Gameplay
Spyro has a fun, yet simple, gameplay loop – kill enemies, collect gems, complete a minigame or two and progress to the next level. While solid enough on its own, the sequels of the past have struggled to find their feet with a new twist or gimmick on the formula. I believe Spyro 2 handled the new gameplay element introduction best by presenting you with obstacles you could not progress past early on and then giving you the means to proceed past these soon after (think swimming, climbing and the head bash specifically). The biggest issue developers seem to have is that Spyro has to walk on all four legs and cannot be allowed to fly freely outside of specific circumstances such as speedway levels or using flight power-up gates, this ultimately means that his arsenal is quite limited which is where the elemental breaths come into the picture.
First introduced in Year of the Dragon, these breaths have very edge-case uses such as opening doors, freezing enemies or catching dragonflies and vanquishing enemies. The main issue with the introduction of these breaths is their execution— usually, you only need to use them to progress past certain locks in the world that require you to, for example, put out a fire or short circuit an electrical lock, but they have so much more potential. If they were given or unlocked periodically throughout the game(à la a Mario powerup) and allowed more manipulation of the environment then they could prove to be a lot more useful and afford the player greater control and variety over their progression through a level. For example, if there is a small water basin that you can’t quite jump out of to reach a ledge on the other side, the ability to freeze the water with your breath and jump from the top onto the ledge is an incredibly simple— yet not utilised— idea. The potential for a properly developed system of elements is there, it just needs care and research to ensure that it doesn’t become a nuisance to the end-user experience.
Overall, I’d honestly be overjoyed if Activision reveal a new Spyro game using the Reignited pizza base and I believe that with the right amount of love and care (and with Toys for Bob at the helm) we could get something truly special, worthy of being ranked up there with the original trilogy. What do you think of my suggestions and what would you love to see in a new Spyro game? Let me know in the comments!
Video game completionist and 3D platformer connoisseur, Riley is a fan of the whimsical frenzy of bright and colourful characters that blessed us in the late 90's. Their favourite game's are Spyro, Persona 5 and Super Mario Sunshine.
