The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon

The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon
Developer(s):	Étranges Libellules (Console) Tantalus Media (DS) The Mighty Troglodytes (Mobile)
Publisher(s):	Vivendi Universal Sierra Entertainment Activision
Director(s):	Steve Stamatiadis (console) David Giles (Nintendo DS)
Producer(s):	Michael Graham Christopher Wilson Andrea Blundell (Nintendo DS)
Release date(s):	October 21, 2008 November 21, 2007
Genre(s):	Action
Rating(s):	ESRB: - Everyone 10+ (console) ESRB: - Everyone (DS) PEGI: - Seven years and older
Console(s):	PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii, Mobile
Composer(s):	Rebecca Kneubuhl Gabriel Mann
Mode(s):	Single player, Co-op
Media:	Disc
Input:	Controller

The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon is the third and final installment of The Legend of Spyro continuity, the direct sequel to The Eternal Night. It was released on the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, and Nintendo DS. Unlike the previous installments, Étranges Libellules has taken the helm in developing the console ports of Dawn of the Dragon. Tantalus Media produced the Nintendo DS version, while The Mighty Troglodytes did the mobile port. In old online listings, it was originally called The Legend of Spyro: Darkest Hour.

Press Release summaries

“In the final chapter of the trilogy, players find Spyro teaming up with an unlikely ally - Cynder, his former enemy, to face his most challenging mission to date. As the evil of the Dark Master, Malefor, envelopes the world like a plague, Spyro must fulfill his destiny and unlock the true power of the purple dragon within him to stop the Dark Master in his tracks.”

– Sierra Entertainment

“Three long years have passed since Spyro and Cynder were trapped in the crystal, since then Malefor has unleashed his evil onto the world. In this third chapter of the epic Legend of Spyro trilogy, Spyro must fulfill his destiny and face the Dark Master. As evil spreads over the world, Spyro and Cynder must discover new abilities and unlock their true powers to defeat Malefor and stop him from destroying the world.”

– Spyro the Dragon website (Dawn of the Dragon Edition)

Gameplay

Console version

Early screenshot of Spyro and Cynder in the Catacombs level

Developed by Étranges Libellules, Dawn of the Dragon is more advanced than The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning and The Eternal Night, both of which were previously done by Krome Studios. Spyro and Cynder have undergone a small makeover to make them seem older to allow new gameplay opportunities, but they strangely remain the same size as their younger selves in The Eternal Night. The game environments are much larger and a majority of them have a bit more exploration to them. In previous titles of The Legend of Spyro series, Spyro had to travel through the level and defeat enemies in a linear fashion. This time however, Dawn of the Dragon allows more freedom for the player to explore larger areas and collecting items in order to progress through the game. This game allows the player to fly at any time, expanding exploration.

Dawn of the Dragon also features a co-operative play with Cynder. This feature allows players to have the option of completing the game as either Spyro or Cynder, along with giving them the power to switch between both dragons, giving them more freedom to explore the world in completely new ways. Spyro retains his command over the elements of Fire, Electricity, Earth, and Ice, while Cynder is given the power to wield the elements of Poison, Fear, Wind, and Shadow, abilities that were given to her as a result of being exposed to the Dark Master's magic. While Spyro is stronger but slower in combat, Cynder is faster but weaker than Spyro. Along with the standard powerups that gems will bring, Spyro and Cynder can both equip pieces of Dragon Armor that they can find within the levels of the game.

Another feature called melee combos is introduced. The more times the player hits the enemy, the more Blue Gems the players will earn. Blue Spirit gems grant Spyro and Cynder experience points that allow them to upgrade their elemental moves. Along with blue gems, there are also red gems that restore lost health and green gems that give Spyro and Cynder mana to replenish their breath meter, allowing them to use their elemental attacks. The Fury gems from previous titles have been removed; instead the Fury Meter now goes up depending on the number of times Spyro or Cynder score attacks on enemies. In addition to normal enemies, there are elite enemies, which are enemies that are stronger than normal ones who are powered by the masks they wear that make them invincible to normal attacks. The player must use an element of a designated color that matches that of the mask in order to knock the mask off. Once off, normal attacks and other elemental powers will be allowed.

