The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon

 PlayStation 3
User Score
6.8

Mixed or average reviews- based on 81 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 47 out of 81
  2. Mixed: 15 out of 81
  3. Negative: 19 out of 81
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  1. Wrath_4givnez
    Mar 2, 2023
    8
    A relatively beautiful underrated gem with a few scuffs and knicks due to the years of neglect.

    The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon, is the third and final installment of the reboot series that started back in 2006 with the aim to deliver a more lore heavy, Tolkien-esque fantasy. We see the climax of this tale begin years after the events of "The Eternal Night", when Spyro (played    A relatively beautiful underrated gem with a few scuffs and knicks due to the years of neglect.

    The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon, is the third and final installment of the reboot series that started back in 2006 with the aim to deliver a more lore heavy, Tolkien-esque fantasy. We see the climax of this tale begin years after the events of "The Eternal Night", when Spyro (played by Elijah Wood), utilized the remainder of his borrowed time stopping powers to encase himself and his friends in a stasis crystal in a desperate bid to save them from the crumbling structure around them. Rudely forced awake by the minions of Malefor, an evil Dragon freshly resurrected and now on the path of total global annihilation, Spyro and Cynder become chained together by a magical tether and were doomed to serve as unwilling servants until the end. That was until Hunter, a Cheetah from the Valley of Avalar, swoops in to release them from their bonds and help get them reacquainted with their dragon powers. And thus there journey to stop Malefor's omnicidal plan commences as lessons of trust, forgiveness, and heartache are learned while they fight back the end of the world.

    Gameplay for Dawn of the Dragon springboards off of the first two titles, playing as a beat-em-up, but takes much more advantage of the core gameplay while exemplifying the joys of playing as a dragon (or in this case, two dragons) with a variety of breath weapons and relative free flight (limited by jetstreams and wind ceilings to keep players from going way too far off course). Unlike the first two games, the combat in Dawn of the Dragon takes examples from games like God of War and allows itself to have more depth in attack and defense, Light, heavy, grapple, block, and dodge-roll are all standards finely met by this game, but combined with eight different elements (four for each of the two dragons), which has a primary and secondary fire AND that combat CAN be performed while flying allows for much more experimentation and creativity than the standard God of War clone.

    Further, as mentioned before, the game follows the journey of TWO dragons; Spyro and Cynder. In most action titles, you would have to play each character one at a time or they would be relegated to certain stages/missions/levels. Dawn of the Dragon opts for a different approach and allows players to swap between the two on the fly, or have a friend join to play both simultaneously. Regardless of whether there's one player or two, both Dragons will be present, using tooth, claw, wing, tail, and deadly elements to smack around the various hoards under Malefor's control and solve a variety of platform, environmental, or tether puzzles that are present in each chapter.

    The story is, while not always the best acted in regards to the secondary characters, decent enough and has a fair few emotional high points that were being built up since the beginning of the reboot trilogy. The music accompanying you, Spyro, and Cynder, is equal parts elegant as it is intensely orchestral. Sound effects are a bit hit or miss (mostly prominent with combat impact sounds), but never enough to deter immersion or the mood of the game very much. The atmosphere the game exudes tends to feel like it was some sort of storybook adventure, hearkening back to the style and tone of the original Insomniac trilogy, almost as if the developers were paying loving respect to the source material.

    The main story run-through can be somewhat short, but there is quite a bit of side content, such as armor collectables, optional mini-boss fights, and upgrades that are available to pick up. Further, achieving in-game milestones in the game unlocks extra bonus material such as concept art. Players even have access to a chapter select menu right from the get go in the pause menu, which is useful if you're trying to get everything in the game.

    The game isn't without it's flaws, however. Sometimes the framerate (which tends to be at 60 most of the time), can dip and chug when too much is going on at once. Elite enemy trials can be annoying when trying to damage their weakness, as you can run out of mana rather quickly when doing so, especially since they're invulnerable until they lose their mask. Even after they become vulnerable, they tend to be some of the toughest foes in the game with the fact they can chew through your health in seconds if you aren't careful. The camera moves slow, which can be a problem if it's dragged through geometry while flying or shoved into a wall while wandering/fighting. There is no lock-on in combat, so keeping track of enemies can be a small issue sometimes.

