The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon

The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon is the third and final installment in The Legend of Spyro trilogy, as well as the tenth anniversary game of the series.

For 9 years, this was the last standalone game in the Spyro franchise since the Skylanders series was released, until the announcement of Spyro: Reignited Triogy.

Plot
3 years after the events of the previous game, the world has fallen into chaos with Malefor on the loose and no one able to do anything to stop him. Dragons have become feared and hated, the world is at war, dark magic and evil monsters run rampant, and Malefor has taken over the realms, using the Dragon Temple as his base of operations, which now floats over an active volcano. The Guardian dragons had to flee and take refuge in the Dragon City Warfang, one of the few places not under Malefor's control yet. Meanwhile, Spyro and Cynder remain trapped under the ruins of Mount Malefor, frozen within the Time Crystal.

One day a squad of Grublins, Malefor's new minions, find the crystal and take it to the catacombs to be sacrificed to an Earth golem monster. Malefor ordered them to chain Spyro and Cynder, who now are teenagers, together via a magical green chain after releasing them from the crystal. Shortly after awakening the two dragons and Sparx find themselves attacked by golems only to be rescued by Hunter the Cheetah. Hunter explains the trio what happened in the last three years, and that Ignitus sent him to find them and bring them to Warfang.

Once out of the catacombs Spyro feels guilty for having failed to prevent Malefor's rebirth, Cynder tries to comfort him but the two are captured by the Cheetah village. The chief of the village remains distrusting of the two dragons and tells Spyro that he's just like Malefor. The two convince the chief to release them and Hunter in exchange of finding a villager who went missing. While looking for him they run into a hermit who warns Cynder that even if not under Malefor's control, she is still the dark monster she was in the first game, and Spyro will follow the same path of darkness Malefor did.

Distraught, the two dragons and Hunter eventually make it to Warfang only to find the city under attack from Malefor's army. With the efforts of Spyro and Cynder, the Guardian Dragons, Hunter and the rest of the Cheetah village, the City successfully repels the invaders. At this point Spyro and Cynder begin to show signs of developing feelings for each other. This victory is short lived however, as Malefor appears to tell them that the attack was merely stalling time so he could revive The Destroyer. An apocalyptic monster that leaves a trail of Fire as it walks, once it laps around the world, the Belt of Fire will consume the world and destroy it.

Unable to keep up with the Destroyer's speed, the dragons instead plan to ambush it on it's way back and destroy before it completes the Belt of Fire, but first they must evacuate the city through an underground ruin. While exploring the ruins Spyro finds a mural depicting Malefor as a savior, making him worry if he truly is destined to become a Dark Master as well. On their way to the ambush spot Ignitus assures Spyro if Malefor is darkness, then Spyro is Light. The crew plan to flood a canyon as the Destroyer passes through it to paralyze it long enough to destroy it.

The plan seemingly works, Spyro and Cynder destroy all the Dark Crystals controlling the Destroyer seemingly killing it. Unfortunately this is all in vain as Malefor has a backup dark crystal in his lair. The gang decide that the only course of action left is to confront Malefor himself, but to do so they must cross the deadly belt of fire. Ignitus decides to take the two while Sparx and the other guardians stay behind and take care of the evacuation.

As the three dragons try to cross the intense flames Ignitus begins to collapse. Spyro begs to turn back and find another route, but Ignitus decides to sacrifice himself to help Spyro reach the other side, dying in the process. Spyro is horrified at the death of his mentor and becomes Dark Spyro for a moment, but Cynder manages to calm him down. With no one left on their side, Spyro and Cynder climb the volcano and reach Malefor's lair.

Once the two meet Malefor face to face, the Dark Purple dragon proceeds to quickly break their spirit by telling them that Spyro was the one who freed Malefor, and that Cynder is the one responsible for that happening. He also tells them that the Purple Dragon's destiny is to save the world by destroying it. Spyro refuses to believe this, but Cynder finds herself doubting her actions long enough for Malefor to take control of her again. Cynder begins to attack Spyro while Malefor laughs victoriously.

Heartbroken, Spyro refuses to fight Cynder. When she asks why, he simply says that without her there's nothing left worth fighting for. Those words convince Cynder that Spyro does have feelings for her and she breaks from Malefor's control. Angered, Malefor battles the two dragons. As the battle goes on the Destroyer completes the Belt of Fire and the world begins to crumble apart. Spyro and Cynder ultimately defeat Malefor when ancient spirits appear to imprison him again which removes the magic chain from them, but the world's end is still about to happen.

