Spyro: Year of the Dragon

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Release Date: November 10, 2000
Developers: Insomniac Games
Publishers: Sony Computer Entertainment
Platforms: PS1
Genre: Platform
Players: Single-Player
Rating: PEGI 3+


Synopsis:
Spyro: Year of the Dragon is a platform game, developed by Insomniac Games and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation video game console. The game was released in North America on October 23, 2000 and in Europe on November 10, 2000. Year of the Dragon is the third installment in the Spyro series and the last Spyro game to be released for the PlayStation. The game was the last Spyro game Insomniac developed; their next title would be Ratchet & Clank for the PlayStation 2. This is the only Spyro game in the PlayStation library to not get released in Japan.

Named after the animal of the Chinese zodiac, which was the symbol at the time of the game's release, Year of the Dragon follows the titular purple character Spyro as he travels to the "Forgotten Worlds" after 150 magical dragon eggs are stolen from the land of the dragons by an evil sorceress. Players travel across thirty different worlds gathering gems and eggs. Year of the Dragon introduced new characters and minigames to the series, as well as offering improved graphics and music.

Upon release, the game sold more than two million units in the United States, and received positive critical response. Reviewers noted the game built on the successful formula of its predecessors by adding more games and expansive environments. At Game Rankings, Year of the Dragon is one of the top twenty highest-rated PlayStation games of all time. The game was followed by the multiplatform title Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly, and was later released for download on the PlayStation Store on May 14, 2009.

Gameplay:
In Year of the Dragon, you control a purple dragon called Spyro, who you must take through 5 different worlds (containing 37 levels combined), to collect gems worth 15,000 (different coloured gems have different values, e.g. Red gems = 1, Green gems = 2, Blue gems = 5 etc..) and 150 dragon eggs which have been stolen by Bianca and the evil Sorceress.
Whilst going through the game, you will find the gems lying around in places, some will be in barrels in which you can smash by charging into or breathing fire on. Other things that contain gems are metal vase-looking things in which you must charge into to break and release the gems. The eggs, however, a few will be found lying around in random places on the map, whereas you collect eggs whilst completing the main task on a level and doing mini-games which are sometimes found in portals. To go onto the last level of the game, you will have to have collected all 15,000 gems and 149 of the 150 eggs, which gives you an insight of what you have to do in the last level.
When in the game, you will have a dragonfly sidekick called Sparx, when you are in full health, Sparx will be yellow, when someone inflicts damage on you, he turns blue, if they inflict damage again, he will turn green, then he will disappear if you are inflicted damage again, then if you are inflicted damage whilst Sparx has already disappeared, you will lose a life (lives can be gained by smashing message bottles which will contain a blue butterfly for Sparx to eat). To help Sparx's health go back up, you will need to find the small, helpless creatures that are around the level on the floor (e.g. bunnies, crabs, whatever goes with the theme of the level/scenery) and either charge or breathe fire on them to regain the health in the descending order of which Sparx loses it. If you are already in full health and keep killing the little helpless creatures, after a while (approximately 6-9 creatures), you will gain an extra life, which will be eaten by Sparx in the form of a blue butterfly instead of the normal yellow butterfly.
You will be in 5 different worlds which contain around 6 levels each, you need to complete each level in that world in order to unlock the next world, but in between worlds, you will have to face a super-creature in an epic battle.
In each world, there will be 1 good character that you must pay a greedy man called Moneybags to set free (don't worry, you'll get your money back later!), and then they will have their own level and also have mini-tasks in different levels. These characters are a Kangaroo called Sheila, a penguin called Sgt. Bird, a yeti called Bentley and a space monkey called Agent 9, they are all controlled the same way Spyro is but move differently and attack differently, e.g. Sgt. Bird can move by flying or waddling, and can attack by shooting fireballs at villians/barrels containing gems.
Once you have got all of the gems and eggs in the first 4 worlds (which you can keep track of your progress by looking at your Atlas on the start menu), you will have to fight the Sorceress to get the last egg.
Overall, it is a really fun game to play, and can be very challenging. I've had it since i was 5, and still to this day haven't completed it, i only know how it ends because i've seen my cousin complete it lol!

Gameplay Rating: 10/10

Graphics:

PS1. Explains it in 3 letters, the graphics are poor and out-dated being a game from 2000 before the PS2 was even invented! It is very pixelly and not very realistic. The edges of characters/scenery aren't very smooth, but it is not so bad to the point that it is off-putting! The 3D is terrible too, it doesn't look as 3D as the graphics you would see on more recent games. But on a more positive view, you can clearly identify the characters for what they are (e.g. you can tell Spyro's a dragon, you can tell Bentley's a yeti etc.) which was sometimes a rare thing to see on PS1. Overall, with the quality of graphics on these consoles back then, but having to give it a real rating, i can only give it a 6.

Graphics Rating: 6/10

Examples:

Controls:

The controls are very basic. Left analog to move. Hold square to charge. 'O' to breathe fire. 'X' to jump. The controls are very similar to those of PS1 games where the controls are very basic due to the lack of quality of games and the simplicity of games. I don't know about you, but i love games that are easy to control! It is easy to rotate the camera to view your surroundings by using the handy L2 and R2 buttons. The controls do get a bit more complicated in some of the mini-games though, for example, when there is a skateboarding level, you have to control with the left analog stick to move, then press traingle when at the top of the ramp to launch, then have to hold 'X' and use the left analog stick to choose which trick you do, which makes it all very confusing. Overall, a genuinely easy game to control, maybe a bit more difficult to control in the mini-games but mainly simple.

Controls Rating: 9.5/10

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Overall Rating: 9.5/10, STRONGLY RECOMMENDED!