Secret Agent Barbie

by Vivendi Universal

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00005KG63
• Item Weight: 10.1 ounces
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: September 17, 2001
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,958 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #63 in Software > Children's Software > Games
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Review

Barbie is finally a woman of action. Taking up international espionage in Secret Agent Barbie, she travels the world in pursuit of justice. A thief has stolen valuable clothing from a friend of hers, a fashion designer who is just setting up for a big show.

In order to bring the thieves to justice, Barbie has a full team of helpers and a complement of gadgetry. To get past a guard who won't let her through a door, she uses her compact to blow foundation in his face. To investigate areas too tiny for her to access, she has a robotic spy puppy. Her Pinkvision goggles can seek out the combinations to otherwise secured doors. Finally, Barbie has two gymnastic skills: dive rolls that carry her past guarded areas, and jumps to get over obstacles and laser alarms.

By virtue of its emphasis on gizmos, this game makes itself a distant relative of pop-culture heroes like James Bond or the Mission Impossible teams. However, Secret Agent Barbie lacks the defining characteristic of this milieu: violence. Barbie has a stealth mode for sneaking around game scenery, an adventure mode for calmer moments, and an action mode for running and jumping. (Each of these modes comes with its own costume options.) What Barbie doesn't have is a fight mode. Whether this is a good or bad thing may be entirely a matter of parental and player opinion.

Regardless of your position on mayhem, Secret Agent Barbie has a few definite weaknesses. Gameplay is really just a process of moving from one animated sequence to the next--and the quality of these sometimes lengthy movies is only so-so. The game is highly inflexible, pursuing a straight path to the stolen fashions. As a result, its replay factor is almost zero. As for the mystery-solving element, players don't find clues so much as stumble over them.

That said, Secret Agent Barbie does move the widely beloved doll into a distinctly macho career path, allowing girls to tag along with their heroine on a globetrotting adventure. (Ages 6 and older) --Alyx Dellamonica

Product Description

Track clues around the world w/ Barbie & solvethe thrilling spy adventureProduct InformationYour mission: catch the mysterious thief who stole fashions made of top-secretfabric and stop the creation of an invisible suit.Solve mini-missions in cities like Paris Tokyo and more!You will go undercover and help Barbie sneak tumble and even blend into thesurroundings as she pursues the thief from city to city.Decode clues solve puzzles and use high-tech gadgets like pink-vision glassesand a robot spy puppy to uncover the plot and courageously save the day!Fun Activities Include Join Barbie and her team on an exciting 3D spy adventure! Revel clues sneak past guards and more using spy gadgets! Stay hot on the trail of the culprit! Meet friends and foes in every location! Solve puzzles with the clues you find!Product Features Encourages an innovative approach to problem solving Promotes creative thinking in a realistic and rich 3D setting Inspires team work and hours of computer fun tracking down cluesMinimum Requirements Windows 95/98/Me/2000 Pentium II 266MHz or higher 64MB RAM 3D video card with 8MB 130MB available on hard drive 16X CD-ROM drive 16-bit color 16-bit Sound Blaster or 100% compatible sound card Standard Keyboard Mouse

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great for young girls, November 4, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Secret Agent Barbie (CD-ROM)

My 10 year old daughter liked this game and played it with great interest. Unfortunately, she solved it in 3 days of use. She was hoping for more adventures and levels. It has only one mission to solve even though the user visits many "exotic" locations and must learn to use newly acquired skills and abilities. It's interesting, but too short for the older girls. It would seem to last longer for younger girls who are learning how to play computer games.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Solve the Mystery, Stop the Thief, and Pick your Outfit!, June 20, 2002

By 

D. Austin "Stutty" (Germany) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Secret Agent Barbie (CD-ROM)

Really really really, important stuff first - Make sure you have a 3d Video card, and uninstall the Barbie genie bottle if you have it.

Now, the review.

I have to admit, when the first wave of Barbie software moved into my household, I was a little worried. Doing nails and hair just aren't my thing, but I found that even a 34 year old guy can enjoy, "software for girls."

So pleased was I with the Barbie Hairstyler game, that in fact it was me who purchased Secret Agent Barbie. I was not let down.

The full 3-D graphics are stunning (3d video card required.) I don't just mean they look good, they have the look and feel of artistry; like a Hollywood cinematographer designed them.

The soundtrack rocks. Not only is the music really really good, but it fits each scenario (hard rock for action mode, suspenseful music for stealth mode.) And not only does it fit, but it sounds great! The action mode music has a brutally distorted rythm guitar with a very smooth string or synthesiser melody. As stated, it rocks.

The story is very good. I have to give the designers a lot of credit for acknowledging that girls do not want a shoot-em-up. There is absolutely no violence in this game, but there is loads of sneaking around, puzzles, chasing, and jumping. It's even exciting to watch.

The game is very very playable, and after two times through the storyline I have found not one single bug (and I've looked for them.) Some games defined in virtual 3d spaces have the tendancy to have things get stuck inside of other things. Like a character acidentaly jumping over a wall into an undefined room that there is no escape from because there is no floor to land on, aka - stuck. None of that here - hats off to the designers. There are a few scenes where the camera, which usually follows a chase plane perpsective, suddenly shifts to a third person view that makes it hard to control Barbie, but this only happes two or three times. I can usually tell from the kitchen when this occurs as it is followed by, "DAD! I need help."

There are some aspects of the game that are especially aimed at femininity (the player gets to pick Barbie's outfit many many times throughtout the game.) And there are some other subtle aspects that I find hillarious (All men - except Ken - have a beer gut, and Ken is at the bottom of the Barbie Secret Agent team's totem pole, if he is on the pole at all.)

The box says appropriate for a six year old. Content-wise I'm sure this is true, but control wise? I don't think so. But, if you want to have some fun helping your kid protect the treasures of the world from evil, then pick it up. It's a great game.

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a new era for Barbie games, October 1, 2001

By 

C. Jess "Christoph3D" (Eagle Rock, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Secret Agent Barbie (CD-ROM)

Finally a different kind of Barbie game... not based on the stereo-typical things for girls.
In this game, Barbie is a secret agent looking to catch a villain who is traveling the world gathering ingredients for the secret plot. Barbie travels to all these locations (Egypt, N.Y., Rio, Tokyo, Paris); she meets locals and gathers evidence on her way. Equipped with cool gadgets the user experiences a great deal of interactivity with both the surrounding and the characters.
Secret Agent Barbie ties James Bond, Charlie's Angels and Barbie together for an action packed game.