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[Humdinger]

Spyro Reignited Trilogy is out today.

It's doing well in the reviews so far. 85 after 18 reviews. That will probably shift around, because I'm sure there are more reviews to come.

Here are some review excerpts:

"Spyro Reignited Trilogy is an incredible collection of games from the 3D platformers’ heyday, and a fantastic reminder of just how good the genre can be. The Spyro games were legitimately great for the time, though, and thanks to an near-perfect balance between preservation and updating, Spyro Reignited Trilogy is every bit as excellent by today’s standards." - Hardcore Gamer, 90


"Many video games don’t age well, but Spyro Reignited Trilogy feels like the game didn’t age at all. Toys for Bob applied the fountain of youth to a 20-year old series, and the little purple dragon is just as perky and fired up as ever." - Playstation Lifestyle, 90


"The new, vibrant graphics make Spyro a playable fantasy cartoon. It’s one of the most attractive kid-friendly games you’ll find." - Gamesbeat, 88


"Toys for Bob has done a great job of filling Spyro’s first three adventures with such reinvigorated life. Worlds are packed to the brim with more detail, animations are consistently endearing, and the quality of life improvements make revisiting these once analog stick-less platformers a joy to play. They’re definitely easier thanks to some of those changes, but no less charming to play." - IGN, 85


"As a package, Spyro Reignited is a fantastic experience, and Toys for Bob have done an amazing job in updating the series whilst maintaining its feel. This truly is a Spyro for today rather than a quick cash-in that plays off your nostalgia. Each game stands on its own as well as illustrating the development of the series." - The SixthAxis, 80


"It's great to see Spyro back in the picture, and with the remasters it doesn't look out of place in today's day and age. It's a joy to play, but the charging and camera angles let it down somewhat." - God is a Geek, 80


"The Reignited Trilogy is Sypro in his best purple suit, with a stunning recreation of his three adventures making you forget how rough and aged they’ve become over two decades. Its gameplay is retrospectively simplistic but still engaging, with only persisting camera issues and troublesome audio implementations getting in the way of a special return journey." - Critical Hit, 75


https://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-4/spyro-reignited-trilogy

 

[Yoshi]

I cannot believe that Spyro fares better than Crash, because from my experience, Crash is the much better platformer series and Spyro offers something conceptually close, but not nearly as tightly designed as the big N64 platformers at the time. So it is worse and less unique. The visual upgrade, based in videos and my experience at Gamescom, is pretty amazing though.

 

[Hendrick's]

I cannot believe that Spyro fares better than Crash, because from my experience, Crash is the much better platformer series and Spyro offers something conceptually close, but not nearly as tightly designed as the big N64 platformers at the time. So it is worse and less unique. The visual upgrade, based in videos and my experience at Gamescom, is pretty amazing though.

I don't think these type of nostalgia remakes are really reviewed based on their gameplay, as that is almost completely unchanged, but rather on how they have been face-lifted and put into a modern package.

 

[AV]

I cannot believe that Spyro fares better than Crash, because from my experience, Crash is the much better platformer series and Spyro offers something conceptually close, but not nearly as tightly designed as the big N64 platformers at the time. So it is worse and less unique. The visual upgrade, based in videos and my experience at Gamescom, is pretty amazing though.

Bear in mind Crash's score is based on 80 reviews rather than 18, and there's a lot of 6s and 7s scored by journos who either sucked at the game, or were people who had absolutely no nostalgia for the old games, which is basically the entire reason for these remasters. Popularity-wise, Crash always outsold Spyro originally.

Only managed to clear the first hubworld this morning before work, cannot wait to get home and carry on. It's absolutely gorgeous, and some of the complaints I've seen in the run-up to release are totally baseless. "No soul"? The new style adds a whole new layer of "soul" in the little animated quirks that wasn't possible in the originals. I honestly can't fathom why some people just wanted a glorified resolution lift when the originals play fine. This is Spyro reignited, and they've done an excellent job. I say that as someone whose favourite franchise is the purple dragon, if the avatar wasn't obvious enough. Some of the outdated aspects aren't going to appeal to new players, but that's really not who this is for.

