Spyro: Season of Ice
Spyro frees fairies from ice in a Game Boy Advance adventure.
Released in 2001 for the Game Boy Advance, Spyro: Season of Ice is a platformer from Digital Eclipse and Universal Interactive. Along with Spyro 2: Season of Flame and Spyro: Attack of the Rhynocs, it forms an alternate continuation of the original three Spyro games.
Quick Facts
- Developer
- Digital Eclipse
- Publisher
- Universal Interactive Studios
- Director
- Michael Mika Sr.
- Producer
- Renée Johnson
- Programmer
- Craig Stewart
- Artist
- Boyd Burggrabe
- Composer
- Robert Baffy; Ed Cosico
- Series
- Spyro
Facts from the source article.
Gameplay
The objective is to release fairies from ice prisons and progress through realms before defeating Grendor. Spyro begins in the Autumn Fairy Home, one of four seasonal fairy realms. In each realm, gems can be collected; critters like sheep can be destroyed for healing butterflies and some grant extra lives; special objects like pumpkins can be ignited; baskets can be broken for more gems; and Bianca and Hunter give hints in various spots. Spyro cannot die in seasonal realms because fairy magic protects him from drowning and no enemies are present. Portals in the realms lead to other areas, and accessing them requires a certain number of fairies, indicated next to the level name. Some portals lead to levels with enemies, dangerous terrain, water where Spyro can drown, and special encounters. Characters in these levels may ask for a task in exchange for a fairy, sometimes referring to it as a diamond gem. Thieves can be caught in some levels. Destroying all enemies opens a portal back to the seasonal realm. Other portals lead to flying levels where Spyro moves across a horizon, flying through hoops and destroying enemies within a time limit; destroying differently colored enemies and passing through hoops grants extra time. At the end, Spyro faces one or two bosses. Some portals are guarded by Money Bags, who allows Sparx to enter for a one-time fee. Sparx then navigates levels with killer bugs, destroying nests to prevent spawning, using keys to access more areas, and disabling electric panels to remove barriers. Weapons give Sparx limited increased firepower. In the last room, Sparx defeats a boss bug to open a portal back to Spyro and save a fairy. The game can be played in Normal and Hard modes, both of which must be completed to obtain two fairies.
Plot
Spyro and Sparx are on holiday with Bianca and Hunter when Hunter mistakes a balloon for a sheep in a flying saucer. Spyro finds a message from Zoe on the balloon asking for help against Grendor, who is kidnapping fairies. Grendor had found Bianca's spellbook in the library and tried to use it, but read it upside down, becoming a two-headed Rhynoc with four headaches. He plans to capture all fairies and use their wings to cure himself. Spyro and his friends set out to stop him. After traversing many levels and saving all fairies except Zoe, Spyro confronts and defeats Grendor a second time, rescuing Zoe. Zoe cures Grendor of his extra head and headaches, and he apologizes. Spyro and his friends return to their vacation.
Reception
According to review aggregator Metacritic, Season of Ice received mixed or average reviews. In the United States, it sold 1 million copies and earned $29 million by August 2006, making it the 13th highest-selling game launched for the Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, or PlayStation Portable in that country between January 2000 and August 2006. Marie Pritchard of Eurogamer described the game as highly entertaining after several decades, praising the variety of environments to explore. Bobby Mills of TheGamer called it a fun adventure game that achieves what it sets out to do. Ewan Lewis of TheGamer wrote that while it is a fun game, it is one of the most difficult in the Spyro series due to questionable design choices, such as the difficulty of aligning landings in the isometric view.
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