Spyro: Year of the Dragon
| Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon | |
|---|---|
| File:Spyro yotd.jpg | |
| Developer(s) | Insomniac Games |
| Publisher(s) | SCEA |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation
Reviews Gamespot-Template:Rating-10
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| Release |  October 11, 2000  October 25 2000  November 10, 2000 |
| Genre(s) | Platform |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon is the third game in the Spyro series. It was the last Spyro game to be released for the PlayStation, as well as the last Spyro game developed by Insomniac Games. The game was released in North America on October 11, 2000, in the United Kingdom on October 25, in the rest Europe on November 10.
Synopsis
Plot
The game opens with a celebration in the Dragon Realms, where they are celebrating the "Year of the Dragon", an event every twelve years where new dragon eggs are brought to the realm. During the celebration, however, a cloaked anthropomorphic rabbit girl, Bianca, invades the Dragon Realms with an army of Rhynocs and steals all of the Dragon eggs. Spyro, along with Sparx and Hunter, are sent down a hole to find the thieves and recover the Dragon eggs.
Pursuing the thief, Spyro discovers a realm once inhabited by the dragons, but long abandoned and forgotten, now known only as the "Forgotten Realms", ruled by a queen called the "Sorceress", and under firm control of the Rhynocs' army. There are a few "patriots", "protestants" or "protestors" here and there. The first one is a kangaroo named Sheila. She's locked within a cage, but is released after you pay a "small fee" to a bear named Moneybags. Sheila kicks him in the stomach and knocks Moneybags out.
As Spyro travels through each realm, acquiring aid from local inhabitants, and bartering with Moneybags for passage to new areas, Bianca abducts and imprisons Hunter. It is later revealed that the Sorceress is seeking not the baby dragons themselves, but merely their wings to concoct a spell that can grant her immortality. Once Bianca finds this out she feels sorry for the baby dragons, and defects to side with Spyro, Hunter, and the Protesters.
Celebrations resume after the Sorceress' defeat, although Spyro is unable to locate Hunter. Searching throughout the realm, Spyro's friends are reluctant to say anything of Hunter's whereabouts; Spyro ultimately locates Hunter out on a date with Bianca, and laments about another hero "falling" for love.
However, it later turns out that the Sorceress survived her previous battle with Spyro, and is found in a secret world, waiting for Spyro on her UFO. Spyro and the Sorceress battle again, on two UFOs above some deadly magic liquid. Eventually, Spyro manages to shoot the Sorceress down, and she falls into the liquid below, (presumably) killing her and it turns out the final dragon egg has 2 dragons in it.
The baby dragons then return to the Dragon Kingdom.
Setting
As Said above, The Game is situated in "The forgotten worlds". There are 4 Homeworlds in "The forgotten worlds", all named after times in the day...
- Sunrise Springs: The starting Homeworld for year Of The Dragon, This world is set during the morning with lush green hillsides, small woods and lakes.
- Midday Gardens:The 2nd Homeworld in year of the dragon, Midday Garden is set during the day with a blue sky overlooking wide gardens and large towering castles.
- Evening Lake: The 3rd homeworld is set during the evening inside a large lake containing parts of a submerged Tudor style castle.
- Midnight Mountain:Midnight Mountain is the final homeworld set at night on top of a high mountain
Each World has 4 "normal levels/realms", 1 "protester world (where you can play as another character eg.Bentley), 1 Speedway and 1 Sparx world.
Gameplay
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The Gameplay is somewhat similar to its 2 predecessors. There are four worlds in this 3d platform game and in order to proceed to the next world, Spyro must defeat the boss. However to travel to these bosses arenas, Spyro must make his way to the 4 "normal" levels/realms/worlds and the 1 "protestor" world/level/realm in that particular Homeworld to rescue a village who powers the machines which enables access to these bosses.
These levels are Free to explore and wander in all directions without any time limit. The worlds are littered with enemies which Attack Spyro, Spyro can defeat these enemies, and as a reward receive gems, these gems can be used later in the game. These gems also lay all over the level on the ground and inside crates. The levels are also littered with non-playable protesters which Inform you on things and give you information about the level.
To enter some levels, you may have to require a certain amount of eggs, To enter all the protestor levels, you must pay Moneybags gems that were collected to release a protester (eg.Bentley) which is blocking the way into the level, To Enter a level you may also have to Do another thing (eg.destroying a particular target).
As said above, To access some levels, it is necessary to collect a certain amount of eggs which can be achieved by locating them or as a reward for completing one of the minigames Inside the levels, These Eggs can be Said as the equivilent of stars in Super Mario 64. There are many different minigames Which reward you with these egss such as Sliding down a slide, Skateboarding, saving a puppy, collecting bones, catching thieves or Battling bosses. Spyro Can Also run into Powerups Which give Him Special abilities for a period of time (time left can be seen on a bar on the right of the screen)... These abilities could be a super flame, A Flying ability or maybe Invincibility. Like in the last 2 games, there are some areas where you can supercharge, this means that when you charge on A sertan tack, you go super fast and can brake heavy crates or catch fast thieves.
