Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon (PS1)

Whenever I play Spyro 3 (or Spyro: Year Of The Dragon to give its full title) I can't help but feel a little bit sad. Is it because the game is lousy? No, far from it. It's a great game. It's just that not only was it the last Spyro game to appear on the PSone, it was also the last great Spyro game, period. Oh well, I guess all good things have to come to an end eventually. So sit down, grab a cup of tea and a plate of chocolate biscuits, and enjoy a games review so good it makes the staff at the Official PlayStation Magazine green with envy.The Year of the Dragon is upon the dragon world which has been blessed with a whole bunch of dragon eggs that are ready to hatch. Who knows? Some of them might get their own video games some day. But a group of horned enemies, the rhynocs, steal the eggs and take them to a place called "The Forgotten Worlds", which is ruled by an evil Sorceress and her apprentice, Bianca. Spyro must travel to the levels in the forgotten worlds and get the eggs back, all the while learning more about the worlds that have been forgotten. Well actually they're more like "remembered worlds" once you start playing the game but...well, you get the idea.Anyone who played  Spyro 2  back in the day -and still does now- will be familiar with the feel of Spyro 3: level portals in home worlds; help citizens in those levels; charge and flame enemies; pick up treasure and collect rewards. But instead of orbs and talismans like in the last game, you're instead given dragon eggs. For some strange reason some of the dragons are born wearing baseball caps and glasses. Then again this is meant to be a complete work of fiction, so I guess there's no reason to complain. (mutters to himself) Man, those buck-toothed dragons are ugly. Why did Insomniac have to create them like that?So Spyro 3 is just Spyro 2 with a different storyline, right? Well, yes and no. It does indeed have a different story, but Spyro 3 differs from its predecessor by providing so much more gameplay variation. This is mainly through the different characters you can play as once you've freed them from their cages. There's Sheila, a friendly Australian kangaroo who lives on a mountain -YES, a mountain- with goats; Sgt. Byrd, an army-type penguin who can fire rockets, and does a lame job of parodying James Bond; Bentley, a "proper" speaking yeti with a large club to bash his enemies with; and Agent 9, a hyperactive laser-wielding monkey who would look right at home in a Hanna-Barbera cartoon.All these characters have somewhat charming personalities that make them likeable, and there's a lot of fun to be had whilst you learn their controls and play through their segments of certain levels. For example Sheila can jump really high and has a powerful kick attack to send her enemies flying. Meanwhile Sgt. Byrd can actually fly, and as well as firing rockets he can also pick up objects and drop them from great or no-so-great heights. This playable character virus is contagious. Even Sparx the dragonfly gets his own levels, and they come in the form of top-down 2D styled shooters, kinda like some older video games from the Mega Drive/SNES era. Mix this all in with Spyro's swimming, climbing and headbash moves that he learned in Spyro 2, and you've got a big platformer that's impossible to get bored with, even when you're playing through it for the 150th time.There's a whole host of memorable characters in Spyro 3. As well as the above mentioned you also have returning characters from the previous game. You've got Hunter, the cheetah who seems to have downed a big tall glass of "I'm a big brave boy" juice since the Avalar days; Zoe (the fairy) provides you with checkpoint saves with her wand; and then there's the I-Wanna-Be-As-Rich-As-A-Russian-Oil-Tycoon bear, Moneybags. The good news is he's not a playable character. The bad news is you still have to pay him gems to get anywhere in the game. Two words for you, Moneybags: middle fingers.I love the designs of the levels in Spyro 3. Nothing against the ones in Spyro 2, but the ones here are more memorable and so much more enjoyable. One level I quite like is Seashell Shores, because of its lovely beach scenery and widely varied tasks for getting eggs. Another level I found a joy to play was the Fireworks Factory. It has a lovely comical blend of Chinese scenery and Japanese rhynoc ninjas, and it's quite funny to hear the ninjas meow like opera-singing cats when you take them out.One thing that has remained the same from Spyro 2 is the well-organized and ideally flexible structure of the game. Your quest for dragon eggs either comes in the form of objectives, or they're simply lying around somewhere. In any case if you're having a hard time getting certain eggs you can always try something else and come back to that job at a later date, so there's never a feeling of frustration in that department.In terms of negative points I only have one small problem with Spyro 3. Sparx's gem searching ability seems to have disappeared, and you don't get to use it until you've completed one of the Sparx levels later in the game. But it was such a useful move! How on earth could Sparx have forgotten it?! (sighs) And I thought Terry Pratchett had a bad memory.With its brilliant level designs, interesting storyline, hints of romance (ROMANCE?!), loveable characters, and large buffet of different gameplay elements, Spyro 3 is definitely the best game in the Spyro PSone trilogy. An ideal way of finishing the series' glory years. NO ifs, NO buts, NO howevers. This is one platform experience every PSone lover must enjoy.

Despite the fact the game is made for small children, i cant help but love it!I've always been a fan of spyro the dragon but i feel the newer games are a lot darker, less child friendly and even now (im 19 years old), i dont like that, it was a great kids game that kids could love and i feel the games have been ruined by the newer editions.This game is a classic, old, but great all the same.

I wasn't sure what region the purchased CD is from and it seems it's the wrong one. Spryo is coded in a way where any "illegitimate" copy of CD aka different region cannot be played overtime. In my case I suddenly started hearing German and eggs started to go missing etc. Would be great if the region of the CD is stated.

Absolute classic game, loved it since i was a kid. Only reason that I'm not rating 5 stars as I don't feel the condition was as described, said condition was good however case was broken and the disc holder inside is broken so it doesn't hold the disc. Still adore the game and the delivery time was great!

The game was delivered quickly and was well packaged. My daughter loves this game as she used to play Spyro games when she was younger and found this just as entertaining.

Perfect condition, no faults found

Delighted with game, perfect condition and arrived early thank you

Amazing game loved it,I may have already completed it ahaha loved every second of it, the only thing is it did not come with a case which was a bit disappointing but overall a great game!