Spyro, the little purple dragon, is back in his next platform game, just in time for Christmas. He and his people are threatened by other, meaner dragons, and it's up to Spyro to stop them. He'll be doing a lot of jumping, fire breathing and a little flying to get the job done, and the whole package is clearly geared toward the little ones.

The first thing you'll notice about Spyro: A Hero's Tail is the splendidly obnoxious colors. From top to bottom the presentation is bright and cheery, but never overpowering. Unlike many other children's games that go for attention-grabbing tones, Spyro does it with some style. The surroundings aren't just painted in to be as bold as possible, they also work well together. Movements of your character and the response to your button presses are all very smooth. But the detail of the other graphics is extremely mediocre, with lots of sharp corners and blocky pieces on the boss characters and scenery. Even so, the artistic style is consistent throughout and pleasing to the eye.

The gameplay is what you'd expect from a children's platformer: lots of jumping, collecting, smashing (in this case, Dark Gems), and baddie-bopping. Throughout your adventures, usually you'll be lead fairly clearly from one spot to the next. The challenges in each spot are also extremely easy, except for a few instances where it seems like you've reached a dead end. Fighting in Hero's Tail takes a big backseat to destroying Dark Gems and platform jumping. Some of the platforms you'll need to navigate are hard to find and get to. And some of the gems seem purposefully too hard to find, resulting in a fair amount of extended searching through levels you've already seen. Even at its most difficult, Hero's Tail isn't very challenging. The bosses at the end of the levels are absurdly easy to dismiss. This, combined with the extremely simple controls, makes for a game that's clearly meant for children.

And from that point of view, the game performs quite well. There are very few frustrating moments in the game, and even better, it doesn't take itself to seriously. It's not written like Blues Clues, but there is a definite sense of humor in the dialogue that keeps the story from being too cumbersome. The conversation scenes are short, to the point, and get you back to playing relatively quickly.

As you progress, Spyro learns more elemental-based attacks to go along with his fire breath and ground-smashing, and each will be more effective against certain enemies. There are four playable characters in addition to Spyro, each with unique abilities. For example, one has a bow for knocking out enemies from afar and another has a jetpack for flying (as opposed to Spyro's gliding).

Spyro: A Hero's Tail isn't a revolutionary game. It's not bad, either. It's just very simple. It seems just simple enough, in fact, for children who are at least learning to read and have the motor skills to follow relatively easy control instructions. The harder parts of the game aren't very hard, and a little assistance from an adult in the house should be all it takes to keep the game moving. Anyone in their teens and older, though, would probably get bored.