I grew up with "Spyro." The original trilogy, before the hit-and-miss sequels and the needless, underwhelming "Legend" reboots which almost ruined the franchise.
I was 10 when the original game came out, and I played it and its first sequel several times when I was a child and young teen. They were great examples of 3D platformers done right. (Though never quite up to par with other classics like "Super Mario 64.") Tragically, I never got to play the third game until recently, when as a 24-year-old, I downloaded the three games on my PS3 for nostalgia's sake.
A few days ago, I finally started this third game, intent on finishing up the original trilogy. And it was a fun, nostalgic, but underwhelming experience.
First of all, a break-down:
Graphics: 7 out of 10. There has been essentially no upgrade over the previous two games in terms of graphics. The light-hearted style is nice to look at, but even for the Playstation, the models were a bit over-blocky, and there's a lot of texture warping and shifting and popping which drove me nuts. The animation is also a bit "wonky" at times.
Sound: 8 out of 10. The music is great and whimsical as always. Some returning themes and musical styles are nice, and the voice over work is decent as always.
Controls: 5 out of 10. Here's where the game goes a little south. Spyro controls perfectly, as he has in other games. But this game introduces a host of new characters (including a Penguin, a Kangaroo, a Yeti and a Monkey) that the player controls, and they just don't control well at all. The new characters are too loose and will cause a lot of unintended deaths and accidents. Also, the camera controls have gone out the window, and they are far less responsive in this game than the first two. Sup-par controls overall.
Overall: 7 out of 10.
The story for this one is nice, but it never quite gels as well as the first two. An evil Sorceress sends her apprentice Bianca to steal the eggs of the dragon realm, and it is up to Spyro and Hunter to follow Bianca to her world and recover the eggs. Along the way, Bianca ends up deciding to help Spyro after realizing how corrupt the Sorceress is, and without spoiling anything, there are a few nifty revelations about the history of the dragons.
Along the way, Spyro meets some new friends who the player controls, as he tries to recover around 150 eggs and thousands of gems. The game does feature some nice returning characters from the first two games and some cameos, as well as callbacks to the enemies of the prior games through vague references.
The game is bright, colorful and very fun, but has its share of problems. Mainly in the controls, the camera, and some gameplay facets that drove me nuts. (Ex. In this game, the objectives and missions feel far more like busy-work, there is an over-reliance on callbacks and the re-use of elements from the prior games, making this one feel more like an expansion pack than a sequel, etc.)
But all-in-all, "Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon" is a very fun game and well worth playing. It's the weakest of the original trilogy, but is still a very decent all-ages platformer. A 7 out of 10.
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