 

[OldBoyGamer]

I cannot believe that Spyro fares better than Crash, because from my experience, Crash is the much better platformer series and Spyro offers something conceptually close, but not nearly as tightly designed as the big N64 platformers at the time. So it is worse and less unique. The visual upgrade, based in videos and my experience at Gamescom, is pretty amazing though.

Funny because I always felt Spyro was by far the better game. I always liked the concept of Crash and some of the later games were decent, but from a gameplay POV, we were playing Mario 64, BK etc, so Crash was way behind those games if nothing else in the controls and linearity depts. Saying that, I absolutely LOVE the Croc gaems and recently found out that a lot of people thought they were shite.... Perception and personal experience are powerful things.

 

[Yoshi]

or were people who had absolutely no nostalgia for the old games, which is basically the entire reason for these remasters

I would argue that nostalgia is not required, at least for Crash (I mean, hard for me to say one way or the other about Spyro, because I found the first one to be unexciting back then already and was an outlier with that opinion). They offer some pretty challenging platforming sequences with a lot of good ideas and neatly challenging time attacks as a new addition for performance-based play. Of course, if you are nostalgic for the originals, this might be an extra motivation to play the remakes, but even if you have never played Crash Bandicoot and play it for the first time now, you get two very good and one good (3) platformer for 40€, with some minor annoyances such as pill-shaped colliders. Giving a 60 for that is rough either way.

 

[Yoshi]

Funny because I always felt Spyro was by far the better game. I always liked the concept of Crash and some of the later games were decent, but from a gameplay POV, we were playing Mario 64, BK etc, so Crash was way behind those games if nothing else in the controls and linearity depts. Saying that, I absolutely LOVE the Croc gaems and recently found out that a lot of people thought they were shite.... Perception and personal experience are powerful things.

I prefer the direction of Mario 64 and Banjo-Kazooie over Crash's and in fact, Kazooie is among my list of 10 best games ever made (one per franchise, to curb Mario)). But it is hard to argue one of the approaches is "way behind" the other, because Mario / Banjo on the one hand and Crash on the other have so vastly different goals in their design. And in fact, Mario later evolved to be much more linear, similar to Crash, with Galaxy 1 & 2 and 3D Land & World. From my perspective though, Spyro had been thoroughly outclassed by Mario / Banjo before its release already, whereas Crash had to wait for Rayman 2 and Mario's more linear games to be challenged in its own field (and, arguably, beaten in it as well, but I am aware that others might disagree).

I also love Croc by the way. The first one had great level designs and music, but shitty controls, the second one had good controls, but only OK level design. I would have loved a Croc 3 with both, good controls and great level design such as the first game offered.

 

[AV]

I would argue that nostalgia is not required, at least for Crash (I mean, hard for me to say one way or the other about Spyro, because I found the first one to be unexciting back then already and was an outlier with that opinion). They offer some pretty challenging platforming sequences with a lot of good ideas and neatly challenging time attacks as a new addition for performance-based play. Of course, if you are nostalgic for the originals, this might be an extra motivation to play the remakes, but even if you have never played Crash Bandicoot and play it for the first time now, you get two very good and one good (3) platformer for 40€, with some minor annoyances such as pill-shaped colliders. Giving a 60 for that is rough either way.

Not required, no, but I still believe the main intention in these remakes is to play on the nostalgia the old fans have. Nothing wrong with that, but even better when new players get to experience it for the first time. You're also a huge 3D platformer fan, so these remakes will be right up your street. However if you look at some of the reviews, journo and user, there's a lot of new players who felt very differently. Same goes for these mini consoles; not exclusively for nostalgic old fans, but certainly aimed toward them.

Either way, it makes me really happy that at least some people like yourself who never played the originals are getting to experience them now and love them. Based on what we talked about in the other thread, I would still suggest trying Spyro 2, maybe when the trilogy is on sale.

 

[Yoshi]

Either way, it makes me really happy that at least some people like yourself who never played the originals are getting to experience them now and love them. Based on what we talked about in the other thread, I would still suggest trying Spyro 2, maybe when the trilogy is on sale.

If the trilogy ever releases in a complete physical form, I will definitely buy it and play through all three games. Spyro is basically the only major platforming series with outstanding ratings that I did not enjoy much and I am sure, as a big genre fan I will somehow find some enjoyment in it. In fact, I would have bought the trilogy at launch if not for the incomplete disc. But I cannot support the mistreatment of collectors (such as myself) by Activision.

