Spyro the Eternal Night Review

A Potentially Good Nintendo DS Game Ruined by Design Flaws

Mar 5, 2008 Shawn Landis

The concept of the Spyro game is intriguing and Sierra expanded the story line to appeal to more gamers, but they should have put more effort into this Nintendo DS game.

Spyro has become something of a household name since its release, but one of the latest DS titles, Spyro: the Eternal Night, tries to take the game into darker and more serious ends to appeal to older gamers.

At least that is what the player is left to assume, as the Nintendo DS version of the game suffers from a number of design flaws that quickly cause a player to lose interest. It is not that the game did not have potential, but the designers needed to take more time to produce a better product. Spyro: the Eternal Night feels like a NIntendo DS video game that was hurriedly producted out to meet a deadline.

The most severe design flaw confronts the user as soon as he turns on the game and tries to play the first level. The game background is dark. Trying to highlight the mood of the game is a good idea, the dark background screen makes it hard to see Spyro's enemies and to find the puzzle pieces that are needed to advance in Spyro: the Eternal Night. Video games should be challenging, but the challenge should not be wandering randomly until the player stumbles into the pieces he needs to complete the puzzles.

The puzzle pieces bring the player to the next design flaw of Spyro: the Eternal Night. To progress through the levels of the game, the player must complete puzzles to get Spyro through to the next level or to boss fights. While the puzzles are more entertaining than the rest of Spyro and the Eternal Night, the designers thought it would be a good idea to take the player back to complete the puzzles before boss fights, instead of taking a clue from the Zelda games. In all of the Legend of Zelda games, a portal opens back to the entrance of the dungeon where a player can go out and prepare for the fight. The player is not expected to go through the dungeon every time he loses a boss fight.

Buy Something other than Spyro: the Eternal Night

While a normal review would include something about the storyline, Spyro: the Eternal Night is such a disappointing video game that most players will not care whether or not the purple dragon succeeds in his quest.

The boss fights should be simple, but actually seeing where the player is in relation to the bosses is difficult and poor choice of screen background colors does not help. The bosses can be beaten, but the experience of figuring out how to get past them is frustrating.

When looking for a new video game for the Nintendo DS, there are better games out there that cost about the same. Spyro: the Eternal Nightshould be passed over in favor of the less frustrating Spyro titles or other Nintendo DS games

Sources

Spyro: the Eternal Night. Sierra Entertainment, Seattle Washington. 2008.

The copyright of the article Spyro the Eternal Night Review in Video & Online Games is owned by Shawn Landis. Permission to republish Spyro the Eternal Night Review in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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