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Thursday 6 March, 2008
GameLog #5, Part II, for CMPS 80K
GAMEPLAY
During my second session of Eternal Night, I was able to successfully guide Spyro in fending off an attack from the enemy Ape army that serve as the villains of this game. After ridding Spyro's homeworld of the invaders, I was able to meet up with Ignitus, Spyro's elder and mentor, and progress with the plot. After several boss battles and cutscenes, Spyro is encouraged to embark on a quest for a strange tree that he encounters in a vision, as well as seek out the mysterious Chronicler who manifests as a guiding voice throughout Spyro's ethereal dream sequences. While the concept itself may be lacking in originality and perhaps taking itself rather too seriously for a game about a purple dragon, I must admit that my curiosity is slightly piqued.
Overall, the gameplay feels very similar to most other games within the 3D platform genre, with a distinct quirkiness and sense of freedom the promotes two-dimensional cardinality (in the ability to glide from platform to platform) that I would associate with playing a title from the Spyro series. Again, as a fan of the previous games, I am slighting disheartened by the absence of familiar elements of gameplay, such as the ability to collect and hoard brightly-colored gemstones for the sole reason of gaining completion points. Instead, however, players have the option of finding bonus items that unlock various goodies throughout the game, including truly beautiful concept artwork images.
DESIGN
While The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night is similar in most respects to the other Spyro titles, I think the design elements in this game (and, undoubtedly, its predecessor in the rebooted series) are a definite improvement on the original. The camera control is smooth and easy to use; the controller setup, while at first jarring in its difference to the original games, is very well-organized; and, as I have mentioned previously, the voice-acting is top-notch.
What is best achieved, however, is the way in which the game implements challenge by requiring the player to utilize Spyro's various abilities by managing his available resources whilst quickly defeating enemies. The elemental powers with which Spyro is gradually gifted must be practiced if they are to be used effectively, and the Dragon Time ability which he gains near the beginning is made instrumental to solving a number of puzzles throughout the game.
Another interesting addition to the game is the fact that Spyro can now reach higher levels in his skills by obtaining the equivalent of experience points, which may be cashed in for progression towards a new ability for one of the particular elements over which Spyro has control.
The level design is also worth noting, since the Spyro games have, in my humble opinion, always been a good example of effective design for a three-dimensional platformer; the floating platforms utilize Spyro's glide and (in this game) time-influencing abilities well in the context of a 3D environment.
In some aspects, however, the game is perhaps a little too challenging in that it requires the player to navigate complex levels at the same time as defeating enemies, a feat made particularly difficult by Spyro's limited magic points and restrictions on the range and effectiveness of his physical attacks.
My major discrepancies with the game in terms of design so far would have to be the premise and initial setting of the storyline, in which the Ape army begins to invade and Spyro is motivated to fight them in order to protect his home, a device used frequently by Spyro games in the past. The character designs, while largely an improvement on the old series, are also sometimes a little odd-looking, especially since Spyro himself appears rather more bug-eyed than he did previously, a feature which I feel detracts from his appeal as one of the PlayStation's most iconic characters during their first generation of console. Additionally, there is little variation in the challenges presented to the player by this game, since they all follow the same basic mechanic of gliding from platform to platform and smashing up the enemies that confront him or her with a combination of elemental and mêlée attacks. However, as a fan of the series, I must admit that I intend to continue playing this game to its conclusion, even if everything besides the voice-acting were to become tiring for me as a player.
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