In a very similar story to Crash Bandicoot, Spyro was a PlayStation-exclusive franchise owned by Universal Interactive that had a successful trilogy on PS1. However, due to exclusivity deals ending and the original developers wanting to move on to new stuff, the task of a fourth game ended up in the hands of a new studio for a new generation, with development rushed for a quick release, something extremely evident with Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly.
The problems are present from the very start, where the opening cutscenes brings back three returning villains (with zero explanation). Two of these will appear in one more cutscene mid-game, but will just vanish with no boss fight with them. One of Spyro’s main allies just pops out of existence after one conversation, and someone that you pay gems to in order to progress only appears once. You still have to collect all 7,000 to see all the stages of the final boss, though. Another notable thing is the loading screens. In the original games, the loading was disguised by Spyro flying through the air. The new developers attempted to do this, but it didn’t quite work, so they added a loading screen before and after the transition cutscene. So instead of a smooth experience, there are now three loading screens.
Everything else is just rather dull. The levels are large and empty, and having to find all the gems means you’ll have to trawl through large areas of flat land multiple times. Spyro’s new breath abilities also don’t offer much in terms of combat, so it’s just a case of turning to the one you need to activate the obvious switch then go back to fire. It’s a shame as there are some nice level ideas, like floating palaces and a Jurassic Park/Terminator hybrid level.
The actual movement also comes across as stiff, with the levels not really utilising Spyro’s abilities all that well. It’s just a long, mostly straight path forward (with obscenely long, empty corridors connecting some areas) until you “finish” the level by circling back to the start, looking for dragonflies to collect on the way. These dragonflies (despite being your friends) try to flee from you, so you have to catch them with your bubble breath. There were definitely some good intentions from the developers, but the project being rushed just shattered it.