Scattered around the levels are large, egg-shaped crystals that each come in red, green and blue colors. The Red Life Crystals increase Spyro and Cynder's health meter, the Green Magic Crystals increases their mana meter, and the Blue Gem Crystals give them 1000 experience points.

Nintendo DS version

The Nintendo DS version is more of a side-scrolling platformer compared to the other DS handheld installments in The Legend of Spyro series. The player can switch between Spyro and Cynder with a push of a button and switch between their elemental abilities. The flight levels are 3D with the player having to navigate Spyro or Cynder through the terrain and shoot down opposing enemies. The boss battles also take place as 3D flight segments, but with Spyro and Cynder hovering in front of the boss while firing at their weak spots and avoiding enemy fire.

Plot

The game starts with a falcon flying high over the ruins of the Mountain of Malefor. Inside, a mysterious set of enemies enter the mountain ruins where Spyro and Cynder remain frozen in crystal three years after their battle with the Ape King Gaul. These enemies break open the crystal, releasing the two dragons, and shackle them together with glowing green snakes, whose effects are to keep Spyro and Cynder together at all times with an energy chain. Afterwards, the enemies take them away, leaving behind Sparx, who awakens moments later in the palm of Hunter of Avalar. Hunter had followed the enemies to where Spyro and Cynder were and had observed the whole scenario unfold from the shadows.

Meanwhile, Spyro and Cynder awaken in a dark area, wondering what has happened to them. Spyro notices that Sparx is not there with them, but has no time to dwell on this as he and Cynder are sent straight into battle. Attached to a peg on the stone platform, they are unable to escape when a massive Golem attacks them. While they are able to lift the peg, they remain tethered together as they fight off the creature. When they are unable to defeat it completely, Hunter rescues them by distracting the Golem with an arrow to its eye. Spyro, Sparx, and Cynder are reunited, then proceed after Hunter, who introduces himself and reveals that Ignitus had sent him when Spyro did not return to the temple three years ago. They manage to escape the Catacombs, tangling with the Golem and removing its arm in the process. After getting though an area called "Twilight Falls", Hunter reveals to them that the Dark Master had been resurrected, having escaped from the Well of Souls shortly after Spyro's disappearance, and has covered the land in darkness ever since. But before he is able to explain more, Hunter and the others are mysteriously hit by sleep darts, knocking them out. When they awaken, they discover that they have been taken captive to the Valley of Avalar by Hunter's tribe, whose leader, Chief Prowlus, blames the dragon race for the clan's misfortunes. He soon accuses Hunter for bringing the dangers of the outside world with him to the village, but Hunter defends his actions and reminds Prowlus that the dangers were already around them.

The village soon comes under attack by the mysterious creatures from before, now known as Grublins. After defending the cheetah village, news arrived that one of the vllagers, Meadow, went upriver before the attack and hasn't returned. After an argument with Chief Prowlus, Spyro and Cynder volunteer to find Meadow, rescuing him from a troop of Grublins. However, his leg has been broken, and since the dragons returning to the village without Meadow would spell disaster, they are forced to go to an old hermit across the Valley in order to get a key needed to retrieve a raft for a nearby supply cave. When they get there, the Hermit fully gets under Cynder's skin with his words that she hasn't changed since she was under Malefor's control, and that "her eyes give everything away".

Spyro and Cynder leave the Hermit's area after Sparx pickpockets the key they need. They then guide the raft over to Meadow, and escort him back to the village where Chief Prowlus realizes his error. The cheetah leader releases Hunter and allows him to lead Spyro and Cynder to a place called the Forbidden Passage, and from there, to the Dragon City of Warfang, an ancient settlement that the Moles crafted before Malefor caused the Dragons to be feared. When they arrive, the City is under attack, and Hunter is separated from Spyro and Cynder, forcing them to go their separate ways. After putting out a building fire and rescuing a group of Moles, the city comes under a fierce attack. Spyro and Cynder help to defend the City, before the gates are breached by a massive Troll. Once the Troll is defeated, the army of Grublins retreats to allow the Golem from the Catacombs to attack the City, reforming his missing arm from parts of the city in the process. The Guardians, Ignitus, Terrador, Cyril, and Volteer, lead the attack on the Golem, with Cyril and Volteer falling behind to grant Spyro and Cynder time to defeat the creature. After it is finally killed, the Guardians and Spyro are finally reunited after three long years.