 

[AV]

If the trilogy ever releases in a complete physical form, I will definitely buy it and play through all three games. Spyro is basically the only major platforming series with outstanding ratings that I did not enjoy much and I am sure, as a big genre fan I will somehow find some enjoyment in it. In fact, I would have bought the trilogy at launch if not for the incomplete disc. But I cannot support the mistreatment of collectors (such as myself) by Activision.

Perfectly understandable, I really suggest shooting Activision a quick email about it so they know what's wrong. It's such a shame that the disc/download fiasco has tarnished the game's launch.

 

[sublimit]

I am huge fan of the classic Spyro (i have all 3 original games both physically and digitally) but i'm not going to kiss Activision's ass and congratulate them with my money for screwing the people who wanted a complete physical version. Activision can go fuck off with their cheap,greedy,anti-consumer bullshit. They had one job and they still managed to fuck it. It's really a shame though because otherwise Toys for Bob looks like they did a great work.

This went from day 1 to day "10 euros maximum".

 

[CD'S BAR]

i want to get this but i fear i will get burned like on the Crash trilogy. Those games did not age well design wise.

 

[AV]

i want to get this but i fear i will get burned like on the Crash trilogy. Those games did not age well design wise.

Depends which bit you're worried about. If it's challenge, these games are way easier.

 

[FranXico]

5/6.(6), because one third of the content is missing...

 

[DeleteriousObnoxious]

Spyro is a different caliber compared to crash bandicoot, i find spyro games relaxing, non frustrating leasure of Way to be in a game World, you have some exploration that sometimes Can make your mind go aha, in that sense spyro could be compared to the exploration of original tomb raider...

 

[DreamsiclesPlz]

Funny because I always felt Spyro was by far the better game.

Because it was

 

[Humdinger]

Picked up my copy and played the first couple worlds. I really like it. It's very enjoyable to play. Beautiful colors. Smooth animation. Charming.

 

[PurpleDragon92]

On world 3 now, 100% Artisan and peacekeeper worlds already lol taking a break now absolutely loving it!

 

[Humdinger]

On world 3 now, 100% Artisan and peacekeeper worlds already lol taking a break now absolutely loving it!

Yeah, that's where I took my break, too, after about an hour.

I really like it. It's a really well-made game. I was worried that the gameplay would be boring, but it's not.

I only play for half hour at a time.

 

[Sub_Level]

Better reviews than Pokemon Lets Go lul

Crash and Spyro are back baybee.

 

[Secret_Lover]

I was watching my roommate play the first game for a good 40 minutes or so. Its got a decent set of tits but it also felt like I was watching the easiest game ever created. There are all these intricate looking enemies with unique animations and properties and you literally just one-shot everything by running at them. Not trying to come across as Mr. Hardcore Gamer but the challenge just seems non-existent.

 

[Kenneth Haight]

Can’t wait to pick this up. Have such a backlog so will probably wait until after Christmas when it drops in price a bit anyway. Looks amazing, and just fun relaxing running around collecting gems nostalgia.

I was watching my roommate play the first game for a good 40 minutes or so. Its got a decent set of tits but it also felt like I was watching the easiest game ever created. There are all these intricate looking enemies with unique animations and properties and you literally just one-shot everything by running at them. Not trying to come across as Mr. Hardcore Gamer but the challenge just seems non-existent.

Yeah well I suppose it is really for kids

Except all the kids from the mid 90s are now adults. I can’t wait to play it even though it’s a “kids” game.

 

[thelastword]

Better reviews than Pokemon Lets Go lul

Crash and Spyro are back baybee.

I don't know what people expected, the Crash and Spyro Series were always well reviewed.....The fact that their gameplay and charm still hold up today is testament to the devs pedigree even far back from the PS1 days....Just looking forward to the technical breakdown, I ws itching to pull the trigger this morning on Spyro, but I felt I would wait till the tech guys weighed in....

 

[SLoWMoTIoN]

I don't get why Sheila is now a full on furry

Then they change Tara

 

[IbizaPocholo]

 

[Humdinger]

5 more reviews came in. Still averaging 85.