    All in all, however, these are just minor nitpicks over what is fundamentally a great, fun game that treats its origins and source material with great reverence and respect, and sends the reboot trilogy off with love and hope for a new dawn.    … Expand
  2. Sev0
    Jul 2, 2022
    10
    Nice story, nice graphics, difficult sometimes as a kid but loved it so much.
  3. fallout7050
    Sep 14, 2020
    10
    The story is epic, the graphics for the time were the best that could be done and the drama and suspense that this game handles I have not seen in any modern game in the spyro franchise and the strong point of this installment is the The seriousness of the work despite being child's play, thus demonstrating that despite being a children's product, great stories can be created, and best ofThe story is epic, the graphics for the time were the best that could be done and the drama and suspense that this game handles I have not seen in any modern game in the spyro franchise and the strong point of this installment is the The seriousness of the work despite being child's play, thus demonstrating that despite being a children's product, great stories can be created, and best of all, it does not have DLC like the vast majority of games that came out on ps3, honestly one of the best games I've tried final rating 10/10… Expand
  4. GrazieGraziano
    Jan 7, 2020
    9
    The Legend Of Spyro: Dawn Of The Dragon is a very underrated game. The Legend series in general is quite underappreciated, as it is often outshined by the original trilogy. This last installment to the legend series is special though. I get that the controls aren't perfect, the gameplay gets repetitive and some plotholes are present. But what this game does right is creating atmosphere.The Legend Of Spyro: Dawn Of The Dragon is a very underrated game. The Legend series in general is quite underappreciated, as it is often outshined by the original trilogy. This last installment to the legend series is special though. I get that the controls aren't perfect, the gameplay gets repetitive and some plotholes are present. But what this game does right is creating atmosphere. The levels range from beautiful (Valley of Avalar & Twilight Falls) to terrifying (Ruins of Warfang & Burned Lands) to downright sad (Floating Islands). Every level has music that perfectly fits the setting. The soundtrack of this game is absolutely phenomenal and it contains some of the best music I have ever heard, period. It is a shame that Dawn Of The Dragon gets so much hate, because it is totally unjustified. Parts of this game feel like a movie. Gameplay wise, it may not be up there with the original Spyro. But in every other aspect, it is far superior. Dawn Of The Dragon remains one of the best games I have ever played, and I hope someday it will be recognized for its quality.… Expand
  5. JmanTheHitman
    Nov 16, 2019
    10
    A great ending to a very underrated series. Great improvements to combat have helped to make this the best in the trilogy. Music is just as amazing as always that adds to this wonderful experience. Newer console versions look better but the older ones still look great for their console. Make sure you play the previous titles or you will not get the plot at all.
  6. fanfic154
    Feb 25, 2018
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon is tied for the best Spyro game of all time with the originals, in my opinion. As I jumped into this game, I had a fairly good grasp of what the plot was from the previous two installments, seeing as I didn't play them before this game. What I didn't expect was how high the graphics quality came out to be (playing on the Xbox 360), how decently written the story was, and how the co-op allowed you to work together with another player, allowing trust building where you had to lead at times and then pass on the baton of leadership to your teammate from time to time to progress on in the game (if you were playing with a friend). You had to work together, and seeing as the two main characters, Spyro and Cynder, were originally rivals, that brought the game out even more into reality, sharing what the characters feel being restricted by the snake charms that bound the two together. If you were playing single player, you had that kind of balance between the characters as well, whether it be through the combat or elemental challenges. The "take flight at any time" part of the game was a little skeptical. How can you have a game where you could go anywhere without obstacles? That would be a broken game. The developers found clever ways around it with the young age of the dragons and their physical strength. They used adamantite orbs to hinder your flight along with strong currents of wind that the two protagonists aren't strong enough to fly through yet (because of age). I only found the invisible walls a little annoying from time to time. Next, the beauty of the game had my jaw drop every time. From Twilight Forest to The Valley of Avalar to even the floating islands before Malefor. I was awestruck every time. The fact that everyone complains about it's "button mashing combat" is a bunch of ridiculous talk. As the game progresses, you are almost constantly fighting an enemy of Malefor. From grublins to golems to orcs, they are always around you. When players complain about this, I want to throw a tic-tac box at them. REALLY?! Every combat-related game can consider itself with tedious combat. Minecraft, Terraria, God of War, Gears of War, Halo, etc. The complaints from this function of the game mainly come from the hitpoint count of the enemy being relatively high and how many of each enemy you have to fight. In reality, this is supposed to be like that. Think that you are in the middle of a war, fighting inanimate objects against someone who has destroyed your side's armies for 3 years. Plus, your armies are living, breathing creatures. Every life counts. I don't think Malefor wanted each warrior to be unique from the rest if it meant he'd waste his time. He would rather spend his time plotting attacks and conquering the world. Well, actually ending the world. Each enemy is kind of like a zombie. It doesn't live with organs, or blood, or brains. It was built with magic, so the only hit points it has is how strong the magic used to create its being was. I felt immersed in a war playing this game. The stress also hits you in some levels, and not very many games can do that. Next, it isn't very violent allowing even more players. The age range is E10+. I think it could easily be E8+, but we don't have that. Its E. Finally, the romance between Spyro and Cynder, in opinion, was a great addition to the story. It fit in nicely with what went on, and when players say that it was just her way of thanking her savior. I think otherwise. Spyro gave her a chance, saved a killer's life, and constantly went after her, literally crossing the sky for her. He saved Cynder at the well of souls and disregarded the Chronicler's advice to leave her to fall again. Heck, Spyro seemed to be the one loving Cynder the moment he realized that she was forced to do the evil things, hoping she could be given a chance. To conclude, this was the best game I've played in the longest time. A ton better than skylanders, and it is up there with the originals. I highly recommend this game, and I hope many of those critics can see the better sides of the game.… Expand
  7. Untitled94
    Jul 27, 2017
    8
    The best of the Legend series. It's a much different game than the first two, but it can still feel like The Legend of Spyro. Really big open areas (mostly), being able to fly almost anywhere, rather than just gliding, things like that make this game pretty good. Now it's not perfect, and some parts do get a bit repetitive, and the flying doesn't always work as well, but it's a solid gameThe best of the Legend series. It's a much different game than the first two, but it can still feel like The Legend of Spyro. Really big open areas (mostly), being able to fly almost anywhere, rather than just gliding, things like that make this game pretty good. Now it's not perfect, and some parts do get a bit repetitive, and the flying doesn't always work as well, but it's a solid game for the most part. It's a big step up from The Eternal Night. And it has co-op, so that's pretty cool.… Expand
  8. MarkTonna12994
    Jul 26, 2017
    8
    Highly underrated game! PROS INCLUDE; fun game-play mechanics for both combat and flying, good graphics for the time, nice soundtrack, scenic and open ended level designs and entertaining boss fights. FLAWS INCLUDE: poor voice acting, some levels a bit too long, combat can get a bit repetitive, having Spyro and Cynder chained together was a completing pointless game-play mechanic, noHighly underrated game! PROS INCLUDE; fun game-play mechanics for both combat and flying, good graphics for the time, nice soundtrack, scenic and open ended level designs and entertaining boss fights. FLAWS INCLUDE: poor voice acting, some levels a bit too long, combat can get a bit repetitive, having Spyro and Cynder chained together was a completing pointless game-play mechanic, no replay value. Whether you love the original Spyro Trilogy or never even heard of Spyro, this game definitely has its own merits and is well worth your time.… Expand
  9. Platinumeta
    May 4, 2015
    8
    The Legend of Spyro Dawn of the Dragon is an amazing entry to the Legend of Spyro Trilogy. The game is far from perfect I will say that, but grand overall. Let me add some detail.

