Jurassic World Aftermath Part 2 is obviously enough, a continuation of the narrative that started with the first part. The Jurassic Park franchise is perfect for VR, and Universal Studios did a mostly great job with the first part. The trailer showcases a plethora of different environments that players will get to sneak through since killing humongous dinosaurs isn’t exactly an easy feat.

Jurassic World Aftermath Part 2 releases for Oculus Quest on September 30, 2021. The PC VR platform has been picking up pace lately, with titles such as Half-Life: Alyx showcasing the potential within the space. Hopefully, Jurassic World Aftermath Part 2 joins the ranks as one of the better experiences on the VR platform.

Crash Bandicoot received a lovingly-crafted remaster a while back. Spyro’s just received the same treatment. Spyro Reignited Trilogy plays identically to the original Spyro games on Playstation, but has been completely built from scratch in Unreal 4. Considering that Toys for Bob didn’t have access to the original Spyro source code, it’s quite remarkable just how well the remaster corresponds to the original on Playstation, to the extent that many reviews have criticized it for playing like a game out of its time. While gameplay’s remained almost completely unchanged over the past 20 years, Spyro’s visuals have received a truly massive upgrade with Reignited. We’re going to have a look here at just how far the boat’s been pushed out, three console generations after the original appeared on Playstation in 1998

For starters, render resolution has received a massive upgrade, across all platforms. The original Playstation outputted at a meagre 320×224. On a midsized, late-90s CRT, that may have looked presentable, but it’s almost shockingly ugly when upscaled to fit on large, modern displays. After twenty years, Spyro Reignited outputs at 1440p and 30fps on Xbox One X, a staggering 51 times as many pixels as the original. Of course, the simplistic artwork and low-poly models meant that the original held up well in 1998, but side to side the difference, just in terms of image quality is nothing short of astonishing. Considering how light the game is, we are a little surprised that Toys For Bob chose fairly conservative rendering targets. We’d have liked seeing native 4K on the One X—which has certainly been delivered by more technically challenging titles—but, nevertheless, the painterly art style employed means that even 1440p holds up fairly well on 4K displays.

One thing that’ll immediately strike you about Spyro: Reignited is assets have been rebuilt entirely from scratch to match current-gen expectations. All objects and characters are completely redone and, just as with the resolution increase, the increase in model poly count is tremendous The entire first level of PS1 Spyro comprised approximately 5,000 polygons, which is significantly less than what’s used to just render Spyro’s character model in Reignited.

Key set-pieces and environmental details—like towers, for instance—remain in the same location, but are no longer flat and blocky: details like windows, which were previously just flat textures, are fully modelled. While sticking fairly close to the original design, some liberty been taken with the scope of the game’s artistic vision, especially with regards to minor details. Incidentals, like the paintings in the tower in the first level just don’t exist in the originally, though they’d have been tonally appropriate. This also meshes well with the all-new cutscenes. Each dragon in Reignited is given its own distinct personality. For instance, Nestor, the dragon on the Artisan world, just a green blob in the first game, is now depicted as a carpenter: these flourishes add oodles of character to the remaster without seeming out of place.

Texture quality has also seen a significant boost to match the new, high-poly models. The original Spyro titles used 64×64 textures, which would just look like a blurry, pixelated mess on modern displays. Reignited’s 4K textures look wonderful on hi-res displays, but come at the cost of a 67 GB install size: to put this into perspective, each individual PS1 game was about 300 MB. One area where this boost in texture resolution is most palpable is the skybox. PS1-era Spyro’s skybox was a murky, blurry mess in levels like Treetops. In Reignited, the sky is quite literally reimagined, with an aurora now shining down on the level. All surfaces receive a massive bump in texture resolution—not just the sky, but characters and, the ground, and trees all look far sharper than before.

Unlike most remaster efforts, Spyro Reignited was built from the ground up on a new engine, Unreal 4. What’s especially interesting is that, despite not having access to the original’s source code, Toys For Bob managed to get Reignited’s levels to sync perfectly with the original through the use of an in-house too called the Spyroscope, which scanned the data from the original game and output information about, for instance, jump distances. While the levels play out identically to their PS1 predecessors, the move to Unreal 4 has meant significant changes under the hood, with respect to visuals. For starters, Reignited features advanced lighting, with most, though not all, objects casting real-time shadows. Enhanced shader work is evident in the water, which now has reflections and seemingly features caustics, as seen in the ripples when Spyro takes a dive. Particles are massively improved—this is most evident in the much-enhanced fire-breathing effect. Reignited also make use of per-object motion which, when combined with the high-res assets and improved lighting, make some areas, especially the cutscenes, appear almost indistinguishable from CGI. Lastly, the grass is a noticeable change: The original titles made use of low-res ground textures to convey the existence of grass. In Reignited, you get lush, animated blades of the green stuff anywhere you look.

All in all, Toys For Bob has done a commendable job with Spyro Reignited. While we’re a bit disappointed with image quality at the top-end—surely, the One X can manage more than 1440p in this title—when put side by side with the source material, Reignited is a stunning effort. By carefully adding in extra detail, all the while retaining the tone and character of the originals, Reignited manages to convey the same sense of wonder that the originals would’ve offered to players in the late 90s, to a whole new generation.

