Difficulty:

Easy

Time Spent:

10 to 20 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Overrated"

Spyro; Year of the Dragon is the last instalment in the original Spyro series. In this game Spyro must battle an enemy race known as 'Rynocs' in another, far-off set of worlds that the dragon race had previously forgotten about. He must do this with the help of Hunter, Sparx and other new friends he gathers along the way, in order to retrieve the dragon eggs that have been stolen.

Spyro begins with the same skills he finished the last game with, and, just like before, one must work their way around the map, retrieving gems and confronting enemies, using his dragon attacks to defeat them. Instead of seeking well-hidden Orbs, however, Spyro is now looking for dragon eggs. He must also free trapped souls along the way, who, in turn, assist him with his new quest.

The game looks the same as the previous two, although it shares more of a resemblance in its artistic direction to the second game than the first. The music, composed again by Police drummer Stewart Copeland, is good. It does, however, lack the raw power of the music and artistic styling of the first game, and the game looks a bit dated, as though the creators decided they would just make another one for some more money without spending too much time with new designs and innovations.

The big, very new attribute, is the ability to play as other characters. Once a new key character is unlocked, one can play certain levels as that character. This is all right, although the controls for all of the characters are clumsy and far from precise. More time should have been spent here.

Don't get me wrong, this is still a great game. It looks great, feels good and it still has that same Spyro 'Everything just works togetherness' about it. It's just that I wish there were more real instruments in the soundtrack, just as I wish there was more of that unique styling from the first game that made it so amazing. The environments just don't seem as believable and some of the maps are just too big in comparison to what must be done to conquer them at the difficulty level set (which is quite easy – definitely easier than the previous games).

I would still recommend playing this game, and I would still recommend buying this game. Unfortunately, I know that if you've played the first, or even the second one, you will finish the game feeling a little deflated.