Spyro 2: Season of Flame
released on Sep 25, 2002
Spyro 2: Season of Flame is the sequel to Spyro: Season of Ice. All the old characters from previous games are there, with Hunter and Bianca, and the player can also control Sheila the Kangaroo and Agent 9. Spyro has a few unusual abilities in this GBA game, including a fire/ice breath toggle. Some items can only be affected by one or the other. Unlike the PSX games, Spyro is presented primarily in an isometric view.
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Not nearly as boring as the first and improved in some areas, but overall was a pretty meh game.
I went into this expecting not to enjoy myself after Season of Ice, but this was such a pleasant surprise. Season of Flame addresses pretty much every issue the original GBA had, and adds some new elements to make this feel like a true Spyro experience.
The gameplay and structure is the same, but level design is so much better, making it far easier to work out where you can glide without needing to stop every 2 seconds and pan the camera. The control is better, especially the charge which is now much slower and therefore actually controllable. There's now a map for every level, but I generally found it much easier to remember the stages anyway.
Spyro can switch between fire and ice breath on the fly, but there's also temporary power-ups for these, as well as lightning breath. I don't think these are utilised to their full potential, but quick switching to deal with scenarios added to the fast paced gameplay.
It's a chaotic game that never slows down, and they removed the terrible side levels from last time, replacing them with returning playable characters from Spyro 3, run and gun levels with Agent 9, and puzzle stages with Shelia.
There's so many quality of life changes, it makes the game an honest to god great Spyro game that I recommend if you're a fan. It's still got the limitations that come with this set up, but it's so much better - 7/10
The gameplay and structure is the same, but level design is so much better, making it far easier to work out where you can glide without needing to stop every 2 seconds and pan the camera. The control is better, especially the charge which is now much slower and therefore actually controllable. There's now a map for every level, but I generally found it much easier to remember the stages anyway.
Spyro can switch between fire and ice breath on the fly, but there's also temporary power-ups for these, as well as lightning breath. I don't think these are utilised to their full potential, but quick switching to deal with scenarios added to the fast paced gameplay.
It's a chaotic game that never slows down, and they removed the terrible side levels from last time, replacing them with returning playable characters from Spyro 3, run and gun levels with Agent 9, and puzzle stages with Shelia.
There's so many quality of life changes, it makes the game an honest to god great Spyro game that I recommend if you're a fan. It's still got the limitations that come with this set up, but it's so much better - 7/10
would've been tempted to go the whole half star higher and said it's better than Spyro the Dragon (and I'm still kind of leaning that way anyways?) but there's just that slow subtle drag across those last few levels that had me rolling my eyes just a little to finish. love it all the same though -- this isn't even a proper sense of nostalgia talking but it's pretty astonishing how I remember most of these levels top to bottom (more or less) from when I was like... 6 years old? I can't imagine I ever replayed this after 12 at the furthest possible stretch and that's still a good almost 14 years to forget. I just can't I guess!
Agent 9's levels all suck major ass and I do think the isometric approach doesn't benefit the hubs by much but this is a great game. would happily play again, whether in a couple weeks, or another 14 years. but I should probably take this as my cue to play Season of Ice, which I never managed to play before
Agent 9's levels all suck major ass and I do think the isometric approach doesn't benefit the hubs by much but this is a great game. would happily play again, whether in a couple weeks, or another 14 years. but I should probably take this as my cue to play Season of Ice, which I never managed to play before
Season of ice but marginally better
The enemies don't ever respawn so when you finish a level it just becomes an empty dead patch of land for the rest of the game. Very weird.
This one is really nostalgic for me. It is nothing special, but a really good GBA adoptation of the Spyro formula.