The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night review

Nov 13, 2007

Don't be fooled by the cute purple exterior. Underneath the innocent looks is a lethal fighting machine, and Spyro's enemies know that the only way to beat the little dragon is to overwhelm him by weight of numbers. So that's exactly what they try to do in Eternal Night, which features a relentless, energy-sapping procession of weakish foes who will eventually grind you down when your wrists grow tired of swinging the remote.

The platforming sections are pretty enjoyable, with some parts making good use of the new Dragon Time slow-motion ability. Unfortunately, you'll have to battle through waves of bad guys to get to the best bits. Spyro can go into a furious rage that wipes out almost everything on the screen in one go, but the only way to recharge it is to keep fighting the normal way. That's where the unhelpful camera controls can lead to you getting smacked by an enemy rushing from some unseen part of the screen. You'll beat a big creature that looks like a boss, only to be greeted by another wave of smaller enemies. Grrr…

Anyway, if you can get into the combat groove then there's a lot of game to be had from this one. It's big, it looks good in a gloomy, spooky sort of way and Spyro fans with strong wrists should get plenty of value from it.