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Spyro: A Hero's Tail
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Spyro: A Hero's Tail | |
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| Developer(s) | Eurocom |
| Publisher(s) | Vivendi Universal Games |
| Release date(s) |  November 3, 2004 November 12, 2004 |
| Genre(s) | Platform game |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Everyone PEGI: 3+ OFLC: G8+ |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox |
Spyro: A Hero's Tail (nicknamed Spyro 5 by fans[citation needed]) is the fifth game in Spyro series.
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Gameplay in A Hero's Tail is largely the same as in previous Spyro games, but with various tweaks to Spyro's abilities and the game's controller mapping. For example, the right analog stick/C stick now directly controls the in-game camera (a standard mapping for many action and platform games).
Spyro begins A Hero's tail with most of his standard abilities including gliding and fire-breath. Spyro's gliding mechanics have been tweaked from previous titles, with the addition of a double-jump and the ability to hover downwards by releasing the analog stick.
Similar to previous titles, Spyro also acquires multiple breath types to use throughout the game, including electricity, water, and ice; each element has different characteristics and uses throughout the game -- for example, electricity can defeat metal-armored enemies, and water is used primarily to solve puzzles. In addition to these elements, Spyro also acquires a projectile-like "secondary breath" attack with each element, which can defeat most enemies, but the player can only store a limited quantity of secondary-breath attacks.
Spyro also gains the ability to jump off of walls and swing from poles, similar to other platforming game series such as Prince of Persia and Jak and Daxter, allowing him to traverse obstacles and reach new segments in a level.
Spyro's dragonfly companion, returns as a personification of Spyro's current health level, and assists in collecting nearby items for the player. Throughout the game, Sparx also plays host to several rail shooter-style minigames.
First introduced in Spyro: Year of the Dragon, Sgt. Byrd plays host to several flying-themed minigames in which the player is given a set amount of time to locate and fly through (or destroy) various targets and enemies in a level.
Hunter, first introduced in Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage!, has two playable levels in A Hero's Tail. Hunter can scale certain walls, and attack and snipe enemies using his bow and arrows.
An anthropomorphic mole introduced as the Professor's nephew. Because of his self-described "fresh-air-a-phobia", Blink explores levels set in underground mines and caverns, where the player is tasked to locate and destroy various dark shards with explosives.
It has been a peaceful time in the Dragon Realms since Spyro's last adventure. Suddenly, a mysterious dragon named Red is using a group of life-draining stones called the Dark Gems to poison the life of the world. Not only that, he is enlisting Gnasty Gnorc from the first game and his army of Gnorcs to do his dirty work. It's up to Spyro, Sparx, Hunter, Sgt. Byrd, and their newest ally Blink to stop Red and destroy the Dark Gems.
A Hero's Tail is regarded better than Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly, probably due to Eurocom's experience in developing game, but still fell short of Insomniac's original three Spyro games. However, compared to the originals, A Hero's Tail is considered to be aimed at a younger audience, leading to some harsh criticism such as its short length and lack of general difficulty or originality.
- Various dialogue in the game makes light humor of the platform game genre, with references to such objects as Red Coins and Power Stars (of Super Mario 64) and Heart Pieces (The Legend of Zelda), Spyro commenting about how easy it would be to defeat a boss, and Hunter's breaking the fourth wall by mentioning prior to one of his stages that if Spyro was dead, the player would be forced to return to a previous saved game.
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Spyro the Dragon • Ripto's Rage! • Year of the Dragon • Enter the Dragonfly • The Cortex Conspiracy • A Hero's Tail • Shadow Legacy • A New Beginning |