Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage

The little dragon that could is fully revamped and improved in this huge, deep adventure.

Spyro may appeal to little kids with his cute features, stubby body, and pre-adolescent voice, but this sequel isn't just for kids. Spyro 2 Ripto's Rage is a large, beautiful game with a phenomenal amount of missions, side-quests, and mini games in it that provide the structure and depth the first game sorely lacked. It's still a little too cute and cuddly for my own tastes, but thankfully there are enough innocent, vulnerable sheep to puncture to make it fun for the older than 13 age group.

Spyro 2 Ripto's Rage is what last year's game should have been. Even though Spyro The Dragon in 1998 was a good title, it lacked variety in gameplay and a general reason for collecting all of those gems and goodies. This year around, not only are there reasons to collect them, but there are more little distractions and side events going on that you'll be playing this for hours without remembering to reach your next goal.

For those who didn't play Spyro the Dragon, Ripto's Rage sets up gamers right after that big adventure. Spyro is in a state of fatigue, all ready to take a big long summer vacation. Of course, Spyro won't ever even see a spec of sand. The poor folk at Avalar are in dire need of a hero, and they think what they need is a dragon to fight off Ripto, who's making things difficult in their hometown. They teleport Spyro into Avalar without a way of returning, and the rest is for you to discover.

The introductory steps to learning Spyro's moves and skills are eloquently implemented. Players go though the game and every so often find a "friendly" who explains how to master Spyro's newest move; you never feel like you're actually going through a training session, which is the brilliance of it. It's seamlessly woven into the gameplay.

The significant changes that make this game shine are spread throughout it. They take shape in the form of talismans, orbs, sub-quests, and minigames. Each time a player completes the Talisman attack, he or she finishes the first major task in that realm. Second, players must acquire all of the orbs in that realm. And finally, remember those gems that seemed to haunt your every move in the first Spyro? Well, they actually have a raison d'etre here. You must collect them to complete the level, but they also help to buy you entrance in to new environments. In short, you gotta "collect" 'em all. Ooh...

It's such a friendly, cuddly game. The little kiddies playing this will like it because it's so ridiculously cute and the characters are goofy and approachable. But they'll like it also because the characters are occasionally funny, not to mention a little weird looking, and apparently everywhere. There are tons of characters who talk with you throughout the game. What's more, Spyro continues to earn new abilities, such as swimming underwater, climbing, a Super Charge and a Ground Stomp Attack, which provide new challenges and adventures.

In the beginning when you first meet Ripto, you easily thwart him, but he'll come back to challenge you again and again throughout the game with various minions and baddies. You'll face three bosses, each of whom are about not too difficult but not too easy to beat either. The final encounter with Ripto himself does present some serious challenge, and we recommend you save up some of your lives to beat him.

Spyro's world and the way in which he approaches -- walks, breathes fire, runs, rams, flies, etc. -- are all very much in line with last year's game, so players of the first title will easily transition into this sequel. The camera angles have changed a little, but not much. Still, the folks at Insomniac listened to the critics last year and altered the angles a little. Players can at any time manually change the camera angles, and it still swings in front of you, which is annoying to no end. But you also can enhance, or speed up the camera (through options or about 1/3 of the way through the game).

Camera Angles
Having explained the benefits of the camera changes, I will now rant about their annoying qualities. The biggest issues in Spyro Ripto's Rage are the camera angles. I can't stand running into the camera, ever, and that is a basic principle in this game. Yes, I can switch the camera around, but if I'm trying to reach a certain goal, while fighting off crabs underwater and the narrow tower I'm in is altering the camera for me, it's frustrating, to say the least, to change the camera angles. Worse off, in almost any instance in this game, I could face off with several opponents and the camera may switch to face me. What good is that? So I can see them crunching my purple head into dino pie? Nah, I'm still not convinced it's a good thing to have 360 degree camera angles like this one.

Spyro looks a lot like last year's game. And surprisingly enough, the character design is very reminiscent of Diddy Kong Racing. Say what? Yes, Diddy Kong Racing. Strangely animated 3D characters that talk just slightly out of synch with unnatural mouth movements instantly reminded me of that game. It may be their generic design, too. The lack of polygons per characters produce lots of sharp, weirdly angled bodies and shapes that are a little unnerving. But these quibbles aside, Ripto's Rage overall is a beautiful game with colorful environments, good looking textures, and huge, active worlds.

What is especially interesting are the water textures, and the sparkly magic special effects. I am a total sucker for the stuff, and Spyro is filled with it: fairy dust, magic hot spots, waves of stars and gleaming snow-flaky things. It's all good. The developers took good care in the environments to minimize glitches, to get a constantly high frame rate, and to seamlessly bring the sky and earth together at each realm's end without any more attention than necessary.

Stewart Copeland is God. His adaptation to game music is insidiously inventive and appealing. I wonder what he could do to a game like Quake, Starcraft, or Perfect Dark? His jungle-style beats and rhythmic approach changes throughout the game but always remain approachable and fun. In short, the music is fantastic.

The character voices are nerdy and generic, but Sony and Universal wanted it that way, and they got it. They're not too cute, but not too grown up, either. And the dialog and instructions are clear and often times the characters say things that unexpectedly funny.


Spyro is a fun game. It's huge and challenging and the gameplay is varied and creates enough incentive to move deeper into the game. It's still a little generic for me, as far as platfomers go. And it's a little on the younger side, even in terms of its general ease. As for the character himself, Spyro himself is just a little bland, and not the kind of mascot that I would ever fall in love with. He's kind of like a blend between a big puppy and a donkey, painted purple.

But at least he doesn't have that wacky gleam of money in his unblinking eye, like Crash does in CTR. That's just creepy. Spyro's has a different tone. His message is: "Hey, kids, let's fly and around and torch sheep! It's fun. Plus, I'm so inoffensive and cute that you can't resist!"

I can resist. But I still recommend this game as an excellent platfomer on PlayStation.

Just a technical note, Spyro Ripto's Rage is a good platformer, one of the better ones on the PlayStation, but it received a lower score than its predecessor. That's because we rated Spyro The Dragon (1) a little too high by today's standards. The better of the two is the sequel.

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Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage

Rated "E"
DeveloperInsomniac Games
PublisherSony Computer Entertainment
Release DateNovember 2, 1999
PlatformsPlayStation, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable
Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage
Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage