CGR Undertow - SPYRO: SEASON OF ICE review for Game Boy Advance

Classic Game Room presents a CGR Undertow review of Spyro: Season Of Ice for the Game Boy Advance developed by Digital Eclipse and published by Universal Interactive Studios.

Imagine your vacation being interrupted by a distress call from fairies being trapped in ice. You'd be breathing fire, too! The first Spyro game not to be developed by Insomniac Games, Spyro: Season Of Ice was an impressive-looking release early in the lifespan of the Game Boy Advance. With a design similar to the Rareware platformers of the late 1990s, you move Spyro through large levels filled with items to collect. Each level has a certain amount of fairies, and it's your job to save them all. The game takes place from an isometric perspective and boasts some impressive graphics for its time. Handheld games really didn't look this good before, and Spyro was praised as a result. Spyro: Season Of Ice is a single-player pseudo-platformer for the GBA.

This video review features video gameplay footage of Spyro: Season Of Ice for the Game Boy Advance and audio commentary from Classic Game Room's Derek.

[commandhtf]

My criticisms about this game is that it has no map. It gets pretty disorienting trying to find your way back to certain places in a level. You get a key but have difficulty having to find your way back to the chest for example. There's also the wonky controls, especially when you jump.

[Michirin]

"The GBA has one of the best libraries of any handheld ever, and in case of the GBA model AGS-101 one of the best hardwares ever! It's AGS-101 for life!"
I never agreed with anything THIS much before... That statement was 200% true! But in my honest opinion, the GBA had THE best library of any handheld ever... The only one that comes close is the 3DS...

[scribble]

I remember having both Season games; I played the hell out of both. Ice was my first, got Flame a little while later. Finishing both games with 100% was a pain in the ass but I loved them.

[aplsed]

this is one of the first games I've ever played, and this vid was made on my 12th birthday. I love it!

[GoodTofuFriday]

This was my first GBA game ever. So by default I kinda love it. But you're right that it was basically just a long fetch quest. But for a young kid who had only owned a few super Mario games before this was awesome.

[mrjohnnyk]

I can't believe some people actually liked this garbage, I remember getting this as a kid because I was a huge fan of the PS1 games and the massive letdown that it was to play it. Probably one of the games I was the most disappointed with overall.

[rescuehero]

Back in 2002, Digital Eclipse could have worked with Fox Interactive and THQ and made a handheld spin-off of Argonaut's Croc character entitled ''Croc: Dante's Infernal Machine'' using isometric graphics and the Croc 2 formula.

[DeltaX]

I played this game a while ago when I was younger and I have to say I enjoyed it. However, i did have a couple major problems with it. one annoying thing was that with the objects to burn in each level, if you die before they are all hit, you have to hit them all again which was a pain. and then in a level called Humming Bird Fort (i think), a lot of the different level platforms looked the same so it was really difficult to tell if you could jump to that ledge or not. Other than that, I enjoyed it for what it was.

[m_jaded]

Edit: Geez, it sounds like I was mad when I wrote this (years ago). My points still stand, but did I really think this was a good game once? The review makes some good points. My opinion: clunky but enjoyable game. By no means good, but it does what it can to fit Spyro into a GBA game. The music is still great though XD

Ok, I'm not trying to be mean, but honestly I disagree. First of all it seems like you only played the first homeworld (since there are 4) and you didn't say anything about the flight levels. Also, fetch quests? And you say the controls are clunky and the camera is tight. Did you even try using the L button? It moves the camera and makes sparx strafe! The controls are so much better when you actually use this button. And the music is annoying? That's pretty subjective, since I absolutely love all the music in this game (especially market mesa!). I don't know. I guess I just like it so much since it's pretty much a sequel to the original trilogy. You might not read the comments, but I just hope that sometime you learn about the L button and give this game one more chance :( (I'm currently playing this game through, trying to get all the fairies so I can beat the boss)

[ColeNalle]

That Spyro Season Of Ice is a Classic Gameboy Advance video game and I like it as well and I also guarantee it.