Later that night, the Dark Master Malefor sends them an omnious message. He has revived the Destroyer, an ancient creature that's only purpose is to renew the world, by bringing about its destruction. When it completes its circle around the world, known as the Belt of Fire, everything as they know it will end. Unable to catch the creature if they pursue it, Ignitus hatches a plan to go underground in order to intercept the Destroyer before Malefor realizes the City is left unguarded. Spyro and Cynder are sent to the Ruins of Warfang to open the exit doors to Warfang from the other side to allow the troops to enter.

After both Spyro and Cynder open the gates to the Ancient City, the attack force proceed through it. Ignitus calms Spyro's fears that he will turn out like Malefor, just as they arrive where the Destroyer will finish its circle. Cynder gets the idea to flood the canyon with water from the nearby dam. Climbing to the top, the Dragons destroy the Dam, flooding the canyon and halting the Destroyer's progress. Ignitus leads the attack on the Destroyer as Spyro and Cynder go into its heart, taking out its Dark Crystal. But it is a losing battle, as it is able to complete its circle anyway. With no options left to turn to, Ignitus orders the others underground as he escorts Spyro and Cynder through the Belt of Fire into the Burned Lands. But before they can complete the crossing, Ignitus sacrifices himself to get Spyro and Cynder across. In his grief, Spyro nearly loses himself to the darkness he fell into in The Eternal Night. Cynder's words bring him back to his senses, and they make their way to the Floating Islands, near where Malefor is waiting for them.

After a few final fights, Spyro and Cynder confront Malefor in his lair. He messes with their heads, first by telling Spyro that the destiny of the Purple Dragons is to destroy the world, then saying that Cynder has led him into a trap the entire time, by luring him to the Well of Souls to free Malefor. Cynder denies it, but her doubts allows Malefor to unlock the darkness within her, bringing her back under his control. She attacks Spyro, only to come to her senses when he refuses to fight back. Angry at the turn of events, Malefor attacks them, and during the battle, the Destroyer completes its journey, initiating the end of the world.

The battle between the two dragons and Malefor rages to the core of the world, where Spyro and Cynder blast him back with a Fury attack. As Malefor proclaims that they will never defeat him, five dragon spirits surround him and take the evil dragon down into the world crystal. The snake chains that binded Spyro and Cynder together vanishes along with the Dark Master's magic, freeing them at last. Even though Malefor is finished, the world is still being destroyed. Spyro tells Cynder to flee after Ignitus' spirit grants him hope, but she refuses to leave his side as he prepares to unleash a powerful fury wave, with the last words the player hears from her are "I love you" to Spyro. The world is rebuilt from Spyro's magic, and we last see the remaining Guardians, Hunter, Sparx, and the survivors coming back into the sunlight as stars in the sky form into the form of a dragon, signalling the start of a new age.

After the credits roll, the Chronicler is seen reading the end of Spyro's book. He then speaks to someone, saying that a new age has begun, and each new age has a worthy dragon chosen to write down the many triumphs and failures of that age. His time is over, but the time of the new Chronicler, Ignitus (whose spirit was summoned by The Chronicler) has just begun. Before he takes The Chronicler's place, Ignitus asks what has become of Spyro. The Chronicler responds that he does not know, but shows Ignitus the book that records the deaths of dragons, and says that he has tried his best, but he was unable to find Spyro among the pages. Ignitus then becomes the new Chronicler, and we are finally shown that Spyro and Cynder are wheeling through the sky in the Valley of Avalar together, but their fate is left open to interpretation.

