Even in the beautiful Metroid Prime 2, the dark world tended to look the same no matter where you were, thanks to the consistent colors. Unfortunately, the dark world is boring and hideous. I'm not entirely sold on the art style to begin with, but I must admit that the detailed hand drawn areas have their moments. Graphically, the game ranges from nice looking to downright ugly. Most experience points are rewarded by completing quests, but if you find yourself just shy of raising a level, you'll have to chip away by killing individual monsters. It feels more like a burden than a reward though. Spyro SL also has experience points, which you can use to increase the power of your skills and spells. The symbol recognition is very forgiving at least, but since the game requires you to use the d-pad and face buttons, drawing symbols in the first place is annoying (you'll have to grab your stylus or attempt to use your fingernail). The developers might as well have created a menu and let you choose a spell to cast, but of course they had to make a symbol recognition system using the touch screen instead. In addition to a number of attacks, you also have magic.

After dying a few times, I realized that it was actually still on the table (meaning I couldn't hit it from the ground). For example, I knocked one enemy off a table and proceeded to attack it on the ground only to find that it wouldn't take damage. In any case, the already tepid gameplay is worsened by sluggish controls and poor collision detection. In fact, I think I'd rather do housework than play Spyro SL, because at least then I feel like I've accomplished something. With better controls and monster design, this might have been fun, but in its current state it's about as much fun as mowing the lawn or washing the dishes. Spyro SL tasks you with repeatedly killing a series of monsters in a bland environment to free other dragons (who are always imprisoned in cages that show the number of nearby enemies that must be killed in order to free them). The gameplay is theoretically sound, but in practice, it's quite boring. Additionally, Spyro SL is yet another one of those light/dark world games, meaning tedious retreading of structurally identical areas featuring an alternate palette. Spyro: Shadow Legacy (Spyro SL) takes the series in a new direction by adding framerate problems, a weak collision system, and useless touch screen elements. Excepting the original PlayStation games, Spyro's outings have mostly been marked by their mediocrity.

Spyro shadow legacy