One thing that I usually like about Activision is that they don't really cut corners when it comes to designing solid games from at least a gameplay perspective.

However, this does not seem to be the case with The Legend of Spyro - Dawn of the Dragon. I hate to say this, but while not broken, the gameplay and the controls feel really awkward in this game.

Depending with your gaming style you may or may not have a problem with a button masher game. For the most part, the fighting sequences in this game revolve around the button mashing strategy. You have two physical attacks: the basic attack and the strong attack. Button mashing those two attacks will take care of most fights and if the situation seems deem you can always use the right trigger button to unleash the selected dragon superpower.

The superpowers are unique to each dragon. For example, Spyro gets fire, electricity, earth and ice as his elemental powers while Cynder gets to use shadow, fear, wind and poison. Switching between the dragons is conducted with the left trigger button and depending on the situation switching dragons is sometimes mandatory. While the controls and button combinations do exactly what the manual claims that they do the biggest problem that I have with the gameplay is the controller's sensitivity. Spyro and Cynder have to do a lot of jumping and flying around and unless your thumb is an expert when it comes to controlling a Xbox character you will end up falling and having to start the same climbing process over and over. Now I've seen some kids with the kind of reflexes and gaming ability that just put me to shame, but at the same time most children playing this game will not have to patience and discipline to play a part over and over again so as a parent you may want to brush up on your Xbox playing ability so you can help your kids out. One last thing that I want to mention about the gameplay features found in this game is the ability to cooperatively play this game on one Xbox360. While there are other games that offer co-op mode, in The Legend of Spyro - Dawn of the Dragon co-op mode can be activated during the regular storyline mode. And unlike other games where you have to start a co-op game as a co-op game, in this game you can activate the co-op feature any time you load a save game. While to you that feature may not seem like much, your kid will really appreciate it; especially when one of his friends comes over and they can jump right in the game without having to start it from the very beginning.