My Thoughts

fter reviewing the site recently, I thought it was time for that famous purple dragon to show up to the party. Spyro 3 is arguably one of the best, or the best Spyro Game in the whole series, and its not hard to see why.

If there's one thing that Insomniac Games games (the creator of Spyro) knows how to do well, is to keep the formula of a particular series, i.e. Spyro (and ratchet and Clank for that matter) more-a-less the same, but improve it so its improved from its predessor. They did that with Spyro 2 over Spyro 1, and now they did it from Spyro 2. So what could they possibly do next? Well you find out very quickly.

- Yes you read right, this game does feature Skateboarding. Probably due to the success of the Tony Hawk series, back when the game was originally released. However, that isn't the only toy Spyro gets to play with. He can ride a speedboat, a sub and more, with his usual moves of the Headbash, powerups and others.

- Unlike previous games, there are more playable characters than just spyro (and hunter). You get to play as 7 characters in this game, each very different to the last. You have Sheila with her amazing jumping skills, Sgt. Byrd who has the power of flight and rocket launchers, Bentley who has incredible srength, Agent 9 who blasts anyone who gets in his way and Sparx. Yes Sparx is finally playable in his unique levels. So lots of variety here!

- it certainly was the year of the dragon for Spyro. Although the amount of levels is similar to Spyro 2, most levels are now bigger and take longer to complete. Couple that with areas you can't complete on your first visit, and there's a lot of replayablity. Many argue that this is the best game in the series, and although I don't think it is the best, I won't argue with anyone who states it is.

- Very like the original Crash Bandicoot trilogy, this game does feature new features and upgraded features too, but does not stray away completely from the original formula. And I quite that. Sometimes straying into a almost completely different formula (like the Legend of Spyro series, or the recently released Skylanders) is too much for long term fans, but Insomniac Games Games knew this. So the old phrase "if ain't broke don't fix it" comes to mind. They kept everything that worked and bulit apon it.

- Spyro: Year of the Dragon is the last of the classic Spyro platformers. Some might say that this was the last great spyro game (althrough I quite liked A hero's Tail), it certainly stood the test of time. I would recommend this in a heardbeat.

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