Characters

Character	Description	Voice Actor
Spyro	A purple dragon who is destined to save the world. After being freed from the time crystal, Spyro finds himself teaming up with Cynder and discover that in their absence, the world has been ravaged by the Dark Master.	Elijah Wood
Sparx	Spyro's dragonfly sidekick and foster brother. Despite being cowardly, he never leaves Spyro's side and serves as a confidant and comic relief throughout Spyro's adventures.	Wayne Brady
Cynder	A black dragon and Spyro's former enemy. She finds herself teaming up with Spyro when they were freed from the time crystal and discovered that the Dark Master had been unleashed. Now, Cynder must face her former master and battle alongside Spyro to ensure Malefor's twisted magic never hurts anyone again.	Christina Ricci
Hunter of Avalar	A cheetah warrior who was sent by Ignitus to find Spyro. He guides him, Cynder and Sparx through the first portion of their journey.	Blair Underwood
Ignitus	A red Guardian dragon who is master of the Fire element. He serves as a father figure and mentor to Spyro.	Gary Oldman
Volteer	A yellow Guardian dragon who is master of the Electricity element.	Corey Burton
Cyril	A blue Guardian dragon who is master of the Ice element.	Jeff Bennett
Terrador	A green Guardian dragon who is master of the Earth element.	Kevin Michael Richardson
The Chronicler	A mystical dragon who guards the history of the dragon race.	Martin Jarvis
Chief Prowlus	Leader of the Cheetah Village. He is incredibly distrustful of Dragons and anything from outside the village that may be a threat.	Kevin Michael Richardson
Meadow	A member of the Cheetah Village. He was kidnapped by Grublins and Spyro and Cynder come to his aid to prove to the other cheetahs that they were harmless.	Fred Tatasciore
Hermit	An old cheetah that lives on the outskirts of the Valley of Avalar. He is familiar with Cynder's past as Malefor's puppet.	Kevin Michael Richardson
Mason	A mole warrior who is acquaintances with Ignitus.	Corey Burton
Malefor	The Dark Master himself. After being resurrected on the Night of Eternal Darkness, he proceeded to plague the world in darkness and seeks its destruction.	Mark Hamill

Levels

Chapter #	Name	Armor	Crystals	Elite Enemy
1	The Catacombs	0	2	12
2	Twilight Falls	2	10	1
3	Valley of Avalar	4	25	1
4	Dragon City	3	14	0
5	Attack of the Golem	1	2	0
6	Ruins of Warfang	2	19	1
7	The Dam	2	9	1
8	The Destroyer	2	12	0
9	Burned Lands	0	15	1
10	Floating Islands	0	21	2
11	Malefor's Lair	0	0	0

Development

After the release of The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night, the Sierra Entertainment producers of the Spyro series turned to Étranges Libellules for Dawn of the Dragon after they were impressed by the team's art style and visual quality of the Arthur and the Invisibles video game. Sierra knew Etranges Libellules would be a good fit for Dawn of the Dragon based on their prior experience with platform adventure games, but at the time, they were waiting for a few decisions to be made regarding Spyro, and weren’t really certain when they would be able to release the final chapter of the Legend trilogy. It turned out that the timing was perfect; the call was made for a 2008 next-generation release and they had a team ready to hit the ground running.

During development, Étranges Libellules endured a lot, but they were determined to do whatever they could to make the best game possible. Sierra producer Michael Graham stated that they 'were really fortunate to have Étranges Libellules on board, because their passion and desire to make a great Spyro game was much needed to refuel their efforts.' Despite the dedication, development had to be rushed since the producers and Étranges Libellules were trying to complete the game in the midst of a company merger between Vivendi Games and Activision, which resulted in a lot of restless nights for the Spyro team. The development team knew that previous Spyro games and most other games aimed at younger audiences have a very cartoonish visual style. While that certainly has some appeal, they felt that it didn't necessarily fit the tone of the game they wanted to make. Rather than continuing down that path, they chose to bring players into a rich fantasy world with the terrific detail and vibrant colors to give younger players a new experience. There were a lot of tough decisions that had to be made during the development of Dawn of the Dragon.

