3.5/5 ★ – Empyrean's review of Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage!.

Spyro 2 starts out really strong. The NPCs and worlds are filled with personality, gameplay is much faster (although the roll is removed for some reason), and everything just feels great. Summer Forest is also a gorgeous hub world. The bosses are also a huge improvement, and they can actually hit you this time! Then you get to Autumn Plains. Why are there so many more levels? What’s with all the shitty mini-games? Why is everything so repetitive? Oh well, onto Winter Tundra. Why is there LESS levels than the first hub now?! The pacing is so bizarre, and I was just ready to be done by the end. Spyro 2 is an improvement in a lot of areas, but it relies so heavily on mini-games that it loses sight of what made the first game enjoyable. Most of the vivid memories I have are negative ones, like finding out you have to do the alchemist escort twice if you don’t have the headbash.