I randomly came across some music for the game (playlist of the songs are here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwxKCNXxtvw&index=5&list=PL7A307337BAD37B58) and man, the memories just came flooding back :').
I played this entirely in co-op with my best friend on his 360 back in high school and we both had a lot of fun with it
. Than after I enjoyed it so much, decided to pick it up on the Wii (only platform I had that ran the game) and I got 100% on that version . This game is a the third game in an interesting reboot to the Spyro series Activison/Sera tried to pull off; making this kid-friendly platformer into a grand epic that matched something like Lord of the Rings. To do this, they focused more on combat than the standard platforming seen in the Insomniac PS1 games (though Platforming still had a role) and made the story 'bigger' despite being quite small and generic.
The core gameplay in this one is a hybrid of God of War, the original Spyro trilogy and something similar to the Lego games. I say this due to the game having the most platforming/exploration out of the entire series thanks to giving the purple dragon the ability to fly at will for the first time in the entire series, the combat system being surprisingly deep with eight elements to play around with and the game having drop in/drop out co-op.
The result? Its oddly mixed honestly. On one hand, the focus on combat can become stale after a while and the story really is generic, so you might not enjoy it despite how 'grand' it tries to be. But they got a lot of big-name actors for VA though: Elisa Wood voices Spyro for example. Not to mention the visuals in the game really fit the grand scale; the levels are huge and the detail in the locations is just a sight to behold.
Lots of bright colors and it even looks great on the Wii (the first screen shot is from the Wii version).
The great elements to me are the exploration/platforming; it goes back to what made the originals series strong and while its not close to how fun the original trilogy was, it was a big improvement over the prior Legend of Spyro series.
Overall, Dawn of the Dragon was a game I really enjoyed playing and despite its issues, it still is worth going back to. Activision/Sera really tried to grow the Spyro IP and while it wasn't successful (sparking Skylanders to become a series), it was nice seeing them try with the IP
.For anyone interested in trying this out, consider giving the PS3 or 360 version a shot; easy achievements/trophies and the fact that you don't have to deal with motion controls of the Wii version
.