Definitely not an innovation in the adventure genre, but overall polish and well crafted missions make this a worthwhile trip into the Dragon Realm.

Is that a purple dragon in your pocket or are you just glad to see me? No, this is not a political intern’s sexual joke. It’s an introduction to Universal Interactive’s newest GBA release Spyro: Attack of the Rhynocs.

Whether or not you are a fan of Spyro the Dragon, you have no doubt seen his face on more than a few of Sony’s jewel cases. This loveable character is a fan favorite of Playstation fans (most of them below the legal age) and GBA fans alike.

In this latest adventure Spyro, Sparx and the Professor have accidentally created a hole in time and space between the Rhynoc and Dragon kingdoms. The vile and evil Ripto has commanded his minions to travel to the Dragon realm to antagonize the loveable fire breathing reptiles.

It’s all up to Spyro (and your finely tuned gaming digits) to seal the hole before Ripto can take complete control of the Dragon kingdom.

From a graphical perspective, Spyro is not bad at all. It’s nothing we haven’t seen in other GBA titles, but I was more than satisfied with the color palette and character animations.

This is especially true of Spyro himself. Although shrunken down from his normal console self, he is very distinguishable and is rendered well considering this is a portable title.

The background and level design are better than past games, but there is nothing here that will take your breath away. The landscapes are primarily presented in what us old school gamers affectionately refer to as ¾ isometric. This type of game play design gives you an overhead view that works very well in this series.

The object of the game is to traverse each map collecting gems and specific items needed to complete the game. Gems can be found by either smashing into, or breathing fire on enemies and jars scattered throughout the game.

The maps are much larger than I anticipated, so those thinking this game is only a thirty minute diversion are in for a big surprise. The actual missions themselves are also varied and will give your brain quite a tease.

An interesting twist is that in order to obtain the items needed to solve the game, the owner may give you specific tasks that have to be completed before they will be relinquished to you.

To help with these missions, the designers have given Spyro a hefty arsenal of moves that include different types of dragon breath and the ability to jump into the air and glide to some of those hard to reach places.

Since I have always considered this series to be geared more to the younger crowd, I was pleased as punch to see a new innovation in the way your character recovers after death.

Basically, Spyro has eternal life. The developer has given unlimited lives to the player, and if by chance you fall in the water or get electrocuted, Spyro simply begins back at his previous starting place on the map.

This was terrific thinking on Digital Eclipse’s part, as the sheer size of the levels would frustrate even seasoned gamers.

The control scheme for the most part is as solid as I have seen in a Spyro title. There are only a handful of puzzles in the game that will be difficult to master due to difficult controls.

A pleasant surprise though, was the diversity of the game play. I was expecting only a “collect-a-key” adventure, but also found shooter styled missions and missions that have Spyro running a foot race against other characters.

Earlier I mentioned that the ¾ isometric view was the primary gaming perspective, but it’s not the only one. Some of the missions (i.e. Sgt. Byrds) have an old school side scrolling feel to them and help to break the monotony of the standard presentation.

Other pluses are Agent 9: The Space Monkey (you’ll understand when you play) and the multi-player aspect of the game. You can either go head to head or work together in co-op mode.

The game’s sounds are nothing unique, but I felt that the music wasn’t as irritating as some other GBA titles I have played.

Overall, this is a solid effort from Universal and Digital Eclipse. I wasn’t prepared for the length of this game, and I can be honest when I say that this is not just for the kids.

The developer took the time to make this a polished effort and I have no problem commending them on their attention to detail. The single player adventure will last at least as long as the average console game, and multi-player will keep the fun going on those long road trips.

If you are a fan of portable platformers, this game is worthy of your collection. If you have gaming children, I highly recommend a purchase due to the ease of play and variety of puzzles.

If you have played through the Mario and Castlevania sagas, this may be just the medicine to cure your adventurer itch.


Review by Michael Harris.