Cute platform games really don't get any cuter than this! I haven't played any of the previous Spyro games and wasn't really expecting much from Enter the Dragonfly. I was pleasantly surprised that although this is aimed firmly at kids, it's got a fun sense of humour and the occasional challenge to provide at least a little entertainment for the more mature gamer.

You are the young dragon Spyro and you're having a big party because you've just received your dragonfly, which is the source of a dragon's power. However, just before the ceremony finishes, a villainous dragon appears with his lackeys in tow and kidnaps all the dragonflies, except for Sparx, your trusty new companion. Now it's up to you to recapture all the dragonflies that have been scattered around the land and restore the power of the dragons. As I said, this game is aimed at children with a simple and fun plot that is paper thin but enough for a game of this type.

The graphics in Spyro are quite simple, abandoning detailed textures for simple scenery and bright colours, but it works very well and makes everything clear to see. The enemies and characters you meet are well animated and very humorous, the voice acting is good and the dialogue is simple but witty. There are some quite imaginative (and bizarre) levels to explore too, including the Chinese dragons' dragonfly nursery, a farm haunted by UFOs and Space Cows with laser guns (!) and a tropical island with bizarre natives that attempt to eat the tourists, to name a few. With 7,000 gems and 90 dragonflies to be found, it's quite a big game that will certainly take children a long time to finish. The sound effects are all good fun, whilst the music is above the average bouncy platform tunes and features some great tracks, including a speedway race tune that is surely written by Deep Forest.

Spyro begins with his flame breath and new bubble breath, which he can use to capture dragonflies and transport them safety. Sparx kindly explains each new move and feature as it comes up, making the first level a useful tutorial. Spyro can jump, glide to reach far away ledges, and hover for an extra height boost at the end of a glide. As well as fire and bubble breath, he picks up electric and ice breath along the way. The simple puzzles involve using different types of breath and add a bit of variety. There are other puzzles that involve reaching switches through gliding to them or finding hidden caves. Spyro can swim underwater at great speed too; he's a versatile little fellow. For killing the baddies, apart from his attacks he can charge at them with his horns or jump in the air and dive bomb them.

There are a number of mini-games to play too. The Speedway challenges are a lot of fun and actually quite hard where you must fly around a course taking short cuts and using speed stars to overtake competitors and steal first place. There are also obstacle runs where you have to do such things as fly through rings, burn hangliding enemies, light giant lanterns and charge into rikshaw runners! I told you it was bizarre! Some of the mini-games involve vehicles, such as a tank, plane, UFO and even an underwater manta ray. These mini-games are good fun and a nice change of pace. Others involve quite tricky platform challenges where you must jump on moving platforms and activate switches until you reach your goal. Another type of challenge is a time attack where you must burn, zap or freeze a number of targets dotted around the level within a very tight time limit and this will only be achieved when you've learned the positions of the targets and charge all the way. There's no denying that this game has variety.

However, it does boil down to your standard platformer - kill the baddies, jump and glide to reach platforms, collect jewels and creatures, solve simple puzzles and win challenges. Spyro doesn't try to do anything new and perhaps could have been more innovative, but it does provide solid and enjoyable platform fun. Your kids should love this as Spyro is a great character (and far more charismatic than Crash Bandicoot), but with games like Jak & Daxter and Ratchet & Clank around, there's little challenge here for adult platformers. Also, the game is technically quite amateurish - not only is there quite a lot of mild slowdown on screen but the loading times between sections are 30 seconds (no exaggeration, I timed it). Considering the power of the Gamecube this is absolutely inexcusable and laziness of this kind has no place on next-generation consoles. It's not the end of the world but it does detract from the game a little.

Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly is a bright, fun and playable cutesy platform game for children. It's a big game, but adults will find the experience too easy, shallow and ultimately unsatisfying after the novelty of the fun and humour wears off. So buy it for your kids and sneak a quick go when they've gone to bed!

Reviewed by Geoff Holland for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).