Spyro remembers Ignitus' sacrifice and decides to do the same, but first begs Cynder to leave and save herself. Cynder decides to stay and whispers "I love you" as Spyro uses his powers to reconstruct the planet. Sparx, the cheetahs and dragons watch as the world is saved, and mourn the alleged death of Spyro and Cynder.

In the game's epilogue, the Chronicler takes Ignitus' spirit and makes him the new Chronicler. Ignitus ask about Spyro's fate, to which the Chronicler says that there's no record of his or Cynder's death within the entire library. Happy to hear this, Ignitus wonders what happened to him. At the Valley of Avalar, Spyro and Cynder are seen alive and happy, apparently having become a couple once and for all.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) Spyro is much more mature and serious in this game compared to all of his previous appearances, even his other Legend of Spyro appearances. This is accentuated by his new design which makes him look more like a teenager. Same for Cynder.
 * 2) Cynder is fully playable, the player can switch between her and Spyro at any point of the game in single player mode while the other dragon is controlled by a rather competent AI, in co-op mode the second player takes control of Cynder.
 * 3) Great voice acting, especially by Elijah Wood and Gary Oldman
 * 4) Spyro and Cynder are chained by a "magical green chain" which prevents either from straying too far away from each other during gameplay, making co-op mode much comfortable without needing split screens. The green chain is also used multiple times for puzzle solving.
 * 5) Solid fun combat, something rather uncommon in platform games.
 * 6) Great graphics even for today.
 * 7) The darkest and saddest game in the series so far, and despite being darker than its prequels, it still has some funny moments here and there
 * 8) Unlike other Spyro games, you can fly anytime you want.
 * 9) Spyro and Cynder both have their own elements, and while they can be similar, but they're also unique in their own ways, several of which are required to solve puzzles.
 * 10) All of the elements for Spyro and Cynder are unlocked from the start, but without the upgrades. The player can upgrade each element separately, allowing them to specialize in the elements they prefer.
 * 11) Lots of secrets and unlockables.
 * 12) Amazing soundtrack, especially the end credits.
 * 13) Hunter the Cheetah appears in this game. Much like Spyro, he's an alternate incarnation of the original character with a more mature and noble personality.
 * 14) Impressive boss battles, even for a Spyro game.
 * 15) Malefor, the main antagonist of the game and the general trilogy, is widely considered the best villain in the entire Spyro franchise. He's well known for his menacing appearance and surprisingly dark backstory, which is a big contrast to the light-hearted cartoony villains in other Spyro games.
 * 16) *The final battle with Malefor is amazing!
 * 17) Like the previous game, the game's theme song, Guide You Home is very fitting to the ending.
 * 18) This game is one of the rare occasions in which a fan-shipping (Spyro x Cynder) becomes canon. It was confirmed by the developers that the two were not planned to become a couple but they decided to make it canon due to massive amount of fan requests.
 * 19) The ending is well handled, beautiful, and a great conclusion to the The Legend of Spyro trilogy.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) Despite having the ability to fly at will, it is rather restrictive.
 * 2) Unlike the previous two games, enemies (with the exception of the Elite Enemies) don't show their health bars, which makes it hard to know what enemy is weak to what.
 * 3) Despite this game being huge in scale, it sadly has very few boss battles, only having three of them in total (eleven if you count the 8 Elite Enemies, but even then, they're just stronger versions of regular enemies).
 * 4) The game's difficulty has a mixed reception, with it being described as to easy for hardcore gamers but to hard for casual gamers
 * 5) Plot Twist: Cynder was frozen without a necklace on her neck, but 3 years later when the game starts she has it.
 * 6) The developers confirmed that it was to remind herself that she was captured by Malefor, the game never explains this due to some content got cut due to rushed development.
 * 7) The DS version is a bad port.

Trivia

 * 1) This is the first and only game in the series (unless if you count the Skylanders games as Spyro games) to be on the Playstation 3.
 * 2) Cynder's elements are poison, fear, wind and shadow, according to the Chronicle, Cynder's exposure to the darkness has given her with abilities that are uncommon; it's more than likely that Cynder would have only had wind power if it weren't for Malefor, since it's the only non dark element she has.

Theme Song
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