Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon

I decided I wanted to actually finish what I started and am playing Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon, the final of the original Spyro trilogy and the final Spyro game to be released on the PlayStation.  Spyro 3 was developed by Insomniac (the last Spyro game developed by them) and once again published by Sony and released mid-November of 2000.  Spyro 3 follows it's predecessors by putting an emphasis on collecting, this time eggs being the main item.

The story of Spyro 3 begins when an apprentice steals the dragon eggs from Spyro and the dragon world.  Spyro and Hunter (the cheetah from Ripto's Rage) follow to gather the dragon eggs back from the evil Sorceress.  As you go through the game, you battle against the Sorceress and her rhynoc army to retrieve the eggs.  You also are aided by various other creatures who have been trying to defeat the Sorceress, but first you have to free them from their imprisonment (usually by collecting enough gems to pay the greedy Moneybags who the Sorceress has paid to keep them captive). 

The game I'm playing is a saved game and pretty well complete (93%), so I'm going through some of it to collect the last few eggs. I'm starting out in the third world: Evening Lake, searching for the last few eggs.  The first uncompleted level I found is Lost Fleet, so might as well enter and try to complete it.  The original story is there is Crazy Ed who is trying to find his lost treasure.  You lead Ed through level until you finally find his treasure and the first of the six dragon eggs.

I've already gotten that egg though.  The last one I haven't received in that level is called 'Skate Race Hunter', so my first job is to find the skate race track.  So I wonder the level, filed with ships sunken in the sand and 'ghosts' (rhynocs in sheets).  It seems like a good idea to get a good look around, so I climb to the highest point of the ship and spot a section of the with a few ships in a row that look like ramps.  Seems promising.  After gliding down there, I head through a portal to find Hunter and a few rhynocs skating around him.  Hunter lets me know that the rhynocs think I'm slow and have wagered an egg that I can't beat them.  It doesn't sound hard, but I'm assuming because I believe I've done this before and apparently don't have the egg. 

So the race starts and each of the rhynocs use turbo to boost in front of me.  Racing forwards, I ram through a few crabs to gain a bit of boost and ram the fifth place rhynoc.  I continue on, grabbing a rocket and push my way up towards third place.  It seems like I'll do well and be able to win, and then the third lap ends and I'm still no in first.  Humbug.  I try the race a second time, moving up a bit quicker and getting a pretty good understanding of how I should be doing this.  Apparently if I do tricks (haven't figured out how yet), I can get power for boosts (the other way is to run over the crabs).  I can also gather rockets to blast the rhynocs off the course.

So here goes my third try: I start the race well, getting some good boosts and actually pass one rhynoc without taking him out (not quite what I wanted to do, but I don't think he'll be able to keep up).  I figure I'm pretty safe, and end up passing the rhynoc to get into first by the end of the second lap.  At this point, I want a rocket incase the guy in second passes me, but before I even get close, both the two rhynocs I passed pass me together.  One speeds up and starts to pull away, the second isn't so good though and stays right near me.  A it too near as I am able to simply flame him out of the race.  I grab the first rocket I come up on, blasting the other rhynoc to seal the deal and get my egg.

Or so I thought.

Apparently I already have that egg.  Hunter himself challenges me to a race where I have to run over all the crabs and beat him.  That might explain why I don't have the egg yet.  Hunter is faster then the rhynocs and a single rocket doesn't take him out.  But here I go anyways.  I start off trailing him and doing my best to gather boost by killing crabs and doing tricks.  I eventually remember that I can use my boost, catch up with him and use a rocket to knock him back.  At this point, just doing a few tricks an staying on my board keeps me ahead enough not to worry.  He does catch up and pass me at one point, but just long enough for me to use the rocket I gathered to knock him back again and win the egg.

So I've collected another egg and am taking my leave of the Spyro franchise.  As the work week begins again, I work towards more game and continue into the year.  Adios for today though.