It didn't take long for Activision to give the green light to Toys for Bob, a studio known for having worked on the port of the N.Sane Trilogy on Nintendo Switch, to tackle the first three Spyro games. Respectively released in 1998, 1999 and 2000 on PSone and originally developed by the talented developers at Insomniac Games, the adventures of the famous purple dragon will have marked many players of the 90s. Here, the effect desired by the American publisher is before all nostalgic and, undeniably, the scope of the marketing campaign will have proved fruitful. Spyro Reignited Trilogy intends to provoke the purchase of a whole generation of gamers in search of lost sensations: between us, they will find what they are looking for.
THE FLAME IS REVIVED
Like his marsupial companion, the border between remaster and remake is particularly fine here. Much more than a simple HD smoothing, Toys for Bob has opted for a complete overhaul of the engine, graphics and soundtrack while preserving all the key features that have made the franchise's letters of nobility. The report is immediate: Spyro has not lost its superb, no, it has gained hectoliters and is truly attractive. The Californian company chose the Unreal Engine 4 for rendering in 4K/1080p, running at a stable framerate of thirty frames per second. It is true that we would have appreciated a display in 60FPS but, very fortunately, the technical solidity of the title makes it possible to appreciate all the visual splendor without any inconvenience. It's simple, Spyro Reignited Trilogy is one of the cutest video games of 2018. By preserving the smallest details of the original art direction and by accentuating the details, the work of Insomniac Games is seen sublimated from the most beautiful of manners and delivers an ultra-comforting atmosphere of which there is too much. The colorful tones – fantastic skies, sparkling lawns or azure blue fountains – reinforce this immersion in a world halfway between old-school nineties complexions and the finesse of current textures. By meticulously respecting the level design, the location of all the collectibles or the precise division of the different worlds, Toys for Bob does not lose the fans and but welcomes them in games they already know and in which they will be able to find all their marks.
It's simple, Spyro Reignited Trilogy is one of the cutest video games of 2018. By preserving the smallest details of the original art direction and by accentuating the details, the work of Insomniac Games is seen sublimated from the prettiest of ways...
It is even impressive to see how scrupulously all the levels have been reproduced down to the centimeter. The steps, the gardens, the jewels, the buildings, the enemies: absolutely nothing has been changed (apart from certain utensils, firearms against paint guns, for censorship reasons obviously) and the level design from Insomniac Games thus proves its extreme solidity over time. The cutscenes have also benefited from quite significant work: it must be said that the work done on the characters and the animations is considerable and makes it possible to consolidate the universe admirably. Moreover, the resemblance to Ratchet & Clank, another mythical saga from Insomniac Games, is considerable once this graphic and sound editing has been applied, in particular by reinforcing the same schoolboy humor and by renovating the frankly funky musical themes. The developers have managed to work in the direction of their predecessors and it is downright respectable.
THERE IS NO LIZARD
For their part, the three games offer the same content as that of the original apps. Thus, the main plot takes Spyro to the breasts of many different worlds, themselves sectored by levels and focusing mainly on the recovery of different collectibles. In the first title, you will have to save all your people, crystallized by an evil orc; in the second game, you will have to defeat an ugly dinosaur (moreover the replica, before its time, of Emperor Perceval from Ratchet & Clank: Operation Destruction) from the world of Avalar; in the third, it will be a question of recovering all the dragon eggs mysteriously stolen and scattered everywhere. If the first opus turns out to be minimalist in its narration - there are almost no cutscenes - the following two episodes flesh out all of their mechanics, from writing to gameplay via general game design, more deeper, more modern. Be that as it may, Spyro Reignited Trilogy very rarely suffers from old-time problems, perhaps a somewhat rigid camera in certain situations, and thus offers immediate accessibility. A really comforting and long compilation, moreover, since it easily exceeds thirty hours of play to be explored in good and due form. A trilogy which had already established itself as a safe bet at the time and which confirms, in 2018, its inexorable sympathy.
