December 5, 2008 - If you've never played a Spyro game before, prepare to be confused as you jump headfirst into the third and final act in the Legend of Spyro trilogy, Dawn of the Dragon. This series reboot began in 2006 on the last generation of consoles and has continued every year with an ambitious update that advances the storyline and adds in a handful of new play mechanics. While the previous two titles were developed by Krome Studios, this year's version is instead handled very competently by relative unknown Etranges Libellules, which has stayed the bafflingly high production values of the series (it's clear a lot of time and money has gone into a trilogy that hasn't yielded epic returns) and enhanced some of the hero's functionality respectively. If you fancy yourself a fan of the platformer genre, I think you'll be able to appreciate the old-school controls and challenges that Dawn of the Dragon resurrects. But unless you've been with the franchise through its rebirth, you probably won't have any idea what's going on as you start the young dragon's newest quest.

Dawn of the Dragon ships for Wii, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 and, as you might expect, the PS3 and 360 builds sport the most visual polish, featuring more detailed graphics by way of crisper textures, more robust particle effects and through it all a better framerate. Yet even with a sloppier fluidity and blurrier model and environmental skinning, the Wii game still looks superior to at least half of the software on the system. Whether or not you are a fan of the Spyro character or not, it's hard to dismiss the smooth animation, excellent choreography and added stylistic bells and whistles, such as depth of field and bloom whenever possible. Third-party Wii developers seldom bother with the presentational niceties, like facial animation systems for example, so these and more are welcomed inclusions in Dawn of the Dragon. The fact that publisher Activision has put forth the cash to secure big-name voice talent for the game's characters -- Elijah Wood, Gary Oldman, Wayne Brady, Christina Ricci, Blair Underwood and Mark Hamill -- is equally admirable, the result a story well-acted and in turn more immersive.

360/PS3 screenshot: The visuals look pretty good on 360 and PS3, but they hold up well on Wii and PS2, too.
If you've played the previous two iterations, you aren't likely to have any issues jumping back into the thread. But if the opposite is true, you're sure to find yourself a little disoriented from the beginning on, as lead characters Spyro and companion Cynder find themselves tethered to one-another after awakening a three-year slumber while imprisoned in crystal. To its credit, the developer has offered some expositional hints at what previously transpired. However, for the most part you're left in the dark, knowing that Cynder has a dark side, but oblivious to the fact that she was the dark antagonist of the first game. You're expected to know on some level who Malefor is, why Hunter has come for you, and so on, and I think this is a shortcoming of the story presentation. You can proceed through the adventure without fully understanding the backstory, but having a firm grasp of the history results in an more entertaining experience in which you share more in common with the fledgling dragons I think Etranges Libellules missed an opportunity to more adequately insert newcomers into the world.

As Spyro and Cynder embark on a quest to stop the Dark Master from spreading his evil across the land, you will immediately notice the massive scope of the environments and the semi-open-ended setup of the world, an improvement over previous outings. While levels do remain linear in that you must advance to one exit sooner or later, the route you take to the point is yours for the choosing and Spyro and Cynder can move freely into any direction. The shape of the experience reminds me of classics like Zelda, but Nintendo's series shines brighter where geometrical-based puzzles, balance and progression are concerned.