 

[Humdinger]

Crash got 80% metacritic (PS4 version).

p.s. I'm still enjoying it, a little bit at a time.

 

[Codes 208]

Im about 58% with the first game. Fuck i forgot how hard this game can be, especially the flight levels.

Also... did anyone else look at the gems from either this remaster or the og and think "those look like fruit gushers"

 

[Gavin Stevens]

Not even 4k on Xbox Pne X never mind a 60fps option (after the backlash from that being missing from crash too).

Hell this should be 4k on Pro even...

What the hell is this? Tell me I’m reading this wrong?

 

[Gormless Noodle]

Absolutely lovin' it so far, graphically really stunning even if there's some slowdown here and there. Really like how they modernized the characters as well, I know purists might not agree but it was needed to get a potential hook on a new audience along with the old one I think.

 

[Tupinambis_WOT]

I cannot believe that Spyro fares better than Crash, because from my experience, Crash is the much better platformer series and Spyro offers something conceptually close, but not nearly as tightly designed as the big N64 platformers at the time. So it is worse and less unique. The visual upgrade, based in videos and my experience at Gamescom, is pretty amazing though.

Don't know if anyone else brought this up yet.
I can totally believe that this is reviewing better. Slight QOL improvements in the Spyro remake combined with the visual facelift make it an overall vastly superior experience than the original game.

The Crash remake looks amazing, but the way the hitboxes got messed with actually makes the game worse to play. I got to the second or third foggy bridge level on Crash and completely gave up. I remember that level being hard as fuck back on the PS1... but not like this.

 

[TheDuskwalker]

I was watching my roommate play the first game for a good 40 minutes or so. Its got a decent set of tits but it also felt like I was watching the easiest game ever created. There are all these intricate looking enemies with unique animations and properties and you literally just one-shot everything by running at them. Not trying to come across as Mr. Hardcore Gamer but the challenge just seems non-existent.

To be fair, enemies in a lot of 3D platformers like this go down in just 1 or 2 hits, even Crash. Still, the first Spyro was hilariously easy when it came to enemy encounters, but there was still some enemies later on that could give you trouble, especially as enemies with projectiles came into play.

There is still some solid challenge there if you want to 100% it though, like the flight levels.

 

[IbizaPocholo]

 

[TLZ]

Game looks very pretty. It's like I'm playing a modern cartoon.

Good job Toys for Bob.

 

[CatCouch]

Outside of the severe issues the 42 gig update is giving me, I am super happy with this! I love the new look so much! I've veered pretty far into furry art over the last few years so this is like Christmas for me~

The animation is beautiful. I let Spyro sit and spin on one of those rotating chests and I seriously just starred for a full minute. It's entrancing with the music that gets all fuzzy and reverb heavy if you don't move.

I loved these games as a kid so it's a joy playing and having sudden flashbacks.

 

[TheDuskwalker]

I hate myself, I went against my morals and caved instead of waiting until it was 20$. Between my love of Spyro, seeing everyone saying it didn't have botched controls, and then seeing a big cutout of Spyro in my face at the store I couldn't take it.

On the bright side I remembered I had around 55,000 reward points at Gamestop which has been unused since I've not been to Gamestop in 6 months, which was a 2 minute drive from the store I was at, so I used that for 50$ off of purchase and got the game for free.......and a free Dead or Alive 6 pre-order. Better than 20$....still feel dirty though.

Outside of the severe issues the 42 gig update is giving me, I am super happy with this! I love the new look so much! I've veered pretty far into furry art over the last few years so this is like Christmas for me~

The animation is beautiful. I let Spyro sit and spin on one of those rotating chests and I seriously just starred for a full minute. It's entrancing with the music that gets all fuzzy and reverb heavy if you don't move.

I loved these games as a kid so it's a joy playing and having sudden flashbacks.

Still sucks seeing that, I can confirm the PS4 is patch is 19GB though with the other 17GB of the patch already on the disc. Sucks X1 didn't get something to decrease the install, 42GB is just insane.

 

[ultrazilla]

Is it true this game isn't 4k/HDR? Surprised if true.

