обосраный кал раздутый
This review contains spoilers
First off, compared to the second game, I had absolutely no issues with camera controls in this one. They added a fast camera centering button, rather than having to slowly utilize the First-Person camera to re-center your camera all the time.
Next, I highly appreciate them consolidating the amount of Things to grab in this game. I hated collecting a lot of the Orbs in the second game, so reducing the things you need to get in this game to just ONE (Dragon Eggs) was appreciated. You have to get a lot of them, but you get Dragon Eggs left and right, more than enough to complete the game. And rather than doing constant side quests and helping NPCs for them, you can just find a lot of them hidden in levels.
The game balances a really involved and in-depth storyline with humor and comedy. If the second game was Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, then the third game is Sonic SatAM. I loved the little lore drops of the Dragons coming from this other world, and that they were the source of magic in this world before they were banished by the Sorceress and took all the magic with them. I loved the slow progression of Bianca turning away from the Sorceress once she realizes she can't make concessions with her master regarding the safety of the Dragon Eggs. I thought it was neat that Hunter gets kidnapped partway during the story, and that locks you out of doing his challenges during levels until he's freed by Bianca later on. I liked that they developed a cute romance between the two of them as well.
The game is pretty funny, too. I lost it when I saw Greta reference The Matrix through the entirety of Fireworks Factory. The end of Charmed Ridge was really funny too. It was a funny twist that the princess actually WANTED to get with the cat prince, and gives you an egg if you let them ride off on his magic flying motorcycle (which I can't decide if that's supposed to be a reference to Grease or not). There's a bit where one of the NPCs asks you to go check on his girlfriend Rapunzel in the tallest tower. When you get there, she says something like "I have a restraining order against that guy, can you tell him to leave me alone". All the NPCs in Spooky Swamp speak in haiku. Though the quality of the writing is not much of a shock considering how much I enjoyed the first two games' writing.
I really liked the additional "Playable Critters". On one hand, I hate that they were used to essentially gate certain levels from being beatable, forcing you to backtrack (akin to Colored Gems in Crash); on the other, everyone but Agent 9 was really fun to play and their levels were mostly great. I thought it was cool how Agent 9 had a House of the Dead-style level and a Doom-style level, but I got the feeling his levels were the least developed of the bunch. I didn't like his controls, and he was easily the most obnoxious and unfunny of the four.
Being able to play as Sparx was really cool, especially that you could upgrade him by finishing each of his levels. I didn't utilize the Treasure tracking feature much in 2, but it came in REALLY handy during the endgame wrap-up of collecting everything I was missing in hub worlds and in levels where the Gems were just really tough to find on my own.
At the start of the review, I did say I appreciated them limiting progression to Dragon Eggs, but god some of the levels were just completely awful to try and complete. The Yeti boxing sucked, I kinda hated Haunted Tomb, the Leap of Faith Egg in Dino Mines was really stupid and the enemies are really annoying to fight, the rooftop jumps in Frozen Altars frustrated me to no end... and oh my god, the Yeti snowboarding in the Super Bonus Round was awful. Ripto's Rage was just kinda tedious, but this game actively frustrated me with some of the stupid shit they want you to do.
I don't see myself ever trying to 100% this game again, but I give it half a star more than Ripto's Rage just because I think I had an overall better time with this one, barring those few moments of gamer rage lol. Also, getting to charge into Moneybags and beat all of the Gems he squeezed out of you was so satisfying and I laughed my ass off the whole time. I liked him in the second game, but he's a sleazy motherfucker in this one.
Next, I highly appreciate them consolidating the amount of Things to grab in this game. I hated collecting a lot of the Orbs in the second game, so reducing the things you need to get in this game to just ONE (Dragon Eggs) was appreciated. You have to get a lot of them, but you get Dragon Eggs left and right, more than enough to complete the game. And rather than doing constant side quests and helping NPCs for them, you can just find a lot of them hidden in levels.
The game balances a really involved and in-depth storyline with humor and comedy. If the second game was Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, then the third game is Sonic SatAM. I loved the little lore drops of the Dragons coming from this other world, and that they were the source of magic in this world before they were banished by the Sorceress and took all the magic with them. I loved the slow progression of Bianca turning away from the Sorceress once she realizes she can't make concessions with her master regarding the safety of the Dragon Eggs. I thought it was neat that Hunter gets kidnapped partway during the story, and that locks you out of doing his challenges during levels until he's freed by Bianca later on. I liked that they developed a cute romance between the two of them as well.
The game is pretty funny, too. I lost it when I saw Greta reference The Matrix through the entirety of Fireworks Factory. The end of Charmed Ridge was really funny too. It was a funny twist that the princess actually WANTED to get with the cat prince, and gives you an egg if you let them ride off on his magic flying motorcycle (which I can't decide if that's supposed to be a reference to Grease or not). There's a bit where one of the NPCs asks you to go check on his girlfriend Rapunzel in the tallest tower. When you get there, she says something like "I have a restraining order against that guy, can you tell him to leave me alone". All the NPCs in Spooky Swamp speak in haiku. Though the quality of the writing is not much of a shock considering how much I enjoyed the first two games' writing.
I really liked the additional "Playable Critters". On one hand, I hate that they were used to essentially gate certain levels from being beatable, forcing you to backtrack (akin to Colored Gems in Crash); on the other, everyone but Agent 9 was really fun to play and their levels were mostly great. I thought it was cool how Agent 9 had a House of the Dead-style level and a Doom-style level, but I got the feeling his levels were the least developed of the bunch. I didn't like his controls, and he was easily the most obnoxious and unfunny of the four.
Being able to play as Sparx was really cool, especially that you could upgrade him by finishing each of his levels. I didn't utilize the Treasure tracking feature much in 2, but it came in REALLY handy during the endgame wrap-up of collecting everything I was missing in hub worlds and in levels where the Gems were just really tough to find on my own.
At the start of the review, I did say I appreciated them limiting progression to Dragon Eggs, but god some of the levels were just completely awful to try and complete. The Yeti boxing sucked, I kinda hated Haunted Tomb, the Leap of Faith Egg in Dino Mines was really stupid and the enemies are really annoying to fight, the rooftop jumps in Frozen Altars frustrated me to no end... and oh my god, the Yeti snowboarding in the Super Bonus Round was awful. Ripto's Rage was just kinda tedious, but this game actively frustrated me with some of the stupid shit they want you to do.
I don't see myself ever trying to 100% this game again, but I give it half a star more than Ripto's Rage just because I think I had an overall better time with this one, barring those few moments of gamer rage lol. Also, getting to charge into Moneybags and beat all of the Gems he squeezed out of you was so satisfying and I laughed my ass off the whole time. I liked him in the second game, but he's a sleazy motherfucker in this one.
spyro kinda goated