro has the ability to chain attacks with devastating consequences, knocking opponents into the air and continuing the fight up above, with the customary slow-mo effects kicking in after a certain combo has been achieved. Switching between elemental attacks is handled effortlessly with the d-pad, which opens up the possibility of mix-and-match elemental attacks for further benefits. "Fury" moves for each element are also a valuable new skill in Spyro's repertoire, destroying everything in his vicinity and often leaving lingering benefits such as creatures getting scorched or electrocuted if they get too near to Spyro. There appears to be a level of freedom, flexibility and skill to Spyro's new regime, which should entertain newcomers and provide a challenge to the more serious gamer. Without a form of Z-Targeting the game could become a little frustrating during the slightly more frantic stages, however, the team are adamant that they didn't want to complicate the core control system and keep the screen as clean as possible.
Vivendi and Krome are also hoping to introduce further depth with the introduction of Lite RPG aspects. Each of Spyro's attacks can be enhanced from its original manifestation, along with the Fury moves themselves when everything has been upgraded in a certain element. The idea is to promote the ties between the player and Spyro, providing players the choice to customise the main character with a sense of progress sorely missing from previous games in the series.
Securing rich Hollywood voice talent such as Elijah Wood, David Spade and Gary Oldman is an indication of the production this time around. No longer thinking about a storyline at the last moment, Vivendi are putting a greater emphasis on the tales of Spyro's reinvented origins and into a more developed cast of characters. Undeniably a key area for a game's success as videogames and movies continue share inspiration, Vivendi promise the same multi-layered approach to the narrative as it has employed with the gameplay, which will be crucial if the game hopes to appeal to an older audience.
With the demonstration solely focussing on the game's combat it will be interesting to discover further elements of the gameplay, which will determine whether Spyro makes a successful transition or becomes yet another member of the bloated action genre.
With the reputation of a dwindling series to rebuild, both Vivendi Games and Krome Studios have a lot of work in store to convince gamers that Spyro is different this time around.
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