SPYRO 2:  GATEWAY TO GLIMMER
TECHNICAL DETAILS

•	NEW particle system (new kinds of particles, more of them - allows for fancier effects, better realism)

•	NEW sound system (doppler effects, more realistic sound, more sounds in game; atmospheric effects like rain, snow, etc.)

•	NEW water technology and effects (under water and surface water)

•	Cinematic technology now supports streaming, allows for transitioning from gameplay to cinematics;  we can play an arbitrarily long movie with unlimited character count and virtually no load time. 

•	New special effect engine to support rainbows, light beams, boss effects, etc. atmospheric effects (rain, snow, falling leaves)

•	Moby Z-buffering (platforms and characters sinking into lava, etc.)

•	New compression techniques that double the amount of animation we can use (thus allowing more characters, and more varied behaviour)

•	New occlusion system allows us to draw more environment, more characters, and more special effects without dropping below 30 hz)

•	Character, environment, and cyclorama engines all rewritten for better efficiency  (we can now draw more environment, more characters in 30hz frame)

•	New treasure (prettier gems, more exciting treasure boxes)

•	Specular lighting effects on the environments

•	New special effects and real-time shading on the mobys to support various tricks:  (e.g., real-time software shade animations, ice-reflections, and improvements to the existing specular highlight effects, and environment mapping effects)

•	NPC interaction, with streamed speech

•	New collision techniques, allowing pixel-accurate collision with enemies, even when they have very unusual shapes

•	All-new camera system (new "active" mode, new quick-centre option) improved AI, allowing much more variety of behaviour and variety of gameplay

As far as the rest goes, here are some more points:

•	Huge variety of new gameplay. From hockey games to billiards with turtles, the "secondary" tasks or mini-games in Spyro 2 add a whole new level of challenges for hardcore and novice players alike.

•	29 new and varied levels, far from the Dragon Worlds introduced in Spyro.

•	Game focus shifted from collecting objects to completing tasks; a macro design that challenges experienced players without punishing novices (the orb tasks will be challenging for the hardcore players, while the main storyline and talismans can be completed by virtually anyone).  Much more variety in gameplay: at least three completely unique challenges on each level.

•	Fully developed storyline (eleven macro-story cinematics, plus two "short-n-sweet" intro/extro cinematics per world).  Brand new story and much more of it. Each level has its own story and unique set of challenges - all of which are connected to the macro story.  These stories are told through humorous cinematic scenes and by the characters themselves.

•	Over 100 brand new characters, many of whom talk to Spyro and offer advice or challenges

•	Bigger and better bosses that “kick ass!”

•	Lots of new moves for Spyro: swim, climb, headbash, spit, ice skating, hover etc.

•	Introduction of new powerup system for special powers on each level: superfly, supercharge, superbounce, superspit, supershield and superfreeze

•	New pickups to go with the new game structure.

•	Spendable treasure (use the treasure you collect to obtain new abilities and gain access to new areas)

The bottom line is that Spyro2 is HUGE compared to Spyro the Dragon.  The levels are bigger, more complex and offer a much, much greater variety of challenges over Spyro.  Spyro 2:  Gateway to Glimmer should appeal to an even broader audience and is much more than a sequel.

Visit Spyro’s dedicated website:

www.playstation-europe.com/spyro2

Developer:   Insomniac Games / Universal Interactive Studios
Genre:  3D Free Roaming Platform/Adventure   No. of Players:  1
Peripherals:  Dual Shock Analog Controller, Memory Card