Including Spyro, There are 6 playable characters which all have there own abilities. These characters also have their own level where you play that character to complete the stage. All of these characters (excluding Sparx) also have minigames inside other levels.
Once you have beaten the last boss, there is the option of getting 100%(which requires collecting all 150 eggs as well as all 15000 gems), Once you have achieved 100%, a secret world will open.
Worlds and Levels
Sunrise Spring
*Level I: Sunny Villa
*Level II: Cloud Spires
*Level III: Molten Crater
*Level IV: Seashell Shore
*Level V (Speedway): Mushroom Speedway
*Level VI (Protestor):Sheila's Alp
*Level VII (Boss): Buzz's Dungeon
*Level VIII (Sparx World):
Midday Garden
*Level I: Icy Peak
*Level II: Enchanted Towers
*Level III: Spooky Swamp
*Level IV: Bamboo Terrace
*Level V (Speedway): Country Speedway
*Level VI (Protestor): Sgt. Byrd's Base
*Level VII (Boss): Spike's Arena
*Level VIII (Sparx World): Spider Town
Evening Lake
*Level I: Frozen Altars
*Level II:
*Level III: Fireworks Factory
*Level IV: Charmed Ridge
*Level V (Speedway): Honey Speedway
*Level VI (Protestor): Bentley's Outpost
*Level VII (Boss): Scorch's Pit
Characters
Spyro
The Purple dragon returns for the 3rd time... His personality is described by sparx...
"Spyro is the mischievous hero of this tale. He may be the smallest hero in the Dragon Family, but even the Elder Dragons admit he's got gumption! Just ask Gnasty Gnorc - he won't mess with Spyro again! Spyro's always rarin' to go, especially when he can headbash some sheep or flame some frogs. He's so full of energy, he keeps me on the move! Spyro is extremely curious and hardly ever cautious, which sometimes gets him into trouble! That's why I stick around, to make sure nothing too serious happens to him!" Sparx
Spyro can walk in all 360 angles and can do much more... During this game Spyro has two attacks.
- Charge: allows Spyro to run faster as well as ram enemies with his horn, This Attack does not work on Large enemies.
- Flame: Spyro unleashes a fire burst from his mouth to singe the enemies, This Attack does not work on Enemies With Metal Armour Or Sheilds.
Spyro also has several abilities such as swimming, headbashing, gliding, jumping and climbing.
Sparx
Sparx does quite a bit more than in previous titles, not only does he return as spyro's health bar but he is "in charge" of all the speedway levels, asking spyro through his kazoo voice what Spyro wants to do in these levels. He also has 4 playable levels of his own which are birds-eye-view scroll-shooters. After completing these levels, Sparx will unlock permanent special abilities for himself such as being able to collect gems further away or an extra hit point.
Other Characters
As well as Spyro and Sparx, numerous other characters appear in this game.
- Hunter: who first appeared in Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage!, appears in this game, aiding Spyro on his quest to defeat the Sorceress, as well as being playable in a few minigames in the speedway levels.
Numerous new characters also appear as playable characters.
- Sheila: Found in Sunrise Springs, She is an Australian kangaroo with an exceptional jumping ability. She can also Kick with her feet.
- Sgt. Byrd: Found in Midday Gardens, he is a penguin and military soldier with a funny, slow waddle. He can Fly as well as shoot homing missiles and launch bombs.
- Bentley: Found in Evening Lake, he is a smart and strong yeti with a gentle demeanor who wields a club made of ice. He can hit things with this club or rebound snowballs.
- Agent 9: Found in Midnight mountain, he is a space monkey who carries a lazer gun and is obessed with killing rynocs. He assists the same Professor from Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage!, who can only be seen in Agent 9's level and in one of the final cutscenes.
Moneybags Returns, hired by the sorceress to "keep charge" of certain things in "the forgotten realms". Like in Spyro 2, Spyro must pay Moneybags to get through some levels. As said above, you must also pay Moneybags to release protesters who are blocking their own levels.
Elora returns, but is only seen in one of the cutscenes after you beat the sorceress.
Just like in Spyro 2, in each realm there are certain characters who are not playable but give you useful information in general and about the level, such as "Billy Goats", "French Hummingbirds" and "Canadian Penguins".
Bosses
- Buzz resembles a giant toad, with a pair of strong legs, however he's not tough enough to withstand lava.
- Spike is a tall, muscle-bound monster who can really pack a punch. He uses a laser-like weapon to shoot at Spyro. He can either shoot lava to the ground or shock Spyro.
- Scorch is a giant winged beast that can produce a forcefield to protect himself. He is defeated by a carefully aimed missile.
- The Sorceress is the final boss. She can conjure up some powerful magic when necessary. There are two times she must be defeated: the first time is reached by collecting one hundred dragon eggs to gain entry into her lair and the second time is a saucer battle for the last dragon egg.