This review contains spoilers
The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning takes the iconic purple dragon and puts them in a 2006 reboot. With the main idea being that Spyro is a purple dragon spoken of in prophecy, able to master all 4 elements and save the world...or something like that.
Story
While the story is often viewed as the main selling point for the game, mainly due to the large amount of cutscenes and the talented voice cast, the game hardly takes advantage of it throughout the runtime. The main antagonist, Cynder, is often presented as this dangerous figure in the background who you only face at the final stretch of the game.
The ending is also not really my favorite for how all the elder dragons have lost their powers, Spyro lost his powers, the world is still under control of the dark army, and the true antagonist essentially won out in the end. Leading to a bittersweet ending that ends on a cliff hanger for the next game.
Gameplay
In terms of gameplay, the combat is rather unique. Having combo strings, launchers, and utilizing the 4 elements for utility. Being able to freeze enemies to turn them into snowballs and roll them off the map is pretty funny.
There's also some platforming and gliding sprinkled in, which I think is nice thanks to Spyro's new ability to climb ledges. Though this is also the same game that decided to add fall damage as well. Very minor, but does lead to this hilarious challenge to die in the starting area.
Annoyances
While the gameplay can be pretty fun, it does have some annoyances that do make replaying it a bit difficult. The camera is inverted on both axis, and you can only invert it up and down. Its also prone to getting caught on the environment, which can be annoying for one or two segments.
The game's difficulty is pretty laughable at times. Most of this is thanks to the game having hardly any punishment for dying. At worst you have to redo a phase of the boss fight, and at best you just respawn a few steps away from the fight and get to try again.
The linear nature really hurts the game's potential replay value. There are no major collectibles to look out for in the slightest, so exploration is only really for gems to level up abilities. Which also means the incentive to try New Game Plus is also hindered.
The real killer of replaying the game comes from cutscenes and tutorials. You can skip most cutscenes, but FMVs are very much unskippable. The tutorials also can't be skipped, even on New Game Plus, which makes the opening segment a real slog.
Final Thoughts
I believe A New Beginning and the Trilogy as a whole should be experienced if you're interested, but just know that the story won't be winning any awards and the gameplay is teetering on forgettable.
Story
While the story is often viewed as the main selling point for the game, mainly due to the large amount of cutscenes and the talented voice cast, the game hardly takes advantage of it throughout the runtime. The main antagonist, Cynder, is often presented as this dangerous figure in the background who you only face at the final stretch of the game.
The ending is also not really my favorite for how all the elder dragons have lost their powers, Spyro lost his powers, the world is still under control of the dark army, and the true antagonist essentially won out in the end. Leading to a bittersweet ending that ends on a cliff hanger for the next game.
Gameplay
In terms of gameplay, the combat is rather unique. Having combo strings, launchers, and utilizing the 4 elements for utility. Being able to freeze enemies to turn them into snowballs and roll them off the map is pretty funny.
There's also some platforming and gliding sprinkled in, which I think is nice thanks to Spyro's new ability to climb ledges. Though this is also the same game that decided to add fall damage as well. Very minor, but does lead to this hilarious challenge to die in the starting area.
Annoyances
While the gameplay can be pretty fun, it does have some annoyances that do make replaying it a bit difficult. The camera is inverted on both axis, and you can only invert it up and down. Its also prone to getting caught on the environment, which can be annoying for one or two segments.
The game's difficulty is pretty laughable at times. Most of this is thanks to the game having hardly any punishment for dying. At worst you have to redo a phase of the boss fight, and at best you just respawn a few steps away from the fight and get to try again.
The linear nature really hurts the game's potential replay value. There are no major collectibles to look out for in the slightest, so exploration is only really for gems to level up abilities. Which also means the incentive to try New Game Plus is also hindered.
The real killer of replaying the game comes from cutscenes and tutorials. You can skip most cutscenes, but FMVs are very much unskippable. The tutorials also can't be skipped, even on New Game Plus, which makes the opening segment a real slog.
Final Thoughts
I believe A New Beginning and the Trilogy as a whole should be experienced if you're interested, but just know that the story won't be winning any awards and the gameplay is teetering on forgettable.