Customer Reviews

Barbie in The 12 Dancing Princesses

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is the first PS2 game my 7-year-old has tried, and she loves it! The game is very patient with young gamers: Barbie doesn't die, and every time she jumps the wrong way and falls into the water, the game starts again back at the spot of the jump, rather than going back to the beginning. The tasks are simple and varied. After accomplishig select tasks, the games rewards you with fun tasks, such as composing a dance for the sisters to perform, or creating your own light show. The music and graphics are beautiful and easy for adults to listen to repetitively. She's been playing it for a while already, and although she's making rewarding progress, she still has lots of fun ahead of her before the game is completed. It's a perfect skill level for her age.

This game is just enough of a challenge for my 5-yr old daughter who is just learning how to use the Playstation controller. The game lets you start over as many times as you need to get over jumps, etc. It has a good 'plot' that my daughter can understand and relate to the purpose of the game.

My five-year-old daughter chose this to rent from a video store as her first Playstation game. It's been a frustrating experience. Barbie is awkward to control and does not always respond quickly and accurately to the controller. Her goal is to meet up with each of her eleven sisters in very girly environments and ultimately find a magic elixir to cure their poisoned father.

Annoying bit #1: There are floating gems to collect in each level, and a theiving monkey that wants to collect them before Barbie does. Roughly every fifteen seconds, the monkey appears to snatch the jewels, and Barbie's parrot companion shouts in a squawky voice: "THE MONKEY IS COMING! COLLECT THE GEMS! AAAWWWWKK! HEAD FOR THE GEMS! I CAN SMELL THAT MONKEY COMING! AAAWWWWWKKKKKKK! HURRY UP AND GET THE GEMS!" You will want to beat yourself over the head with a coconut wishing that bird would shut up. Compounding this problem is the fact that the gems are essentially worthless (you get a few extra fireworks at the end for each gem you collect, big whoop), and children wishing to take their time playing the game (for example, to make a tricky jump or to admire the pretty landscapes) will be mercilessly heckled by this bird. How this got past the game testing is beyond me.

2) Overly simple plot. I realize that this is a game for easily impressed children, but the plot is simple to the point of ridiculousness. Barbie and her sisters need to find a vial of elixir to cure their ailing father. The game basically plays like this: Barbie overcomes obstacles to locate each of her eleven sisters. Barbie asks the sister if she found the elixir. The sister says, No! Then after Barbie finds all eleven sisters, she ends up having to find it herself anyway. Through the whole game, Barbie keeps on saying "We have to find that elixir! Father can't get well without the elixir! We need that elixir to cure the King! I just KNOW that together we'll get the elixir! Come on, let's get that elixir!" It gets so that you want to wring her neck and say "ALL RIGHT ALREADY! JUST DON'T SAY THE E-WORD AGAIN! AND SOMEBODY PLEASE SHOOT THAT MONKEY!"

This game is due back at the video store today and I am so happy. It was too hard for my daughter to play on her own (due mostly to very un-smooth graphics and control over Barbie) and caused a lot of frustration for her. The only good parts were that each princess would do a dance when you found her (my daughter liked to get up and dance along) and Barbie's boyfriend Derrick. He has these enormous red lips and I'd bust up laughing every time he appeared with his enchanted flute.

My daughter is 4 and has never played a video game. She has fallen in love with the dancing princesses and thus we surprised her with the game. She is having a great time. It is good far all audiences and while she still needs help it's fun that the whole family can enjoy. Even my son likes to watch us play the game and cheer us on. So if your kid likes the movies she'll get a kick out of the game.

I'll cut to the chase:

1. Terrible graphics! My 4-year old asked me, "Mommy, what's wrong with their faces?"

2. Gender-bias in that the voices sounded like those from a cheap anime video. How many guy-oriented video games have the actual athletes' voices? I'd pay and extra $10 for a game with the original voices.

3. It's easy to get lost if you don't have the best sense of direction....what 4-year old does? The "progress" chart was pointless. How about a map or something? My old Super Mario games had maps...and that was Nintendo!

4. Incredibly irritating Parrot and Brutus, the monkey. I found myself trying to outrace Brutus for the gems all the while missing out on the mission and visual surroundings. Did "options" offer turning off the parrot's voice? I didn't check. If not, that would have been VERY NICE!

5. Overall, the plot was too simple and did not hold my children's attention very well. This video game is an insult to the consumer's intelligence.

My daughter is 4 years old and LOVES this game. It is easy to navigate and control for her, she can understand the plot, and it provides simple spoken directions. She had been very frustrated in the past because her older sisters would play PS2 games and she never had one that she could play, but now she has her own and she is thrilled.

Obviously, I am rating this game based on my daughter's enthusiasm of the game. She is 7 1/2 years old and loves it. Great game for little girls.

My 10 year old played the whole game in under an hour. She said she liked it, it just wasn't long enough. I gave it 3 stars because she liked it. The cost was too much for the length of the gameplay.

Ever wondered why little girls don't play videogames?
Take a look at Barbie (or Bratz for that matter) and you know why. Low production value and un-imaginative Game-play. Too bad, this one could have been fun.