 

[OldBoyGamer]

So.... elephant in the room. Playtonic failed to bring back the 3D platformer... Crash took a small step further but still didn't get there if we're honest. So my question is... will Spyro be the game that reminds developers and publishers that 3D platformers are great and can sell a shit load?

I'm looking at MS for BK.
And I'm excluding Nintendo because of Mario.

 

[KyanMehwulfe]

just watching some gameplay reviews and i watched the jimpression or whatever, and man does it look gorgeous and i thought jim summed up why the og game (and this remaster) are such a simple joy to explore and collect in.

collecting in the og game always reminded me of yoshi's island and ape escape. maybe none of those, spyro included, while smooth and fun, were always just a notch below the very top controlling platformers. but they were such a simple joy to explore and collect things in. akin to trying to get every single star or level in the og SMW -- throw in SM64 and those are literally the only 5 platformers i ever really trying to perfect, and in each of those i did really naturally just because the core game made it so fun to do. jim summed that up well about spyro.

 

[TheDuskwalker]

Random glitch vids I've seen, some harmless and funny glitches, a few you don't want to happen. I'm hearing Spyro 3 has a lot of goofy glitches in particular.

 

[Ar¢tos]

Random glitch vids I've seen, some harmless and funny glitches, a few you don't want to happen. I'm hearing Spyro 3 has a lot of goofy glitches in particular.

Modern day gaming translation:
Gold = first beta
Day one patch = early access
5th patch = gold

 

[AV]

Crash took a small step further but still didn't get there if we're honest.

What? The Crash trilogy has sold over 5 million copies, more than some AAA games, including God of War I believe. It's insanely popular. It stayed in the UK top ten chart for week after week after week.

I don't get why Sheila is now a full on furry

The only thing that bugs me about this is that the whole joke was Sheila was an Austrian, not Australian, but they've given her the stereotypical outback outfit. Kinda kills the joke a little.

 

[Mattyp]

Funny because I always felt Spyro was by far the better game. I always liked the concept of Crash and some of the later games were decent, but from a gameplay POV, we were playing Mario 64, BK etc, so Crash was way behind those games if nothing else in the controls and linearity depts. Saying that, I absolutely LOVE the Croc gaems and recently found out that a lot of people thought they were shite.... Perception and personal experience are powerful things.

Are you me? Spyro was always a way better game growing up. And I played Croc and enjoyed in more than Crash also.

What are your feelings on Gex?

 

[SLoWMoTIoN]

What? The Crash trilogy has sold over 5 million copies, more than some AAA games, including God of War I believe. It's insanely popular. It stayed in the UK top ten chart for week after week after week.



The only thing that bugs me about this is that the whole joke was Sheila was an Austrian, not Australian, but they've given her the stereotypical outback outfit. Kinda kills the joke a little.

Its even weirder when her own home has all these Austrian sounding rams...

 

[thelastword]

Are you me? Spyro was always a way better game growing up. And I played Croc and enjoyed in more than Crash also.

What are your feelings on Gex?

Gex had absolutely horrid controls and cameras......Croc however, I don't know why this game did not get more love, it was an amazing looking game too, probably one of the best looking platformers back then....

 

[MrHeisenbird]

Curious how this will sell.

Crash had a lot more marketing and hype built up from Sony. Even with an Xbox version (lol) I doubt it'll do better than Crash's first few weeks.

 

[AV]

Curious how this will sell.

Crash had a lot more marketing and hype built up from Sony. Even with an Xbox version (lol) I doubt it'll do better than Crash's first few weeks.

Historically, Crash was always far more popular and the remake was always going to appeal to the nostalgia of more people, marketing be damned. I still think this will do just fine, but don't expect the same crazy figures.

 

[Ar¢tos]

Curious how this will sell.

Crash had a lot more marketing and hype built up from Sony. Even with an Xbox version (lol) I doubt it'll do better than Crash's first few weeks.

The whole Activision atitude of too-cool-to-2-Blu-rays or download-40gb-peasants doesn't help.

 

[Insane Metal]

Damn! It looks preeeeetty.

 

[HaveButOneLife]

They completely ruined the designs and charm of the characters for me. I want to buy it for gameplay alone but characters definitely built this series as well, and I don't really like the way it looks.

Nothing against TFB.