Étranges Libellules originally planned to have Spyro and Cynder resemble their young forms from The Eternal Night, as evident by early concept art found in the game's Scenery and Enemies art galleries. The Sierra producers of the trilogy soon challenged Étranges Libellules to come up with an updated look for Spyro that still felt like the same character. They wanted Spyro to be able to fly, so a broader wingspan was a must, but the real challenge was trying to match the character to the new art style without making it feel like a different character altogether. Sierra producer, Christopher Wilson, stated that they took the opportunity to explore different looks and "ages" for both Spyro and Cynder. "We also had to make some changes to allow for the new gameplay features, such as needing larger wings to work with the flight feature and to allow the characters to block with their wings. The team came up with a variety of concepts and we settled on what you see in DotD. We didn't want to change it too much, but it was a good opportunity to allow the characters to grow up a bit (just like many of the fans were growing up too). It was also a good time to make this change given that it was the 10 year anniversary for the Franchise. Had we made the game with Krome, it's difficult to say what would have happened, but I'm sure there would have still been some changes. Since this was the first time Spyro was on the next-generation consoles, we had to update the model to take advantage of the new technology on the PS3 and Xbox 360."

Due to the console games being developed on an outdated game engine, the engine was too old to correctly display normal texture maps. To hide this problem and other issues, Étranges Libellules decided to increase the glossiness, making the entire game coated in an heavy amount of orange, blinding effect, something that was also noticeable in other games made by Étranges Libellules. Like most productions developed by Étranges Libellules, the team didn't have an art director, so the decisions on character designs and other artistic fields were made by the studio manager, Jean-Marie Nazaret, who was also the game director for Dawn of the Dragon . These choices were decisive in the final rendering of the game, and it was difficult to bring precision to the textures since the game render was broken. This resulted in the colors for characters being changed, such as the enemy Wyverns being changed from its original gray colors to bright red, Cynder's original black scale colors being changed to dark purple (with her still being called "a black dragon" in the story) and the Chronicler having bright blue colors instead of his original gray coloration. There were numerous wrong technical choices made during development, which frustrated and demotivated the team members.

Flying at anytime was something Vivendi Games pursued since The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning. Krome Studios was unable to implement this mechanic due to the target software they worked with.. Etranges Libellules had the engine that fulfilled Vivendi's highly-requested game mechanic for the third entry in The Legend of Spyro trilogy. While looking into ideas for the game's flight mechanic, Sierra and Étranges Libellules explored other different games that had their own flight features. However, to the game producers, each mechanic from those games fell short in capturing the sensation of flying. Sierra didn't want to turn Spyro into an airplane shooter, so they went with the suitable approach of flying through trees rather than flying over them.

Lead animator Cédric Lavanche recalled that Dawn of the Dragon had a year and a half to finish. He had three months of experience prior to being appointed as the game's lead animator. The game had a few juniors on the team, and animating the dragon characters with their wings and long tails was a challenge for them. This explains the awkward animations, walk cycles and stiff tails that are present in gameplay and in the pre-rendered cutscenes. On September 9, 2008, production of Dawn of the Dragon was finished.

Nintendo DS Version

The Nintendo DS version started production in November 2007.

Reception

Overall, the game has received generally mixed reviews upon its release, earning an average score of 62% by Metacritic. Matt Casamassina of IGN gave it a 7.3 and said that "There's no "new generation" style hook and the resulting play mechanics therefore don't feel fresh (especially after two prequels), but the fundamentals are sound and the presentation better than you expect". Gamezone gives the Xbox 360 version an 8.5, praising the outstanding soundtrack and voice acting but criticizing the multi-player aspect calling it "unnecessary and gimmicky" and the graphics stating that the colours are high contrast, high saturation, almost to the point of blinding. Gamespot gives it a 5/10, noting that while players can sense the visuals and music straining to create a mood of the fantasy setting, the story borrows too much from elsewhere (notably from the Lord of the Rings film series), the combat being tedious and uninteresting.