    The gameplay is much more improved compared to past entries namely in the combat department as well as non-linearity and exploration. It gives you a run for your money in terms of keeping you on your toes and    The Legend of Spyro Dawn of the Dragon is an amazing entry to the Legend of Spyro Trilogy. The game is far from perfect I will say that, but grand overall. Let me add some detail.

    The gameplay is much more improved compared to past entries namely in the combat department as well as non-linearity and exploration. It gives you a run for your money in terms of keeping you on your toes and making you rush as fast as you can to complete your objective, while at times knows how to tone things down and make the game relaxing. It's a great adventure that will give you a wide range of emotions throughout. The only downside here though is... it suffers from a lack of content. There are 10 chapters in total, 11 if you count the final boss, and while they can be long, 10 chapters is pretty short to be blunt. There are no side quests aside from backtracking to get extra stuff you may have missed along the way. But it could use more replay value.

    The story is very well handled and adds a nice closure to the series (although I still wholeheartedly wish it could be continued) and while I love having a focus on adventure and meeting new allies, here's where we get back into the lack of content again. The elder dragons are there but not as important as they should have been, some only getting one or maybe two lines here and there. That aside, the story is a great continuation and closure as mentioned before. It depicts an epic journey and one you are left wanting more out of, but not necessarily in a frustrating way.

    The music is fantastic, getting you pumped for battle, allowing you to just soak in the area, the feeling of urgency and fear, the build up to the climax and that climax, the whole fact that time is running out... It's amazing. It works really well for an ost, and should not be overlooked.

    The visuals are mixed for me, I love the world and a lot of its characters, but some of the models seem somewhat irksome for me. The dragons particularly. I get that the game wants to make it more realistic, but even so it comes off as a tad awkward and cluttered at times for me. Even still, the environment perfectly depicts what it wants to give the impression of. A desolate lava area carved by doom and destruction? A lush field that makes you want to work to protect this world? It's all here, and it does its job spectacularly.

