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Not a true Spyro game

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 60 / 63
Date: October 18, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I regret to say that I am very disappointed in this game. I've loved the Spyro games since playing the original 'Spyro the Dragon' for PS1 and was really looking forward to this one.

I will admit that the graphics are terrific and the voice cast is excellent but the gameplay is BORING! There's no collecting of items (other than collecting health, breath, rage and power-up gems) and there's no side quests. One thing I've always loved about Spryo is the sides -- the skateboarding, the flying challenges, the puzzles -- even 'Enter the Dragonfly' and 'Hero's Tail' had them and those games weren't very well put together. There are two times during the game when you get to fly but these are not challenges, they're simple 'fly and escape' modes -- very, very easy to beat.

This game is pure combat. You enter an area, beat some enemies, go to the next area, beat some more enemies, etc., go to the next area, beat a boss, free a dragon, learn some skills (which is annoying -- I get it already, why do I have to practice this stuff????) and then, guess what --go to another area and start all over.

On top of all that, there are only SIX very short and linear levels (there's absolutely NO exploration or hidden areas) and the last boss is no more difficult to defeat than the first ones are. There are no extras after you beat the game (unless you count an interview with Elijah Wood) and while you can play the game a second time while keeping your powered up breaths, it's not a true challenge mode because the monsters and bosses are just as easy to beat (easier actually because you have all of your breaths powered up the second time). So, along with all of its other problems, this game also has absolutely NO replay value. It's just as easy and boring the second time 'round.

So, great graphics, great voice overs, but NO FUN. I care very little for what Spyro sounds like and not much more about what he looks like, I just care about what he DOES and in this game, he does very, very little. I will admit that the ability to power up breaths is a neat addition, it's just too bad that there's nothing to do with those breaths!

I'm just glad I rented this game before buying it because I don't think I want to spend money (even though I own all of the Spyro games (the PS1 games, the GBA games and the other two PS2 games)). I would say that unless you are looking for a very simple, very short (it took me less than a day to beat the game the first time) game for a young or inexperienced gamer who loves cute characters (or you are a diehard Spyro fan who just HAS to have all of the games), DO NOT waste your money on this one (buy the original PS1 Spyro's if you're just starting out with him but skip this one).

I really hope they do another Spyro soon and bring back the Spyro I've loved for so long.

just like all other games

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 13 / 14
Date: November 07, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Okay, I'm not a very good gamer and I have liked that with spyro I could play a game where I did not need help ALL the time. But I just received the game tonight and was so excited I would have a game to play. But once the game got started I was bored with movie plays and then once I finally got past that...I gotta know button combos?...what? I thought the point of spyro was to give some of us a simple thinking game. Where yeah you have to have a stragety to get by and have tons of extra stuff to do. I really did enjoy running around and collecting gems but now to get anything I HAVE to beat up the bad guys...I wouldn't recommend this game to anyone who really enjoys the previous spyro games. No matter what you may think of the previous games...this new one is totally different where you actually have to know what button is what on the controller and have to be able to hit serveral button combos to by...this is not the game for me...Help me please...I'm already stuck!!!

Very Dissapointed - RENT DONT BUY!

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 14 / 17
Date: November 22, 2006
Author: Amazon User

So sad to say this but finished Spyro A New Beginning last night - clocked the entire game in exactly nine hours and 3 minutes - i was SO VERY DISSAPOINTED with this game. I have every Spyro game and can't help thinking bring back the old PS1 versions - they were fun, had mini games - Spyro TNB started out great and I thought "wow this is going to be fun" but by about half way through the game - i.e. four and half hours it got so mind numbingly boring that I just about packed it in - yes the graphics are great, yes the voice acting is great - but it is SO repetitive and completely linear - there is no-where to go but where you are pointed - seriously have a look at this game - hire it but DO NOT spend nearly $40 on what will take most gamers a day at the most - also please note I am a 40 year old woman and NOT a brilliant gamer but if I can do it in this time I dread to think how quickly a really good gamer would do it in. Anyway that is my five cents worth. Have a great day

Disappointed

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 10 / 11
Date: November 26, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I have been a spyro fan for years! I love spyro and always have. I didn't know they came out with a new one til I just happened to see it on the shelf. I got so excited! I told my husband that was what I wanted for our anniversary. Man, I feel like I should have went with jewelry. The movie parts were extremly long. One thing I always loved about spyro is that their was several worlds inside of 1 realm and their were always multiple realms. I beat this new spyro game in 1 day. I was so disappointed. Sparx didn't do anything exept talk and thats it. There were no puzzle games, no side games, and no fun. The boss at the end was just as easy as the very first one. I just feel like I got the short end of the stick.

A New Beginning, but a big disappointment

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 9 / 10
Date: November 06, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I hadn't really gotten into the gaming thing until I rented the first Spyro game (along with Final Fantasy VII), and it was the first game I really enjoyed. I liked the puzzles, the way the story moved, etc. I eagerly waited for each new Spyro game, until "Enter The Dragon" came out. It was really buggy, didn't improve much from the PS1 games, even though it was the first Spyro for the PS2. Then I heard about this new version and went and bought it the first day. While the graphics are much improved, and the "celebrity" voices were great, the game play itself is, well, boring. There's no puzzles, there's no real thinking involved. It's "learn how to push these buttons in this sequence and then go beat up guys until you've finished the level". Then you move to the next level, where, other than a different setting and (sometimes) different bad guys, you do exactly the same thing over again. I finished the game in a scant 8 hours. My 5-year-old son is blowing through the levels almost as fast as I did. He has trouble getting the button combos right, so I have to help him with that part. I mean, I know the game isn't really targeted for "old folks" like me, but my son is even getting bored with the game. Don't buy this game with the expectation of the great platform game that the original Spyros were. It's almost a FPS, except you're a dragon instead of some secret military guy. And you have a wise-cracking dragonfly voiced by David Spade at your side.

