Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 3: Night of the Quinkan

Gameplay

A new addition to the series are the Bunyip stones. These have special abilities, and can be used to upgrade the boomerangs' powers. At first, Ty has only one boomerang "chassis", and no Bunyip Stones whatsoever. However, Ty can purchase and earn new boomerangs and Bunyip Stones. There are 2 different stores in the game where Ty can buy boomerangs: the shop owned by Ty's mom and dad and one in Cassopolis. The different chassis have different amounts of Bunyip Stone slots in them, as to make the player strategize which stones he or she should equip. Certain Bunyip Stones can also cancel each other out (mostly elemental stones [elemental damages cancel each other out], or warp stones [these seem to be incompatible with most other stones]). Incompatible stones show up as glowing red when equipped to a chassis. Any stone's effect can be compounded by using up to 3 stones.

Plot

One day, the Bunyip Elder summoned Ty and Shazza for a small meeting. After teleporting them to the Dreamtime, the Bunyip Elder told them of an evil and mysterious force that was taking over the Dreaming, the Quinkan. After obtaining the Quinkan Gauntlet, Ty and Shazza assist the Bunyips in removing the Quinkan from the Dreaming and are successful.

Afterwards, Ty and Shazza are warped back to the real world. However, while they were being warped, a Quinkan knocked Shazza into the real world and out of Ty's reach. Ty is warped back to the real world, but six months after his training in the Dreamtime. It turns out Burramudgee has been assaulted by the Quinkan and is only a shadow of its former self.

Dennis, a rich tree frog and an old friend of Ty's has taken charge of the war effort in Southern Rivers after Bush Rescue disbanded. After a brief reunion with his family and Shazza, Dennis assigns Ty the task of reuniting the Bush Rescue Squad. There was another part of southern rivers but there was a gate blocking the way. Ty finds a cave and sees a zombie frill saying nobody goes through. But the lizard frill wasn't the one blocking the exit, it was a Hexaquin. In order to access the other parts of Southern Rivers, Ty defeats the Hexaquin that is guarding the gateway to the other places.

Afterwards, Shazza is kidnapped by the Quinkan in Dead Dingo Marsh. Ty runs after to save his girlfriend but a mysterious purple robot stops Ty for a fight. After Ty defeats the robot, it opens up. Inside that robot was Fluffy wearing purple. Sly jumps in and tells Ty and Fluffy that they have to work together to find Shazza. Fluffy informs him that Boss Cass might have information on where Shazza is. When Ty goes to Cassopolis, Boss Cass says he's been talking with the Quinkan and might be able to figure out where Shazza is. Ty has to do work for Boss Cass in order to find Shazza. The last job Ty does for Boss Cass is recovering a device from a drop ship that crashed on Kaka Boom Island. Ty meets Dennis there and Dennis helps. Dennis isn't scared to tag along because he brought his bazooka. Ty travels through Kaka Boom Island and finds the drop ship that was underwater. He finds out there is some giant green hermit crab using the ship as a shell. Ty defeats the crab and recovers the device. Eventually, Cass comes good on his word and found out Shazza was being held hostage by a Dragonquin. Ty uses the Gunyip to defeat it and then rescues Shazza afterwards.

She tells Ty and Bush Rescue that the Quinkan are preparing the way for the Quinking and a weapon to defeat him was somewhere in Southern Rivers. The topic of a Quinkan expert named Steve was brought up in the conversation and that he was missing. Ty, Shazza and Fluffy find the Quinkan expert and it turns out to be Gooboo Steve. He said he hid a Shadow Rang and the Shadow Stones to power the rang across the Outback. Ty explores Mt. Boom to find the missing shadow rang and stones. Although Ty accidentally loses the shadow stones into the volcano and it erupts. The shadow stones get scattered across the southern rivers but Ty still hasn't lost yet! The Bush Rescue members find the rang and stones and prepare for the final confrontation with the Quinking.

Ty confronts the Quinking and duels him with the Shadowring. Ty manages to weaken him, the latter of which transforms into a large demon-like creature in hopes of gaining the upper hand. However, by the end of the duel, both cannot muster enough energy to finish off the other. Boss Cass then appears, having captured Shazza, Sly and Fluffy who accompanied Ty on his way to fight the Quinking. Cass, wanting to fulfill his dreams of ruling Southern Rivers, equips himself with a large laser gun that will vanquish Ty and the Qunking once and for all. However, Fluffy sacrifices herself to push Ty and the Quinking by intercepting Cass' blast. The laser impacts her on the chest, causing maximum damage and supposedly killing her. Cass is escorted away by Sly while Ty and Shazza watch upon the savage of the blast, but Ty was the one who was depressed and heartbroken because of his friend. With Cass defeated, Southern Rivers returns to a state of peace, remembering Fluffy as a hero.

Reception

The game received mixed to average reviews with a 68 metascore on Metacritic. The game was criticized for feeling too similar to previous games in a series that was already feeling to similar to other, more popular games. Matt Casamassina of IGN wrote, "Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 3: Night of the Quinkan is a predictable sequel to the first two iterations of the franchise. That doesn't make it bad. In fact, it's still enjoyable, especially as straightforward platformer for kids. But the Ty series has never been original and this latest version feels like a copy of a copy. Gamers who played and didn't like the other two versions will find nothing new here and Ty fans may find themselves wondering why very little has changed."