[JamickGeass]

I used to rent this game from a local mom & pop video store when the GBA first came out. I used to ignore the objectives and just find places for Spyro to fly!

[ladydavinci]

Let’s be honest, season of flame had some better perks. You could have checkpoints in the levels so you don’t start at the very beginning. I felt like it was easier to remember the layouts/map of levels in season of flame than it was in season of ice. One annoying thing is even after you burned an object, god forbid you fall off the ledge or drown because you had to start all over on season of ice.

The hummingbird fort was the cutest but omg it is so challenging! Plus I think at the Spring Fairy land, they were losing creativity in some of the levels. Like you have a Twilight Bulb factory and Professors laboratory right next to each other, which have some similar themes. I think I beat Season of Ice once. I beat Season of Flame like thousands of times.

[crocodileman]

While I agree on most of this, I still find it an enjoyable game.

[QuikVidGuy]

Burn a bunch of things scattered around
Fix slightly less things that are arranged less arbitrarily
Running enemy
AoE enemy
get fairy for killing everything
chase item around level
get key and chest
300 gems
jump up stairs
jump to place that looked like it was on your level but was actually 8 levels up
1 or 2 levels per world nearly impossible thieves
rail shooter with time limits and difficult perspective for distance
fucking bug levels that cheat
fall into water because spyro didn't turn left the second you hit left
Am I missing anything or is that everything that comprises this game?
I'm using it as a time-waster recently, and it's not nearly as good as I remember. It's also a very frustrating time-waster

[RATPTI]

It's all about those firefly levels.

[DefinitiveDubs]

The difference between this game's gameplay and Donkey Kong 64 lies in the colorful appealing visuals, catchy music and wonderful sound effects. People like to say gameplay is the only thing that ever matters, but Spyro proves that those other things help a *lot*. Even though all you're doing is collecting gems and shit, it feels good to do so. Whereas DK64's aesthetics are so bland and muddy, depression and boredom soon sets in.

I have to give *Season Of Ice* credit for how accurate it is to Insomniac's trilogy. You can tell Digital Eclipse were fans of the games. All the sound effects are the same, the sprites look just like the models, and the control is honestly great. Actually the control is pretty much 1:1 what the PS1 games were, just on an isometric plane. The music is no Stewart Copeland, but it sure as hell tries to be. It's still catchy and even atmospheric sometimes.

When I first started playing, I couldn't figure out why reviews were hating on this game. It felt just like the Spyro I grew up with. Gradually though I started to realize the extreme lack of variety. There is no "end" to the level with a portal, it just appears once you've killed all enemies. And while there are things to collect, you don't get them from missions and other tasks like most collectathons. You just find them and grab them. Yeah there are a bunch of fetch quests, but those don't really count. And like CGR Undertow says, every level is the same even with a fresh coat of paint. There are Speedway and Sparx levels though to break the pace, and those are pretty good. The main problem is the camera. You can easily get lost and you'll never find the last few gems without scouring the level tirelessly. Honestly though, if you want more Spyro after the original trilogy, this and the other two GBA games are recommended. They're still charming and fun to play in short bursts. Avoid Orange at all costs though, that game sucks ass.

[Mr_Darbus]

I actually enjoyed this game..
I liked some of the music too..
But hey! I'm weird.. :P

[LuigiBulletbillguy]

I still have my 101. I bought a pearl blue one for $12 at a flea market

[xinitarchives]

I remember having both seasons of this game for my Gameboy and I use to play it until I decided to sell my GB and all of the games. Kinda doubt myself for doing it but hey atleast I have the visual version for my PSP.

[GuyOnAChair]

I had this game and never finished it. Wasn't a fan of a lot of aspects of it as a kid. Like this review, I can look back and see it wasn't anything special.