All of this is, of course, leading to the assertion that you could just as well play the PlayStation original games, and completely be fine with what would be a solid, if a bit janky, outing. However, in the vein of Crash Bandicoot N.Sane Trilogy last year, Activision has now taken the Spyro trilogy, and updated it wholesale for the current generation of consoles. Spyro: Reignited Trilogy was handled by Toys for Bob, who were also behind the Skylanders series, which in turn originally began as a Spyro spin-off.

Their familiarity with the license, and their reverence for the source material permeates every frame of the experience with Spyro. Calling this collection a remaster is not doing it justice—this is more akin to a remake, designed to live up to Spyro as we remember, not Spyro as it was. Every frame of the game is bursting with color, whimsy, and life, and the game in general seems to be far closer to the striking art of the original series than the PlayStation could ever have hoped to render. The strong art is backed by modern rendering techniques, which means Reignited Trilogy wouldn’t look out of place next to other current generation games, and some liberal reinterpretations involved to make the games look and come across even better than the original titles did.

"As thorough the visual overhaul of the games is, however, Toys for Bob have had the sense to not touch the actual gameplay here. Spyro plays exactly as you remember, from the movement to the jumping, gliding, hovering, charging, and more. The physics of the momentum and inertia are all there, and the source material here has been dealt the most delicate touch possible."

For instance, the first Spyro game has a unique design for every single dragon that you must rescue—it’s such a small detail, since there are so many of them, but it impresses the personality of each unique one upon you, the player, and sells the whimsical world of the game further. Similarly, enemies and NPCs now have delightful animations that emphasize their personalities further.

As thorough the visual overhaul of the games is, however, Toys for Bob have had the sense to not touch the actual gameplay here. Spyro plays exactly as you remember, from the movement to the jumping, gliding, hovering, charging, and more. The physics of the momentum and inertia are all there, and the source material here has been dealt the most delicate touch possible. On the whole, this is a good thing—as mentioned, the titles hold up remarkably well, and messing with the physics can cause fans and purists to take umbrage, which will not happen here. In some cases, however, it can also lead to problems, such as with the game’s camera, which is a hopeless exercise in frustration (both, the manual camera and the automatic one cannot keep up with the action, and get in the way far more often than they actually properly frame the action).

The actual levels here are exactly as you remember, structurally. Graphically, of course, they come to life like never before, teeming with color and a distinct sense of identity, as already noted. However, the actual layout and design has not been tampered with in the slightest. This is a surprisingly good decision. Even though the levels, which felt gigantic in 1998 (and onwards) are mere minutes long tromps today, they’re expertly designed, perfectly tuned to Spyro’s moveset, as well as the unique gimmick of the level that you are currently playing. They also lend themselves well to curiosity—there’s always a critical path for you to take, and you can follow that and rush to the end of the stage if you want. However, players who go out of the way will find their curiousity amply rewarded, and those who return to earlier stages later on will find more layers unveiled still.

"Whether you are a newcomer or a true blue fan of Spyro who grew up on his originals adventures, there is very little to complain about with Reignited Trilogy. It’s an incredible package all around, with three very strong games that hold up marvellously, are instantly satisfying to play, and look and sound wonderful."

In terms of actually acting as a loving tribute to the original games, then, Reignited Trilogy cannot be beaten. Visually, the games are resplendent now, and look as they should, rather than they do. In terms of the audio, the original soundtrack has been retained (and you can switch to it whenever you like), but also included is an updated score, with light instrumentation added to lend the sound with more depth and soul. I personally enjoy the new tracks far more; however, those more attached to the original tracks will have the option to switch back, so there should be no complaints there, either. And, as mentioned, the games play really well, too. While there are some problems that belie their age, like the camera, the level design and strong mechanics hold up fantastically well, and have not been messed with at all.

What’s more interesting is how they hold up as a new package. If, for instance, you have never played the original Spyro games, but want to check them out, how recommended is this package compared to other similar games you can buy for your money? And the answer is, this is a proposition that is hard to beat. You’ve probably already caught on that the games hold up well mechanically as well as structurally. Indeed, they are very satisfying to play, and newer and less experienced players will find them as gratifying as veteran players will find them full of layers to unpeel. Graphically and musically, they’ve been touched up. And even in terms of their simple premise, and to the point storytelling, they hold up very well—arguably better than several modern games, even family ones, which spend far too long pontificating, contextualizing, and tutorializing before you can actually jump into the action. No, 30 seconds of a quick setup is all you get here, and then you’re playing right away. There’s something to be said for how immediate these games are, and for parents looking to buy something for their children, there is probably nothing better than these on the PS4 and Xbox One currently. They have strong design and an immediate feedback loop. Plus, they have some of the trademark Insomniac wit and charm that would go on to define their later games, such as Ratchet and Clank, in later years.

Whether you are a newcomer or a true blue fan of Spyro who grew up on his originals adventures, there is very little to complain about with Reignited Trilogy. It’s an incredible package all around, with three very strong games that hold up marvellously, are instantly satisfying to play, and look and sound wonderful. At $40 for three very long, very good games, there’s literally no reason not to go out and buy these games right away.

This game was reviewed on Xbox One.