Spyro Reignited Trilogy Review

Spyro was one of those franchises I missed out on due to being a Nintendo fanboy. I had listened to the games’ soundtracks a lot, though, so a big part of the enjoyment I got out of this Reignited Trilogy was experiencing the music in its original context. Spyro has some awesome music, by the way. I don’t know if anything else about Spyro would be considered as timeless, so the full-blown remake of these games is entirely justified. But wow, they really went all out. The Reignited Trilogy looks and controls great, as great as any other modern 3D platformer. I frequently forgot I was playing what is technically a PS1 game.

The novelty of a spit-polished Spyro does wear off, though, when you start to realize that the gameplay between all three titles doesn’t really change much. Spyro 1 was perhaps the most fun, simply because it was my first official introduction to the franchise. Spyro 1 is also the most streamlined, being a straight-up platformer with few to no gimmicks. Spyro 2 is where things start to crumble, as the franchise tried to pull a Banjo-Kazooie and introduced a lot of unnecessary and borderline aggravating mini-games. Spyro 3 doubles down on the gimmicks but is more enjoyable than Spyro 2 overall.

Frankly, this trilogy might have been too much all at once. I could see Spyro being loads of fun if you had 1-2 years in between games. Getting all three in a bundle means you can finish one and immediately jump into the next without missing a beat. Because the gameplay is so samey, though, the levels start to blend together, and the “you picked up a gem” sound effect becomes super grating. Don’t get me wrong, I still loved my time with these games and consider this one of the best things to come out of 2019. If anything, it’s my own fault for rushing through the games as quickly as I did. But it’s hard to have any restraint when a company gives you such a well-crafted remake.

Reviewer

Clark
I love gaming so much, I wrote a book about it.

Published by

Clark

I love gaming so much, I wrote a book about it.