Spyro returns, again, and with absolutely nothing new to offer. The Spyro franchise debuted on September 10, 1998 with ?Spyro the Dragon? for the Playstation. It was a hit. Over the next ten years, Spyro sequels would continue to be released across many different platforms. In 2006, Spyro: A New Beginning kicked off a completely different storyline for the series. The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night continues the new storyline, and the seemingly inescapable Spyro tradition of showing absolutely no improvement over previous installments.

The Eternal Night opens with a beautifully rendered flashback to the previous game and then drops you into a ?Wii-esque? world with sprite-looking fire and post-N64 presentation. Suddenly, the exceptional voice acting and pre-rendered cut scenes fade from your mind as the disappointing graphics take hold. You begin your mission searching for Cynder, the gigantic evil dragon from A New Beginning, in a garden full of frustrating puzzles and enemies. The dimly lit platforms are plagued by annoying ranged attacks that freeze you and knock you backwards resulting in death or severe injury. The rest of the game is spent searching for a tree Spyro saw in a dream and saving the world from a kingdom of evil apes. The longer you play, the harder it is to shake the feeling that The Eternal Night is somewhat like a ?Lord of the Rings? rip-off.

Spyro keeps up its E 10+ rating from the last game, A New Beginning. As always, Spyro?s language stays clean and the violence is very unrealistic and almost comical at times. As far as the inclusion of magic, Spyro?s powers, mastery of time and elements, are magically induced. In keeping with tradition, The Eternal Night is a very kid-friendly game, but unfortunately, in the end, the epic score and fun combat aren?t nearly enough to save The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night from its annoying control system, painfully frustrating movement, cheap presentation, and poorly written storyline.

» By Daniel Straite, Plain Games. Published 2/11/2008 11:53:33 AM.