Plays well with children

• Graphics: 6/10
• Sound: 6.5/10
• Gameplay: 7/10
• Replay Value: 7/10
• Overall: 7/10

This third game in the Ty franchise offers nothing incredibly new in graphics and gameplay but it's an entertaining romp for younger gamers.

As a platformer Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 3: Night of the Quinkan is pretty run of the mill. When the first Ty first hit the consoles 3 years ago, it offered a refreshing alternative to those tired of Mario and his cohorts. For younger gamers it also provided a fresh entertaining perspective with an Aussie animal character that had a sense of humor and some wide open colorful landscapes featuring other critters from down under.

Three years later we have Ty 3 entering the fray with something that graphically looks not much different from its predecessors. As a result Ty 3 ends up appearing like a copy of Ty 2. That being said, this platformer is geared for younger gamers so unless you have some graphics-savvy kids, that's not going to be much of an issue. It's still way colorful and fun. Let's give kudos to a developer that makes a family-friendly game in 2005 as the consoles morph into their new forms and E-rated games become scarce.

Ty 3 brings with it some old friends (and enemies) who join the boomerang throwing hero on a quest to rid his land of Quinkans - devilish looking shadowy figures who have taken over the humble outback universe of the Dreaming. To do this you go through around 30 levels dispatching baddies, along with bosses and other miscreants, using your array of 'rangs and vehicles. There are also boatloads of side missions which give you coin to buy upgrades for your primary weapon and new 'rangs replete with their own powers.

All in all it's fairly simple game (given the target audience) that offers you the basic premise of completing a task followed by completing other objectives. If you played the previous game then you won't have any trouble stepping into the controls of this one. It's a bit disorienting at times though trying to find your way around, forcing you to resort to your map. Often times you'll be heading to your marker on the screen but because of the layout have no intuitive sense of which way to go, which can be a bit frustrating.

Despite its simplicity Ty 3 does offer some variety in missions that have you battling villains, solving puzzles or escorting allies through a level. Adding to the variety are the vehicles you get to operate which include strange transformer-like robot things called Bunyips and an extremely inventive submersible called the crabsmobile. Each vehicle serves up different challenges when you're operating them thus allowing a change up from the boomerang battles.

Speaking of those battles there is an annoying inconsistency in the way some similar enemies perish with one strike of your trusty 'rang while others require multiple hits or close combat. It would have been nice to have the system a little more uniform. In addition, for a family-friendly game you don't get a great deal of multiplayer modes to choose from. The multiplayer options you do have are not all that captivating and are presented in horizontal split screen, which is an aggravating multiplayer layout.

Frustrations aside, Ty 3 still does offer solid, albeit simple gameplay for the pre-teen crowd and a refreshing change of pace for the older gamer.