Spyro: The Dragon (PS)

It’s almost 25 years since I started using computers and playing computer games. Although I tended to concentrate on roleplaying games and strategy games, I have occasionally dipped into the arcade and played a few platform games. Most of these games were 2-d and involved jumping up and down on platforms, collecting jewels and avoiding monsters – they were generally fun to play but had limited appeal to me as there was so much repetition. So 25 years later and it’s the year 2002, my kids have a Playstation and they’ve been pestering me for weeks to buy them the coolest game out there. After several minutes of detailed description by my ...  Read the complete review

Spyro the Dragon is the first of a series of video games based around a small purple dragon. The story starts when all the dragons in the dragon kingdom are enjoying themselves when the baddie Gnasty Gnorc who was banished from the kingdom a while ago gets angry and turns all the dragons into statues and scatters them all around the different lands. But because Spyro is smaller than the other dragons, he managed to avoid being turned into a statue and has to go around the different worlds to free the dragons. Gnasty also steels all the dragons gems and eggs which Spyro also has to recover. You first start in the first world, the Artisans world is a home ...  Read the complete review

Ah the good old Playstation - remember the time it was the height of the games console ladder? Oh! The jealousy, the seething pangs of hatred towards those who owned one of these wonders of the electronic age... All gone now, I've got myself one of those new fangled things with PS2 written all over it, DVD (whatever that is...) compatible and with the option of going on the INTERNET! Well, for crying out loud, how can the PS1 possibly compete? With Spyro! The loveable little dragon with all the personality and charisma of a Tarrantino character but without all the gratuitous swearing and violence that usually accompanies them! ...  Read the complete review

Every console has its mascot. Sega has Sonic, Nintendo has Mario, and Sony? Lara Croft? Crash Bandicoot? The answer is that Sony doesn't have a mascot - even though Spyro could well be a contender. Platformers-wise, Super Mario 64 (on the Nintendo 64) seems to be the undisputed king of the genre, and the PlayStation has tried to come up with a similar game. So far, games like Crash Bandicoot have come close, but Spyro has probably come closest. For a start, it's completely 3D - you are not stuck on a set course, but are free to go where you want (within the limits of the world, of course). This offers a much greater scope to the game than most 2D ...  Read the complete review

This is the playstation game for people who don't like playstation games! I am completely useless at anything playstation related, but somehow managed to actually get somewhere on this one, which made me very happy. All you need is a lovely little/big brother to come and save you when the big scary boss people come along, and you'll be fine, I promise. Spyro is so sweet. He's little, purple, flame breathing and easy to control. Ooooh... and he also headbuts. The aim of the game is made clear at the start, but the basic idea is save the dragon world from the evil Gnasty Gnorc. He has taken all the treasure, and imprisoned all the dragons. Luckily for ...  Read the complete review