    Overall, the game is great. And this is coming from a fan who grew up with the classics. Don't let the nostalgia blind classic fans disorient or discourage you from wanting this game, it's a great experience for the open minded. Rich world that I feel holds up, great gameplay and despite a lack of content it did keep me fairly busy and was a great experience I will revisit again and again. I recommend this to anyone who is curious and anyone willing to give this series a try, not for classic nostalgia, but for an individual reboot series.    … Expand
  10. SuperkenGaming
    Mar 16, 2015
    8
    The Legend of Spyro Dawn of The Dragon
    Great game held back by things you cant see.
    Dawn of the Dragon is a God of War style 3D platforming Action Adventure Game. It tells a great story of love and courage, some pretty awesome quotes to be heard. This is very hack and slash style scaled out linear game. The world is beautiful, and traversing it will bring you back to the ps2 era when    The Legend of Spyro Dawn of The Dragon
    Great game held back by things you cant see.
    Dawn of the Dragon is a God of War style 3D platforming Action Adventure Game.
    It tells a great story of love and courage, some pretty awesome quotes to be heard.
    This is very hack and slash style scaled out linear game.
    The world is beautiful, and traversing it will bring you back to the ps2 era when 3d platformers ruled the world.
    There are hidden collectibles and xp crystals that you can find to upgrade health and magic like in god of war and armor pieces to increase skills and defense. .
    With xp that you also get from defeating regular and bonus hidden enemies you can slowly increase each magic skill again much like in God of war.
    While I loved the colors and exploring every inch of every chapter in this game as it reminded me of old school open world Nintendo games and even my beloved glover at times, you are weighed down by the other character far too often.
    In the beginning of the game it is revealed you are tied together, so sometimes if you want to climb tall cliff sides you have to switch back and forth and make sure the character you aren’t controlling doesn’t get caught on a ledge, you are also annoyingly stopped by invisible walls that shouldn’t be there.
    It makes no sense that I can fly higher in the air 20 feet to the right but if I fly back over at the same level im automatically pushed down.. its frustrating, just gives me a horribly unsatisfied feeling in my stomach to get smacked by something I cant see.
    Where things get really bad though is with the actual combat.
    You can switch back and forth between spyro and cynder or play couch co op with another person.
    Both spyro and cynder have 4 different element attacks. Spyros elements are light, cynders elements are dark. Spyro is stronger in health, cynder is stronger in magic.
    While spyro clearly is the better character to use, neither of them nor their elemental attacks seem to do enough damage to make combat even the least bit satisfying.
    Combat in Dawn of the Dragon drags on forever.
    It takes far too long to take down even the simplest of enemies.
    To make matters worse your partner seems to do nothing to help, they will throw some punches, but never bring out the elements to speed things up.
    If you plan on playing by yourself, prepare for a button mashing grind.
    After you’ve got in enough hits you are given the option to basically go super sayain for a couple of seconds and can just slice through practically anything in your way, but it takes way too long to fill up this bar, I probably only used it a handful of times in the 12 hours the game took me to complete.
    At times the game had some pretty interesting ideas, you had to use the different elements to progress through levels, this should have been done much more frequently or at the very least used to solve the non existent puzzles.
    You wont use your brain much at all in The Legend of Spyro Dawn of The Dragon.
    While this game and its combat can feel like a drag, I enjoyed my time enough with the world, its story, platforming and level design enough to still recommend a play through to experience this game, especially if you miss 3d platformers,
    Dawn of The Dragon will quench that thirst.
    For what it is 3D Platforming Action Adventure: 8.5/10
    Overall: 8/10    … Expand
  11. JustinG.
    Mar 29, 2009
    9
    The game had a nice continuing story line with fair graphics. That made the game more appealing. The downfall was how short the game seemed to be. I beat the game in 16 hours which isn't very good for my standards. The voice actors could have done better also. I was a bit disappointing, but overall if your a true Spyro fan the game is good no matter what.

Awards & Rankings

47
#47 Most Discussed PS3 Game of 2008
56
#56 Most Shared PS3 Game of 2008

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
59

Mixed or average reviews - based on 22 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 22
  2. Mixed: 21 out of 22
  3. Negative: 1 out of 22
  1. GameDaily
    70
    Some of the voiceovers are weak, the camera is a pain and the adventure ends way too soon. However, Legend of Spyro still has enough good qualities that make it fun.
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  2. 1UP
    33
    But decent two-player co-op's just ketchup on a crap sandwich. The game's buggy as hell, with severe slowdown, characters getting hung up in the level geometry, and stuttering audio. Those problems are amplified in the PS3 version, whose only other major differences are unneeded Sixaxis flight control and a noticeable lack of Trophy support versus the Xbox 360's Achievements.
    Read full review
  3. GameSpot
    50
    Lackluster gameplay makes this a disappointing conclusion to the Legend of Spyro series.
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