This game is almost a masterpiece, but just barely misses the mark with a few things. First, I will say that the idea of a pinball metroidvania platformer is really cool.

This biggest issue I had with 100%'ing the game was getting some collectables where you have to have an explosion attached to you and aim to get up some jumps. There is really no way to tell if you are completely accurate or not making it very frustrating to do.

One other small issue is to get 100% of this game, there are beetles you have to activate on every pinball puzzle room, but it is a secret achievement meaning I didn't actually ever realize I was doing it during the game. I had 54% of them done when I finished everything else, but the game doesn't show you where on the map you have them left until you have 76% of the achievement collected.

Generally though, pretty cool game that I feel like could continue to be expanded on.

I have now beaten this game on two different occasions. The first time, I got to 90% complete before beating the game, and the second time I 100% it.

The game is very good, but on my first playthrough, I decided I would 100% the game after beating it. However, the impossible lair is exhausting to beat on your first play though. I believe it took me about 18-25 attempts to beat it (can't remember for sure) and this level is well over 10 minutes long. By the time I was done, I didn't want to play anymore. The impossible lair is amazing, but it should really be reserved as the last thing you do in the game. As the final test of skill in the game, it is great and so rewarding when you finally do beat it.

On my second playthrough about a year later, I completed everything before the last level (took about half the time as the first playthrough), and the last level only took me 6 attempts to beat. It was good, and not as exhausting because it was a bit easier for me now. Still difficult though for sure.

I love this game, but just know that when you finish the last level, you are most likely ready to shelve it (for a while at least).

This...is how not to make an open world kids game. It is just really empty and boring. Also, the game has so many game breaking bugs and glitches that were never patched even well over a year after release.

Also, don't bother looking for collectables or exploring until you get all aliens. You can get them by doing the first 3-4 missions in every branch of the campaign.

For reference, I 100% this game (technically) in about 10 hours. See my far too in-depth review below:


Content - A pretty good size open world map...but there is nothing in it. The collectables are a thing. Some are just things, others are level ups for your powers. That's cool I guess. Out of my 10 hours (6 were spent just going where I needed to go). There is a fast travel system, but it is not helpful/useful really as you can only fast travel to/from very specific spots.

Achievements - They are completely busted. I 100% this game (as much as I could), however, researching online taught me that if you save and quit, then the achievements have a 50/50 shot of breaking. I am technically missing 4 achievements (all I should technically have). For me to get those, I have to restart from a fresh save and get them without quitting it seems. No thanks.

Sound Design - eh. There is sound. Although, halfway though the game, the voice acting just stopped working.

Level Design - Most of this game uses the open world as an excuse to not have level design. This is not good. There are platform/puzzle rooms to complete in music rooms. Those are decent. The rest of the level design is pretty bad. Although, you can get to areas outside of intended methods pretty often.

Controls - it is fine. The character select wheel works different than all other wheels. Letting go doesn't close the menu; You have to select your alien to close it. It is snappy though when used to it.

Art - Basic, and inoffensive, but horribly low texture resolutions. Also, tons of pop in from the environment.

Challenge - It is almost all very easy with a couple of exceptions. The exceptions are combat challenges where you fight 10 waves of enemies. I did these before upgrading a lot, and it was brutal, but I did it. There are just so many enemies on screen during those. I did one again after being fully powered up and it was very easy at that point.

Story - eh. The main missions are so short. You could beat the main story within 3 or 4 hours probably.

Bugs - So many. A few of the icons were not on the correct spot on the map. One collectable item never spawned where it was supposed to. Many achievements didn't appear because of me not playing in one sitting. I fell through the map a few times because I used an alien powerup too close to a wall.

Value - This game is really rough. If you are looking for an open world, collect-athon kid's game...just go with like Mario odyssey or Yooka Laylee.

I'm rating this game based off of being a game for 4-8 year old children. I played this though and 100% it in 2.5 hours.

It was decent, however, they really focus everything on making the game playable and fun for kids who may have just started gaming as can be seen by the menu and basic controls.

This was a pleasant surprise that was an enjoyable enough time even as an adult. I will be introducing this game to my daughter in about 1.5-2 years from now.

As an adult, I would rate this around 2.5-3 stars out of 5. Better than you would think, but far from amazing. For small children or 1st time gamers, I would rate it closer to a 4. Check out my far too in-depth review below:


Content - There is a story mode that is about 1.5-2 hours to 100% for an adult. There are also tons of minigames though like jump roping, obstacle courses, and collection challenges. All easy (except a couple), but still short enough to be interesting. I wish the story mode was a little bit longer, but it isn't a big issue.

