Krome Studios' Ty the Tasmanian Tiger games have always been decent alternatives to the more popular platform titles on the market, and the latest adventure, Night of the Quinkan is no exception. In this latest adventure, the loveable Ty must save the Australian Outback from a fiendish race of beings known as the Quinkan, heartless creatures that only know destruction and chaos. What ensues is good, harmless fun, where you can chuck boomerangs at opponents, bite them and even pilot several vehicles. But despite all of the features and personality, Ty 3 never reaches the same level of quality as its competition.

Part of the problem lies in the game's presentation. The intro's rushed and the characters are introduced haphazardly. The developers automatically assume that I've played the previous two games, so Ty just appears on screen, mutters a few words and gets right down to business, so right from the get go I've failed to establish any sort of connection to him. What's he like? What's his angle? What's his deal? It's all lost on me and that doesn't bode well for Ty because it sets him up as just another platform character.

I'm just nitpicking though. The real issue is the gameplay. In short, it's typical. There's nothing about Night of the Quinkan that I haven't seen before even though it's a collection of genres. You run about beating up enemies, you platform hop, you break crates, you collect stuff, and you collect even more stuff to power up your primary weapon. And this goes on for quite a few hours in drab looking environments that don't feature the same amounts of detail that the characters do. It's a shame really, because I can see the potential here. Take the vehicles, for instance. Krome's included some cool rides for Ty to get around in such as a giant mech with a laser canon, a cute number called the crabmersible that lets you scuttle about underwater, and a Star Fox inspired ship called the Gunyip. All of these are enjoyable to use, yet the game still feels like its several years behind the competition. There's just no hook, no real reason to flock to this game over the others, save for its Australian overtones.

Another reason why I'm not particularly thrilled with Ty 3 is because it's often times unclear where I should be going. Several times I was just wandering about and wasting my time even though the exit was right there in front of my face. But it's difficult to believe that that's my destination when it doesn't immediately open when I approach it. There's nothing in the game that tells me that I have to wait a few seconds before passing through.

The camera is another nagging flaw. You can adjust it in Options, but it still has a tendency to display the worst possible angles, especially in tight areas. This makes it easy to miss something which leads to unnecessary back tracking.

Even with these unsightly blemishes Ty 3 is far from being a bad game. I love collecting stuff so I'm all about killing bad guys and taking whatever they leave behind, and the Crabmersible is a speedy little craft that can not only pierce enemies with its claws but also fire rockets. Plus, Krome's included two player kart racing and Gunyip battles, and while neither is particularly sophisticated they're nice diversions that extend the game's life.

I'm also impressed with the lightning quick. One minute I'm wandering about minding my own business and the next I'm swarmed by enemies and I'm frantically mashing buttons and there's red orbs all over the place. At times the game can be a bit herky jerky and that makes platform jumping a pain in the butt, but I'm willing to deal with that in exchange for no slow down.

Ty 3 is an average game that looks and feels like it came out several years ago. That's not a bad thing since it's actually somewhat fun to play, but it's hard to commit several hours to it when there's better platform games out there. It's a good gift idea for kids and fans of the series, and they won't be disappointed, but when compared to the competition, Ty comes up a few hairs short.