An outstanding trilogy.
Playstation exclusive.
Spyro: Year the Dragon is a platformer published by Sony and developed by Insomniac Games for the Playstation, Playstation 3 and PSP.
GAMEPLAY
The other characters were supposed to be the main selling point of these games, however, unsurprisingly it's Spyro's levels that steal the show with their feeling of a formula finally perfected. Now the other characters are interesting, I think Sgt. Byrd is the best of them, although it feels like he's just Spyro with slightly extended abilities. Sheila and Bentley are alright, although most of their levels feel like one trick pony things that Spyro could have done instead, Sheila simply jumps higher and Bentley hits harder, other than that they're more restricting in every way possible. I think they nailed the concept of other characters with Sheila's levels in Desert Ruins and Seashell Shore, where the both segments are done in a side scrolling style, where they feel different to Spyro, rather than the dumbed-down Spyro levels that the other ones feel like.
Now the Sparx levels are pretty different, but I didn't really like them because they seemed a bit dull and slow in comparison to the fast pace of Spyro's levels. Agent 9 however, well I don't think I've ever heard anyone say that they enjoyed them, the shooting mechanics just don't really work well, especially when compared to characters like Spyro, who feels more fluent and awesome.
The other major additions would be the skateboarding segments and the updated Speedways, which I thought were both pretty cool. Speedways are easily the best they've ever been in the series, thanks to the things like races, and the skateboarding can just be a nice change up to the rest of the game with plenty of tricks and things to keep it interesting.
STORY
Development of the Sorceress, she goes from a calculated evil character to an insane one because she can't stop Spyro. How cool is that, for a game like this?
SOUND
This is the definitive Spyro game, nailing down that formula with some inspiring game design for the new levels. Although I can't help but feel this game could have been closer to perfection if they just expanded Spyro's abilities, rather than throwing in some unnecessary characters.
