The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night
Score: 89% ESRB: Everyone 10+ Publisher: Sierra Entertainment Developer: Amaze Entertainment Media: DVD/1 Players: 1 Genre: Action/ Adventure/ Platformer
Graphics & Sound: The adventures of the cute purple dragon continue in The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night. I'd have to say that this is the prettiest of the Spyro games yet. With every new game, they've improved the graphics and this one is no exception. The cut scenes have also gotten longer and more detailed. The introduction at the beginning of Eternal Night is just beautiful, definitely worth watching more than once. So far, I haven't skipped a single cut scene because they're so interesting. The enemies are also better looking than before. They're much less cartoonish, much scarier, more monster-like. The character's voices are very well done too. But then given that Elijah Wood provides the voice for Spyro, Billy West (Futurama, Ren & Stimpy) voices Sparx and Gary Oldman is Ignitus, I would expect them to be amazing. The background music sounds like something you would hear in an action/adventure game. It fits wonderfully with the pace of the game, picking up in speed when you're in battle and slowing down some when you're roaming around.
Gameplay: Starting with The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning, Spyro became more of an action/adventure game than a true platformer. If you're used to the older games like I was, you'll notice that Sparx no longer symbolizes Sypro's health. Instead you actually have a health meter now. All your meters are located in the top left corner of the screen. You'll also notice that there are no more sheep (or other unlucky animals) for Spyro to roast into a butterfly for Sparx to eat to increase Spyro's health. Instead, when you kill enemies they drop gems for you to pick up. There are four different gems to collect. Red gems increase your health, green gems increase energy, purple gems raise fury, and blue gems raise your ability to upgrade. Upgrades basically make your elemental attacks more powerful. You can choose what to upgrade when you press Pause and choose Level Up. There are a few other things to collect in your adventures. Scriber's Quills (feathers) unlock concept art. Dragon Masks are really nice. A Red Dragon Mask will increase Spyro's maximum health. A Green Dragon Mask will raise Spyro's maximum breath. In Eternal Night, Spyro has to once again save the day. It begins right after A New Beginning ended. Spyro is recovering from his previous battles, but his rest is cut short. He is out of the main den with Sparx when he sees the attack. Spyro sets off on the journey to find out who is causing trouble this time and stop them.
Difficulty: Personally, I found The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night to be both easier and harder than the other Spyros that I have played. It took me quite a while to get used to the differences in the double jump, especially when time was frozen. I kept waiting until I was at the peak of a jump to hit (X) the second time, but by then it was too late. The rest of the platformer skills required were really easier than the previous games. I could figure out how to get to most of the quills with very little effort. There weren't nearly as many difficult jumps or flying required. As far as combat goes, there are quite a few more enemies than before. You can't get away from them by running backwards, so that you can take on one at a time either. If you're expecting a basic platformer, you'll have to learn to fight a lot more than you're used to. Eternal Night does not provide difficulty levels, you can't start it on easy to get further. But you do have infinite lives. If you die, you just go back to the last autosave point. Granted that might be a little ways back, but it is much better than getting Game Over and having to start back at the beginning.
Game Mechanics: The majority of the controls in The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night are exactly as you remember from the previous games. The Left Analog stick moves Spyro around the board and the Right Analog Stick moves the camera around him. If you want to reverse the camera movement, you can change it by pressing Pause and going into the Options Menu. The (X) button causes Spyro to jump. Pressing (X) twice will perform a double jump. The double jump does seem different in Eternal Night from the previous games. I found that I had to press it twice much quicker than before, especially when time was frozen, or else it wouldn't register. I fell off quite a number of cliffs before I got the hang of double jumping in this game, and I've never had problems with it in previous games. The Square button activates Spyro's breath attack. There are four different attacks that can occur: Fire, Electricity, Ice, and Earth. You use the D-pad to switch between these elementals. To perform Spyro's normal melee attack, you use the (O) button. Since you do have limited breath power, you're going to want to use your melee a lot. To charge your enemies, use R1. You can combine these attacks in many different ways to create combos. Spyro also has a couple new powers in this game. He can drastically slow down time for a short period of time. To slow time, press L1. Once it runs out, you'll have to wait on it to recharge before using it again. He can also release a Fury Attack. Fury Attacks are awesome. They'll kill just about anything around you. Once your fury meter is full, press R2 to activate the attack. I've got to say, I miss the platformer Spyro. I liked following gem trails, paying Money Bags for information and searching for every little hidden thing. But, I do also like the action game that Spyro has become. The details and storylines are much more in depth and interesting, and the cut scenes are great to watch. If you liked A New Beginning, you'll love Eternal Night. It's not like the original Spyro anymore, but it's an acceptable change.
-Cyn, GameVortex Communications AKA Sara Earl
Evil Under the Sun Bratz: The Movie