The game's newness will keep you into it for a few hours, but pretty soon the repetitive gameplay will bore you (or your kids), and you'll either take it back to the used video game store, or you'll put it away and never play it again. Very disappointing.

Very very sad

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: December 26, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Up until now, I have considered Spyro to be the gold standard of platform games. I have played all of this games predecessors more times than I can count so obviously I was waiting for the new edition anxiously. Letdown of epic proportions. It is obvious VERY LITTLE time and effort went into the development of this game. You will die of boredom just waiting to get into gameplay and then it doesn't even begin to resemble the style of the old games. It is repetitive and short. Unless you only get your kicks from graphics and do not consider actually being challenged as part of the game experience - save the cash and get something worthwhile.

Come back Imsomniac, all is forgiven...

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: January 10, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I have loved Spyro since first coming across it years ago. Sadly, the Acme was probably "Year of the Dragon", now three games back. I was disappointed by "Enter the Dragonfly", which was the first by the current software writers (it was short, linear and relatively unsatisfying); "A Hero's Tail", the previous game (and second by the current software writers), was better, though still no "Year of the Dragon". At least it was recognizably a Spyro game, with "Speedways" and other mini-games. I had high hopes for "A New Beginning", but these were quickly dashed. If the purple dragon wasn't there you wouldn't know it as a Spyro game. It is short, linear and dull. If I wanted to spend all my time hitting buttons to "whack" bad guys, there are plenty of other choices out there. Spyro was unique for it complexity, its mini-games and its engagement of gray matter. This latest incarnation is a waste of time. I'm off to replay, in order of enjoyment: Year of the Dragon (Spyro 3), Ripto's Rage (Spyro 2), Hero's Tail (Spyro 5), Spyro (Spyro 1), Enter the Dragonfly (Spyro 4). Maybe when I am done with those a few more times I will consider, for completeness sake only, replaying A new Beginning (Spyro 6).

Boring AND annoying

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: March 13, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This was the worst Spyro game ever. My husband bought it for me as a gift since I had always loved playing the series. Big mistake. Now we can't get rid of the stupid thing. Places like GameStop will only give us 9 or 10 bucks for it. I beat this game in about 8 hours. It had none of what made all the other Spyro games interesting. The graphics are nice, but not worth having to put up with the extremely boring gameplay and the voice of David Spade or Elijah Wood. The Sparx character in the other games is helpful and nice and you get to use his character for some puzzles. In this version, David Spade's Sparx is cynical and annoying and he doesn't DO anything except make wisecracking and rude remarks. Elijah Wood's Spyro is not much better...I think they just dubbed it over with all his whiny "I think I can go on" remarks from Lord of the Rings with Sam's name taken out. There are no puzzles, no side games, and no flying. No matter what new "moves" you learn, you can usually keep using only one "melee" attack to kill virtually anything on the screen, including the "big bosses". The levels are too short and there are too few. The last Cynder level is bizarre...what's with the sea creatures in space?? I was so thoroughly disappointed with this game that I will rent any Spyro games from now on before buying them. Stick with the earlier games. Even the first PS1 game is better than this one.

Don't even rent this, let alone buy it

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: July 30, 2007
Author: Amazon User

My wife and I have loved all of the Spyro games up until this point. Spyro got her into platform games and eventually opened up almost all game types to her. Spyro will always have a special place in our heart, but I think I can honestly say this is the worst game I have ever played (and I have played lots of games). The graphics are nice... I'll give it that. But outside of that, it is terrible. All of the levels are linear. No options, no secrets, no anything... just run through and press attack a bunch. No mini-games, no eggs, no gems to collect, no fun. Noticed something odd, it's like they tried to make it like God of War. Power ups in the same way, melee based (Spyro's tail swipe looks oddly like flailing your daggers in GOW), even a weird level at the end that requires lots of jumping. The worst part of it is, there are only like 5 enemies in the whole game. You fight monkeys. Then monkeys. Then monkeys. All are the same... some are made bigger and in each level they have on a new jacket or gear or something. They keep attacking and attacking and attacking... nothing exciting, they just keep attacking. My wife and I said we wouldn't go on with our day until we finished this stupid game. My goodness, it is just terrible. I can't imagine anyone enjoying it. I can't imagine anyone who made it thinking highly of it. Then they even leave the end open. I hope they will either put Spyro out of his misery, or... hmmm... sorry we loves the guy, but I think this game really killed him off.

Spyro A New Beginning

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 8
Date: November 22, 2006
Author: Amazon User

When I first got this game, I was amazed, the graphics and sound are fabulous compared to the old Spyro games. Although this game is very short, it took me only a few hours to beat it, it is much better then the old Spyro games. In the old games, it only took one hit to kill every monster other then bosses and it was long and dull, in this game, staying alive is much more of a challenge.
Some things that Spyro fans may be pleased to know is that Spyro has four basic breath attacks of Fire, Ice, Lighting, and Earth. He also has missle attacks... and best yet, he can actually FLY. Unfortunatley, it doesn't allow Spyro to fly all the time.
Overall, I was dissapointed at the shortness of this game, but other then that it was great. It seems that whoever makes these games is making them shorter and shorter so that they don't have to put much effort into it. Seriously, look at the length of the Playstation One games, not just Spyro but other things like Digimon World 2... and now the new games are so short. The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy game that came out is even shorter then this one.

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