Dawn of the Dragon was a nominee for IGN's Best Voice Acting for the Wii by IGN.

Gallery

For this subject's image gallery, see The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon/Gallery.

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Trivia

• The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon is the only game in The Legend of Spyro series to have Finnish, Danish, Swedish and Norweigan voice-dub tracks; it is also the first ever Spyro game to be available with those dub language tracks.
• Dawn of the Dragon is the first Spyro game to be on the seventh-generation consoles of the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360.
• Due to the wrong technical choices during development, the console versions use a heavy amount of bloom.
• On the Spyro's Lair website for Dawn of the Dragon, the game's back game cover, the chapter selection screen and options screen, there are visages of dragon heads that are based on McFarlane's 2007 Series 7 Fire Clan Dragon figure.

  

  The McFarlane Dragon figure the dragon visages in Dawn of the Dragon's UI are based on.

• The game's character UI, beam of light savepoint mechanic, and upgrade powerup menu are very similar to the early entries of the God of War video game series.
• The game is notable by fans for having story plotholes because of the game's rushed production time and abrupt change in art direction, such as the sudden appearance of Cynder's jewelry at the beginning of the game when they were completely absent in The Eternal Night, and the teenage appearance of Spyro and Cynder due to the game being developed by a different game developer.
  • Dawn of the Dragon also has several cutscene errors, such as certain characters floating, freezing, and inconsistent character placements.
  • The function of the air downdrafts in certain areas also prevents the player from flying up to sections that let you advance further into the level, including high points that contain gems or armor, forcing the player to climb up cliffs and walls using the Climbing Zones to reach the areas, or fly up to the areas from a higher point before the downdrafts pushes you down.
• In the Nintendo DS version, the story varies differently from the console versions: Spyro and Cynder aren't tethered together by snake collars, Hunter frees them from the time crystal, the Golem fights Spyro and Cynder at the entrance to Dragon City and is defeated, the Destroyer is defeated but Spyro and Cynder still had to confront Malefor, Dark Spyro and Volteer do not appear in the game (or at least the possibility of Volteer being offscreeen), and Malefor himself initiated the world's destruction through his power instead of the Destroyer's.
• Due to the Nintendo Wii's lower resolution and disk space, some cutscenes pixelate due to being compressed to play on the console.

Retcons

Due to the change in game developers from Krome Studios to Étranges Libellules, a lot of story details became inconsistent with the previous Legend of Spyro game titles, creating story plotholes.

• Instead of Hunter finding Spyro, Cynder and Sparx in the post-credits scene in the previous title, Étranges Libellules had the Grublins find the three imprisoned heroes instead with Hunter following them.
• While Krome Studios originally had Spyro, Sparx and Cynder remain the same inside the time crystal when Hunter discovers them, the art direction by Étranges Libellules aged them up at the request of Sierra Entertainment, who wanted to update Spyro and Cynder's looks to take advantage of the next-generation consoles of the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
  • Despite appearing older, Spyro and Cynder remained the same size as they were in The Eternal Night.
  • Several concept art in the game's Scenery art gallery show Spyro and Cynder resembling their character designs from The Eternal Night, implying that they were planned to look like their young counterparts before the decision was made to make them look older. A character sheet in the Enemies art gallery also displayed Spyro and Cynder having the silhouettes of their Krome Studios designs lined up along with the enemies of Dawn of the Dragon.
• In the console versions, Cynder's scale color was changed from story-wise black to bright purple due to the outdated game engine, broken render, and the decisions made by the game director instead of an art director. This notably clashes with the lore surrounding Purple Dragons, who are born once every ten generations.
  • Cynder suddenly wears platinum jewelry in this game despite previously not wearing them before she, Spyro and Sparx were encased in the time crystal in The Eternal Night. One of the producers of The Legend of Spyro trilogy, Michael Graham, revealed that Cynder wears the jewelry as a way of facing her fear of becoming Malefor's servant again. There was originally going to be a cutscene for Dawn of the Dragon involving her actually putting the jewelry on, but there was no time in creating and adding the scene in because of time and budget constraints.

References

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