Achievements - Achievements are simple and straight forward. They consist of beating a level, finding all collectables in a level, find all collectables total, and do all minigames. The very last achievement didn't pop when it was supposed to. I just closed and restarted the game and it popped instantly.

Sound Design - I mean, it is decent enough. Characters sound nice, sound effects are non-obtrusive, and music is generic, but not terrible. Also, the menu reads the option you have selected out loud. Great for kids who can't read yet.

Level Design - All very straight forward and simple (minus a very small maze section), but still fine. Only once did I miss any collectables and had to go back to get it. They are designed to be understandable to kids and make them feel cool.

Controls - It controls lol. The only buttons are action, jump, and move. There are small challenges where you have to do a task, so you have to move the stick one direction while pushing a face button. The last fight against a giant robot uses this to really make the moment feel much bigger than it actually is. Also, this is the most important part of a game for kids. If the controls don't work as intended, kids will just get confused and upset.

Art - Basic, inoffensive, and nice. Nothing looks terrible (textures are actually decent), and UI is clean understandable.

Challenge - Very easy overall, but as this is intended for 4-7 year olds, this does not affect the score I gave. There are 2 mini games I actually had to try like 3 or 4 times though to get every collectable.

Story - I watched like 2 cutscenes, then skipped the rest. From what I saw, it seems very close to a standard Paw Patrol episode. Kids that are fans of the show will love it.

Value - At $40 at release, the price is steep, but you can find this for $10-$20 now. If you have a kid who loves paw patrol and wants to get into gaming, this is a great purchase.

For reference, I 100% the game in 3 hours exactly. Everything about this game is bad. Enjoy my way too in-depth review. See below:


Content - There is no content here. There are 6 or 7 cups, with 3-6 races each. But there are only 6 unique courses. A couple of the cups had the same track in them twice. The only difference in the cups was which order you did the same tracks.

Achievements - Any game that doesn't give you the achievement for beating a lower difficulty when you beat it on the hardest fails this. Beating a cup on hard does not unlock achievements for easy or medium difficulty. Playing through, I unlocked every achievement except for playing 3 hours (30 mins short). So I jumped in a race and sat there for a while to get this as well. But...at least you can 100% quickly if you just want quick platinum trophies

Sound Design - Cheap sound effects that are repeated and are annoying. Also, there are rumors the music was taken from "free" music on YouTube? I turned it down halfway through and just listened to the song "Red Flags" over and over again on YouTube instead

Level Design - What Level design? There is only one actual shortcut total. The levels just have split paths here and there, but those don't make a difference really.

Controls - The game doesn't work. Drifting is ok, but it doesn't show you when you have drifted enough to get a boost. It seems to be about 2 seconds of drifting to boost. Also, randomly, your car will just stop moving for 3-4 seconds like you let go of accelerate. This was really annoying. Also, accelerate is a face button and not a trigger which is gross.

Art - Textures are really low quality and very pixelated. Models look like toys, which is on par with the brand, but it just made me want to play Toy Story 2 instead.

Challenge - This is a kids game, so this won't mark down the score for being too easy, but I lapped bots on the hard difficulty

Value - LOL THIS GAME RELEASED AT $40 AT LAUNCH HAHAHA. This is literally a reskin of a game that plays the exact same just a few years earlier. Get punked consumers.

This, is some good content. Spyro 1 and 2 are amazing, and I grew up playing them. This was my first time playing Spyro 3. This would have been 4.5 stars, but the 3rd game is actually frustrating and annoying to complete (just beating the game doesn't seem like it would be though) compared to the other two games. For reference, I platinumed the first 2 games, and finished the 3rd game at about 80%. I just didn't want to play it anymore.

Plus, I feel like the level design in the 3rd game is the weakest. In all spyro games, the levels basically make a circle where the end of the level is usually (not always) very close to the beginning of the level. This is most prevalent in the 3rd game, but I feel like the levels are just so short (if you just go the for main objective). The levels feel often feel very same-y.

Now the other two games, they are great lol. I always like the 2nd game more than the first growing up because I liked the characters more, but I like the quick, refined gameplay of the first game more now. A point down on the 2nd (and 3rd game) is the extra objectives often seem like they are purposely meant to take up way more time than they should and are sometimes very monotonous.

Get this game though if you don't have it already.