Customer Reviews

Barbie 12 Dancing Princesses

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(20)

 

 

My daughter loves Barbie and was so excited to receive this game. It was very sad to see how quickly she became frustrated with it's poor,poor design. The movement is difficult to control, the games are sometimes impossible and the graphics orient themselves in such a strange way that it is almost impossible to complete the games without falling off of something and having to start over.
Please save your money and do not buy this product. It isn't worth one dollar let alone the nearly thirty that they have set as a price.

I purchased this game for my daughter's six year old birthday. She has over 50 computer games and plays online often. She has all the other Barbie computer games and has mastered them all. We opened the game today and she was very frustrated with it from the beginning sequence. When we got to the Kitty Catch section of the game she broke down in tears because she could not get the kitty to catch the flowers. After reviewing the manual I tried playing the game and found that the manual gives the most basic instructions, but leaves out important facts, such as if the cat misses a jump or hits the hanging flowers you will lose the points you have earned. At this point I called the customer service number that comes with the game and was told that they couldn't help me since it was not a software problem. I was told to go to Google and request "cheats" for the game. I found nothing online that was helpful, so I tried playing the game again. After spending almost two hours playing I finally figured out exactly how to maneuver the cat using the arrow keys. You need to slow the cat down after jumping over certain obstacles, but not all obstacles. Then you can jump for the flowers and slow down before you hit the hanging flowers. There is no way my daughter could do this. It requires patience and dexterity. While my daughter can play online games in foreign languages and can use the mouse to color in the most intricate patterns, there is no way she could do this. I would not recommend this game for its target audience.

My 5yr old (with the help from her 3yr old sister) are blazing through this game with almost no help. This seems to be one of her favorite games so far.

Twyla the cat...
I decided to help my kids out with the game since neither they or my wife could get past the Twyla the cat flower game. I admit I was frustrated for the first 10 minutes as well. Once I figured it out it was easy and I never lost a flower.

1. Just go normal speed (no need to run)
2. Right after you push the space bar to jump, push the right/left arrow key in mid-air to give you boost over the obstacle.
3. Jump up into falling flowers to catch them
4. Duck using the space bar as needed.

Sure, perhaps it's a bit hard for 5yr old to figure out but that's half the fun of video games.

I didn't rate this game too high because I have a problem with the sound. After playing for a while the sound becomes all distorted and it's unplayable. Quiting the game and restarting it fixes the issue though. This is the only game that's given my kid's PC issues.

O.K., we have many other Barbie games, and enjoy all of them (especially Prince & Pauper) with out grandchildren. This one is an exception, though. Poor (archaic) graphics, poor interface (cursor keys), poor action (cannot control movement).... and cannot complete the game. Trying to make a cat chase after flowers around a gazebo (with cursor & enter keys), only to lose the flowers as soon as you get one - is frustrating as hell.

I'm a programmer, and tried it myself. Now I see why the kids are crying. How frustrating to play a game for hours/days, only to find out that it cannot be completed. Mattel/Activision should be ashamed.

What is the recourse for customers that have paid for this game? Oh, yeah, I forgot. Once you open it, you cannot return it. No more Mattel or Activision games for us.

J.L. Topilow's review is correct! (see this person's review also in amazon.com below this review) When you get to where Twyla has to catch the flowers there is NO WAY to complete this part of the game. Myself and my husband tried to do this an hour and we gave up. My daughter also was in tears and frustrated. My husband and I are both computer software engineers and we are disgusted that we spent the money on this game and we can't believe this part was not tested before release to the public. Do not waste your money and buy this game. Up until this point where Twyla tries to catch the flowers, it was fine. There definitely is a problem in the Twlya/Flower section of the game.

I actually became livid with Mattel and the software developers. My daughter was reduced to tears (literally) in some of the games because she was not able to navigate properly. It appears that the software developers relied on re-using old code.

The game graphics were no better than games made ten years ago! The game play itself is actually worse than some of the free online Flash games available on the web. Barbie and Mattel should be ashamed of themselves for making a buck while reducing children to tears. My seven year old actually said "it is my fault because I asked for this as a present". She said that on Christmas!

All of the reviews here are correct. We bought the game despite the reviews because my 5 year old loves all the Barbie games and can do them by herself. Well, 7 hours later, we have yet to solve the game. And that is with mom and dad trying to do it with her. You just continue to walk through the same areas over and over with no luck in finding the last princess. My daughter went to bed in tears. This was not worth the money, the time, the headache, or the tears. How can this Barbie game be so different from all the others. How can a 5 year old complete the game when a 35 year old can't?? If you are looking for a Barbie game the kids will enjoy look at the Rapuzel or Magic Pegasus. At least then the child will actually have fun.

I bought this for my 7 year old daughter for Christmas. It is extremly buggy, and hard to play. Definitly not worth the money.

This game starts out great. The graphics are great for a young children's game. But my daughter (6yrs) got stock half way through. There is a mini game you must complete to rescue a princess (you must rescue all 11 to finish the game). You are Twyla the cat, and must run arround a gazebo collecting flowers; however, the game never states how many flowers you must collect, if you touch an obstacle you loose a flower, the only tool you have to manuver over or under is the space bar (which the computer sometimes chooses the wrong motion causing an additional flower to be lost), and it is not easy or totally revealed exactly how to catch the flowers. My daughter tried for about a half hour and ended up crying with 0 flowers. I have tried twice, 30 min each time, and the most flowers I ever accumulated was 6. I lost them eventually and was never sure if I was any closer to finishing. I am not sure if this is the case on other platforms, but on the PC there is definitely a bug. I have tried to contact Activition, game maker, but have received no response. I would save your child the heartache and buy a different game.

I bought this game for my daughters at Christmas and sent the company an email on Dec. 29. I have not received a reply a full month later. My daughters were both frustrated at the game and its "bugs" that Activision will not help me fix. At one point, if Genevieve fell off the crystal walkway, she would not stop falling from the sky! The only way to stop her was to back completely out of the game. I expected a patch to fix this error, but have not gotten a response. The Twyla game is a mess. After trying to help them through it, I gave up. For every flower Twyla catches, she loses it immediately. It is too frustrating for anyone at any age. I am inclined to never purchase a game from Activision again, and I hope you do not waste your money on this game.