Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly GameCube game

Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly

2002

Overall rating: 3.5 out of 5

from 216 members

Your favourite friendly dragon first appeared on a little black PlayStation disc in late 1998 to an undernourished audience of die-hard platform fans. It was one of the first genuine 3D, free-roaming games of its kind for PlayStation, and its inevitable success continued to grow with two further sequels and a couple of handheld spin-offs. In 2002, and with GameCube in the industry limelight for its first year, Vivendi and Equinoxe have unleashed Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly. With peace finally restored to Spyro's realm, the annual festival of the dragonflies takes place. Grand parade floats hover in the air, and the dragons celebrate, waiting for the dragonflies' arrival. But unbeknownst to the happy-happy joy-joy fire-breathers, a sinister plot is about to unfold. Get to it, Spyro. This is his first outing on GameCube hardware, so graphically motivated gamers will welcome the fourth instalment with a certain level of scrutiny. It's understandable, but like its predecessors, it looks simple, polished, and for the most part, devoid of glitches and irritating slowdown. Imaginative fantasy environments such as snow flakes, rainbows, tornadoes and monsoons offer a variety of eye candy, and Spyro's new breathing abilities, allowing him to blow bubbles and breathe electricity, make for some nice special effects. Fundamentally, and a big coup for previous Spyro players, Enter the Dragonfly remains near identical. Gem collecting is as prominent as it ever was, and there's a whole new bestiary of dragon-esque monsters lurking around every corner, many of which can be disposed of through a simple headcharge. Other enemies, and some bosses, require more skilful action and the use of several abilities. UFO's, rockets and the occasional surfboard provide those quirky moments you'll find in all Spyro games, and the end result is a solid platform adventure that is especially well suited to GameCube.