GamingMaster_76
Yellow Sparx
Gems: 1271
|
#179 Posted: 10:13:23 26/09/2010
WARNING: FIRST PARAGRAPH CONTAINS SPOILERS
Storyline- 1/10: It was a very bad storyline. There were just too many plotholes and not much unexpected. Everyone has the wrong personality. Characters do stupid things through the whole game. NOTHING MAKES SENSE. For example, The enemies free Spyro and Cynder at the beginning, but instead of giving them to Malefor or killing them, they use Spyro and Cynder AGAINST A GOLEM. At the very start. And the two have grown up- You can't freeze something in time and expect it to change, or put Cynder in a giant crystal without jewelry and expect her to come out wearing some. And the two were in a collapsed mountain, but now magically surrounded by a neat path. The wise Chronicler suddenly appears at the first Mana crystal, and quick as a wink Spyro and Cynder each know 4 elements: Cynder only has 4 to make it fair for Player 2, another plothole, and against the entire unique prowess of the purple dragon which is the point of the whole trilogy. They can't fly over a small, collapsed building but save and fly around an entire village in the Valley of Avalar. Malefor's whole army has changed in only 3 years, with almost no backstory... Seriously, only 2 lines about it. And they sage a war without any training. They destroy a huge monster's heart, but it doesn't die. Spyro and Cynder also don't fly over the massive Ring of Fire, which kills the father figure, Ignitus, whereas they could have saved him by simply flying over. They don't even know if there is anything over it. The main villain Malefor isn't like ultimate evil at all; he appears too shortly and is just way too easy to beat, not even dying at the end, just getting cast away again, which is a shame as he seemed quite menacing in the other games. The ending between Spyro and Cynder is also way too sudden, and not even one hint of their love is shared before that, other than in the previous games and a few stares and incredibly small moments. The DS version is slightly better in terms of storyline, because it misses most of the stuff that made plotholes.
Graphics- 8.5/10: The graphics are beautiful on both console and DS. The only complaints are that they need more detail on DS and they can be very unsmooth, as well as that, Wii version graphics are so blurry most of the time you can barely read the text. Spyro and Cynder just stand on air above the ground, and Cynder bites through her wing spike. Very lazy, but pleasing.
Soundtrack- 7/10: Lots of music reused from the prequels. Mostly orchestrated, overall themes are very nice and match. The soundtrack remixes on DS are very good. However, there aren't nearly enough themes, and they aren't suspenseful enough.
Control- 5.5/10: Controls are very annoying on DS, and Wii version controls are particularly frustrating, other versions should be relatively easy to grasp. Camera is fine on console versions outside of Wii, DS version is in a fixed position, in good areas, and you can go up or down with it.
Gameplay- 6.5/10: The gameplay had a lot of potential, but since you're doing the same thing over and over most of the time and constantly getting pushed down during flight(which wasn't implemented into the DS version in the platform levels), that's not really that usefully put in for actually beating the levels, it's not particularly exciting and doesn't give you much thrill. There are great elemental attacks though. Physical combat has a decent range of defensive and offensive attacks, and pulling off combos after grabbing an enemy is particularly pleasing with these.
Multiplayer- 4/10: No multiplayer on DS, though luckily on console versions it's drop-in drop-out... But horrible. You both need to stay on the same screen, and can get stuck at times. As well as that, it WILL confuse less experienced players.
Other- 7.5/10: Glitches are well polished on all versions, though there are a few notable and random ones. Voices were good and sound realistic, but some scenes have unemotional voice acting and lines that don't even make you flinch. Somewhat lacking collectibles on the console version, the DS version has nothing other than health and Mana boosting Dragon Relics, tough most are well hidden. Unfortunately, you can't come back for anything in the DS version. The design was decent but too different from the other games of the trilogy, and overall execution was poor.
Overall: The DS version copies the concept of its GBA version predecessor in a lesser way- A 3D side scroller with decent combat but an unappealing presentation. The console version is great, but has many flaws and undeniable, clearly noticeable plotholes that make it impossible to enjoy even if you want to. In the end, Dawn of The Dragon's verdict? If you hated TEN, or just liked ANB, don't bother with this. It's the game with the most collectables, the best graphics, and the largest areas... But it's mind-numbingly easy and has so many plot holes you cannot enjoy it if you try to. Just spend your money on something else better like the Gameboy Avance version of The Eternal Night or a Professor Layton game. You WILL get sick of this eventually if you buy it. On the DS, this game is an on-the-go, simple to play and pick up game which is unfortunately repetitive with more potential left unused, and on console, it mostly appeals in terms of graphics, design and abilities. Yet all versions fall in the view of storyline and miscellaneous problems with a side order of horribly easy difficulty. However, at least try it out if you've played either of the other games in the trilogy and enjoyed them. You may want to avoid this if you haven't played them though.
Console: 7/10
DS: 7.5/10
|