Lot of people criticize this one because of the gimmicks. For me, the problem is not the gimmick themselves, which actually add some variety, but their implementation and that many of then feel shoehorned and don't fit Spyro. Crash 3 motorbike or submarine levels feel natural because you already see that kind of tech and ride a few animals in the previous games. Spyro riding a skateboard just feels weird. Still Spyro 3's gimmicks are most of the times much more fun than all the boring side missions of Spyro 2. Other than that, the level design of the main levels is really fun and its actually the most challenging of the 3 games.