Preston Ward Condra Ranks All 101 Spyro 1-3 Levels

by Preston Ward Condra

A project I made when I was 15 years old, during my sophomore year in High School in September 2009. I critiqued and ranked every single level from Spyro the Dragon, Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage and Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon in, one consolidated project from worst to best. It doesn't matter if you agree with my opinion or not. All that matters, is that this ended up getting finished.

48. 55: Agent 9's Lab

As for all the four extra like playable characters go in of Spyro 3, I found Sheila and Sgt. Byrd to be favorites of the bunch thanks to how unique and more in-depth in terms of gameplay design they are for most of the sections in of the level they were playable in of Spyro 3. I loved Sheila's unique take on platforming elements of the sections she was playable in such as double jumping and able to stomp over enemies and I loved how you go explore a main level of such with Sgt. Byrd with his flying and how you to time your attacks and skills right on your enemies.

As for as Agent 9 goes while I didn't like him as much for Sheila and Sgt. Byrd, I found him to be a decently enjoyable character in terms of gameplay he added in for levels he was playable in for Spyro 3 and how easy he was to control unlike of such for Bentley, IMO. Agent 9's Lab was a great level overall and a great level of such nice for getting used to the main gameplay mechanics of Agent 9 in Spyro 3.

One unique thing that I loved from Agent 9 was how original of a character he is much like of the other three characters you could play as in of Spyro 3. Agent 9's main gameplay element you had with his character was with him being able to take out enemies with his laser gun you could fire with at any time with. With of the laser blaster Agent 9 was controlling with of the level made for with unique level design thoughts in his level such as collecting treasure from above you in the air and setting yourself near force field destroying away any locked paths and enemies in your path ahead and overall thanks to this laser mechanic made up for again, very unique level design for Agent 9's level.

Another of note of why I like Agent 9's Lab as a pretty good overall is with the just as hard but, fun extra like mini-games you could take in part of the level such as with the birds living themselves inside of the professor's lab and you have to take them out yourself with which was rewarding as it was the first real section of the level where you had take and learn full control of aim gameplay control with Agent 9.

While Agent 9's Lab was great overall, there is one notable flaw in of the level that keeps it from almost making the top half of the level section in my countdown to the even more better levels out there in of this classic PS1 franchise and that is how I felt more of an emphasis on platforming would play more in of the level well for Agent 9's main character game design in of the level rather then all on full laser gameplay of the level. Both Sheila and Sgt. Byrd's are seen as better characters in my book as they both control great and have great gameplay effects on their levels with exploring and design with features of those two characters that Agent 9 does not have such as double jumping and flying given both of those elements make for their levels offering more variety in style in of such to Agent 9.

Still, Agent 9's Lab was a great level, great character and involved great and enjoyable gameplay elements of the like. If it wasn't also for the fact that the remaining likely 50 or so levels to rank in of the countdown offer even better overall gameplay mechanics and overall flawless IMO with nothing to say bad for, Agent 9's Lab would be higher on the list but, overall it was a pretty overall good level from Spyro 3 as such for other levels nearly missing out in of the Top 50 in of my countdown.