As the title implies, The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning represents a "do over" for the Spyro franchise. Vivendi Games and Amaze Entertainment have completely overhauled the game engine from Spyro: Shadow Legacy, switching the emphasis purely to combat and nixing the collect-a-thon and role-playing aspects that everyone hated. At the same time, they've thrown out Spyro's history and conjured up a new origin story that introduces new allies and enemies into the purple dragon's fantasy world. Some players will find the constant combat overly repetitive and run-of-the-mill. Others will enjoy how the game lets them constantly cut loose with Spyro's fearsome attacks. Regardless of which group you may fall into, if you're a Spyro fan, you'll probably get past the doldrums because of the super-snazzy cinematic cutaways and slick touch-screen boss battles that wait at the end of each area. Indeed, The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning offers you ample payoff for your perseverance.

The Legend of Spyro flaunts a brand-new game engine and new origin story.

Over the years, fans have come to know Spyro, his friends, and his enemies fairly well. This new game tosses all of that history out the window and starts over from the beginning. As the game opens, a full-motion video sequence and voice-over tells us the horrible tale of how all the dragon eggs were wiped out by the disciples of an evil being known as Dark Master--all except for one. The red dragon, Ignitus, realized the gravity of the situation and placed the last remaining egg into a makeshift raft, which was sent floating down the river, much like Jochebed sent her son Moses down the river in The Bible. A family of dragonflies found the egg, hatched it, and raised the dragon as one of their own alongside their son. The story then picks up roughly 15 years later. The family reveals to Spyro that he isn't a dragonfly after all but is, in fact, a dragon. Upon learning this news, Spyro and his dragonfly brother, Sparx, set off to the dragon realm to learn more about Spyro's past. When they arrive, they discover a battered Ignitus, who tells them that the Dark Master's disciples have returned along with a new ally, a mysterious black dragon named Cynder. Cynder is laying waste to the various dragon lands and capturing the remaining elder dragons so that she can bring the Dark Master into the real world. Of course, according to prophecy, Spyro is the only one that can stop Cynder and free the elders, which is just what he sets out to do.

Spyro's journey is a trip through six different themed lands. Each land has its own elemental theme, such as grass, electricity, ice, lava, or rock. These themes are old hat, but they're not just for looks. The enemies in each area have attacks that are based on these elements, and many of them are in turn weak to a particular element. At first, you can only make use of Spyro's tail-whip and flame-breath attacks. As you move through each land, however, you'll gain the elemental abilities of the dragons you free, which you can then use against enemies. Spyro's full arsenal of elemental powers spans fire, ice, electricity, and earth. Each element gives Spyro a unique breath attack, some sort of projectile, a shield, and a powerful finishing move, which can all be upgraded by spending the blue crystals that enemies leave behind.

To free the imprisoned dragons and catch up to Cynder, Spyro first has to vanquish all of the disciples in each land and then lay waste to the boss that is guarding each land's temple. Unlike in previous Spyro games, there's no hub world or backtracking. The six lands in The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning and all of their many subsections are presented in order. That also means you don't have to worry about hunting down esoteric items or collecting fairies to gain access to new levels. After you free one land, the game automatically sends you on to the next. This Spyro game is streamlined for combat's sake.

You'll mash buttons and tap your way through hundreds of enemies on your way to each land's boss.

When you're fighting off wave after wave of disciples, the action is shown from a top-down isometric perspective that's similar to what you've no doubt seen in other DS or Game Boy Advance action games. Groups of enemies in each area appear, and you have to eliminate them using Spyro's tail and breath attacks. Individual enemies aren't too tough to handle, but the game likes to surround Spyro with mismatched groups. You can perform tail and breath attacks, as well as conjure up shields, by pressing the buttons. The game also makes use of the touch screen to some extent. You can target individual enemies by tapping them on the touch screen. Certain enemies can't be hurt until you take away their shields or flip them over, which is accomplished by tapping them on the touch screen. Some small enemies can be taken out just by tapping them with the stylus. If you want to break open a plant to grab some more health or pick up the crystals that enemies leave behind, you only need to tap the plants and crystals to do so.

It's nice that there are so many different enemies and so many different ways to get rid of them. Cutting loose with Spyro's abilities is something fans have wanted to do for a long time. Unfortunately, this game may be guilty of letting you cut loose too much. The number of enemies you have to fight on the way to each boss is insane. For example, if one group of baddies appears, after you dispatch them, the next group appears. This continues until the gate opens, and you move into the next area, where you'll face subsequent groups of enemies. After passing through multiple gates and multiple areas in each land, you stop caring about what elements the enemies are weak to and what attacks you're using to fight them. You just end up mashing the A button in the hope that the boss isn't too far off. There are some nifty touch-screen mirror puzzles that break up the monotony here and there, but the levels should be half as long or implement some midpoint boss encounters instead.