I admit it - when I was told that the latest Spyro videogame drew influences from the likes of Devil May Cry and Super Smash Bros., I couldn't help but stifle a laugh. I just couldn't really see it... but then again, my view of Spyro is still that of the very first Spyro games way back on the original PlayStation - the one created by the now famous Insomniac Games. Seeing the abundance of games being released under the Spyro banner lately has made me weary of the little purple dragon, and to compare it to Devil May Cry or Smash Bros was simply something I couldn't comprehend. But I was dead wrong - so now I'm here to tell you to put away your assumptions and to go and buy what could be one of the last great side-scrollers... hopefully it isn't a case of 'too little, too late' though.

The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night could have easily come out of the golden age of 2D 16-bit side-scrollers, which is admirable considering the amount of mediocre Spyro titles that have come out and sold well due to its appeal to youngsters. Eternal Night isn't just a good kids' platform game - it's simply a great game that does indeed bring influence from the previously mentioned games but also draws worthy comparisons with another great GBA title - Astro Boy: Omega Factor.

Picking up where A New Beginning left off, Spyro's new foe Gaul, the Ape King, is attempting to resurrect great evil, which of course Spyro is out to stop. While the storyline is definitely present through on-screen text, sometimes of a very witty nature, the main aspect worth focusing on here is the incredibly well executed gameplay. As Spyro you run along left or right through very well realized backdrops, which scroll at a different rate of speed than the foreground, facing off against numerous foes from the Spyro universe. Huge, shelled bugs that have to be flipped upside down to defeat, stone monsters that rise from a pile of rocks on the ground, what appear to be flying rats and, heck, even pirates! Taking out the baddies is where Eternal Night really starts to shine.

Amaze Entertainment have created a combo system that, as they said, draws inspiration from some of the greats of the industry. Spyro can unleash hell with simple headbutts and tailswipes on a horizontal level, but pushing up on the d-pad during an attack launches your foe into the air, where you can follow up with air attacks and even dive-bombs, where Spyro lunges into an enemy at incredible speed. As you progress you unlock new abilities too, such as the wall-jump and air-dodge, as well as elemental attacks. Using the L trigger you can switch between elements and once they're unlocked the R trigger unleashes attacks. When you factor in combos and consider that you can switch between your element on-the-fly in the middle of an attack, you'll be stringing together combo attacks for massive damage in no time. To make things even better, Spyro's control is incredibly responsive, allowing you to attack behind you almost instantly.

Like Astro Boy, enemies in Spyro can collide with each other for all new possibilities. For instance, you can be running at full speed and ram a bug like creature, sending him flying into a small clutter of other foes and knocking them all away, before jumping in and unleashing a devastating combo, again affecting all baddies in the nearby area. Even though the bad guys can sometimes take far too long to defeat, the combat of Spyro is a huge accomplishment that continues to get more and more in-depth as you continue to play. Any fan of side-scrollers, beat 'em ups or platform adventures really need to go out and grab this game. Forget everything you know about Spyro and what he's become, then rediscover him on his best ever form.

It wasn't enough for Amaze that the game plays brilliantly either; it actually looks quite nice as well. Drawing influence from a much darker place, Spyro's visuals and locations are almost gothic in their look and feel, helping to do away with the kids' only feel that the series at one point had. Spyro might still be a small dragon, but the world around him has certainly grown up, as have the enemies, which include some truly massive bosses - particularly the elemental warriors.

That's not to say that Spyro still isn't kid friendly, though. The sound effects for Spyro are pretty cute (though there's no Elijah Wood obviously, who voices the dragon for the console counterparts), and the game doesn't include anything that parents would find inappropriate for a youngster. The music is fitting to the surroundings, though like a lot of GBA games it can get tiresome after awhile, and a good amount of effort has been put into the fine details surrounding the audio, such as the crumbling sound the rock baddies make when defeated.

The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night is a gift that keeps giving until completion. Just when the Game Boy Advance was finally starting to look dead, a classic game that takes an equally classic genre and mixes it with modern day influence comes along and blows us away. It's a shame that so many people are going to miss this because of the simple fact that it's Spyro, but please don't let this deter you. This is quite simply one of the best combat engines you will find in a game and if you're an old-school gamer then you really can't afford to pass this up. Amaze Entertainment have done exactly what their name suggests and I can't wait to see what they come up with next, Spyro or otherwise.

Reviewed by Christopher Martin for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).