Nerds That Geek Game Review: ‘Spyro Reignited Trilogy’

Written by Scott Murray

It would be easy to immediately call the Spyro Reignited Trilogy another half-hearted nostalgia cash-in and consign it to the pile of mediocrity that so many other remakes and remasters reside upon. It would be easy to do this, but it would be wrong.
 
The gaming audience has grown so large and gained so long a memory that various reissues of classic games are becoming almost standard. Where once you would have had to jealously guard your original hardware and keep you discs safe and secure if you wanted to ever have hope of playing your beloved childhood memories again, now it’s a much easier and more predictable idea to just wait for its inevitable re-release. Whether it’s a graphical remaster, an outright remake, or just a one-for-one re-release, more and more old games are finding their way to modern gaming machines.
 
Some of these reissues are simple, made in an attempt to reap some money from nostalgia with minimal effort. Others are proper updates or labors of love, and others still attempt to re-invent or update certain game features which were or now are clunky or frustrating. Still, effort from the producers is no guarantee of fun: even when genuine care and passion are put into each prettied-up pixel and polygon, the game itself might not be as good as we remember it when pushed into the harsh light of now.
 
I am glad to report that the Spyro Reignited Trilogy suffers from none of these typical remaster shortcomings. The remastering itself is a beautifully executed, lovingly detailed update of everything about the old games. Everything is prettier, more beautiful, and more detailed than you remember. The animations are gorgeous and smooth, and the absolutely stunning overall presentation really makes the originals show their age. There is an all-new soundtrack written by the original composer that is excellent, although I must confess to not remembering the original soundtrack particularly well. Whether this is because it didn’t stand out to me or my memory simply doesn’t reach back quite that far I cannot be sure, but those who do remember it can switch over to the original soundtrack at any time for an extra shot of nostalgia, and those who don’t can get a taste of the past.
 
Of course, the visual update is only one part of a remaster. How the gameplay holds up is always its own adventure. Sometimes game mechanics which were tolerable or even standard in their own time have become clunky or frustrating nowadays, next to smoother and more convenient systems. Some remasters will remedy these issues by redesigning certain systems, while others take a ‘warts and all’ approach that unapologetically makes zero changes. This second approach was taken for the Spyro Reignited Trilogy, but thankfully there weren’t many warts to come along for the ride. Although no game systems or mechanics were changed or updated to reflect modern tastes, none of them had to be; the original games were so well-crafted, so tightly designed, that they are still an absolute joy to play almost 20 years later. While some levels or minigames are still unforgiving in their level of challenge, this is largely due to their natural difficulty, and not due to any flaw in the design or concept. Many things were easier for me now than they were in childhood, likely because I’m older and more experienced in gaming, but others were just as difficult as I remember them, likely because I’m not actually as good as I’d like to be. The one minor quibble I still have is that some of Spyro’s comrades in the third game, Year of the Dragon, who you control for various side-missions, have controls which are a little clunky. That said, I would be hard-pressed to come up with alternative control schemes for all except the ray-gun shooting Agent 9, but choosing to update only one character and leave the rest untouched would have felt disingenuous and against the spirit of celebration carried by the rest of the remaster.
 
Summed up, the Spyro Reignited Trilogy doesn’t sound terribly spectacular: they’re the same exact games as they used to be but now, they have modern graphics. However, that’s really all they needed because they are, quite simply, good games. Being prettied up for modern screens was the only requirement to make them as relevant as ever, proving that good gameplay really is the most important thing in gaming - fancy technical achievements are only clothing. As long as a game can keep up with the aesthetic fashions of each decade, it can still please almost any crowd. As long as Spyro continues to get new clothing every so often, he could continue to entertain for years to come.

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