Reviewed: December 13, 2007
Reviewed by: Stacey Meade
Publisher
Activision
Developer
Ivolgamus
Released: October 30, 2007
Genre: Adventure
Players: 1-2
6
6
6
6
6.0
Supported Features
Screenshots (Click Image for Gallery)
Barbie first arrived in 1959 and ever since young girls have been crazy over the beautiful Barbie doll. Barbie can be a doctor or an astronaut. Barbie has appeared in movies, video games, toys, and even clothing lines. Barbie has inspired girls around the world to become all that they can be. Barbie has let girls know that they can be more than just house wives and mothers, but she also allows them to realize what joy motherhood can be. Now Barbie comes to us in the form of Barbie as The Island Princess for the Nintendo Wii.
While playing Barbie as the Island Princess for the Nintendo Wii you will be able to explore many different and exciting areas. This game pretty much follows the storyline of the movie. You start off on the island where young Barbie was marooned as a child. You will get to meet all of her friends on the island. Miraculously Barbie, Princess Rosella, has obtained the ability to talk to animals, but don’t worry. She has no trouble at all talking to the Prince Antonio.
While playing as Princess Rosella you will be able to explore five different areas. The first area you will visit is the Deserted Island. On the Deserted Island you will be able to six mini-games. These mini-games are called Flower Power, Crocodile Rescue, River Rock Hop, Bunch of Bananas, Pearl Plunge, and Coco Catch. When you play Pearl Plunge, you will have to try and collect as many pearls and sea stars that you can in a basket. You will use the Wii Remote by swinging it back and forth and pressing up on the D-pad. During River Rock Hop, you will have to hop across rocks and collect fruit. While you are hopping you will need to avoid the sinking rocks. You can avoid the sinking rocks by using the D-pad to move around. After collecting twelve island roses you will be able to advance to the next area, the Royal Ship.
The Royal Ship offers five mini games. These mini-games are called Island Tales, Bebop Bubble, Star Gazing, Galley Grab, and Ringing Bells. While playing Ringing Belles, you will have to rings bell in the same order as they were first rang. You will do this by pointing your Wii Remote at them and shaking it up and down. While playing Bebop Bubble, Barbie and Prince Antonio will need to race around on the ship and bounce bubbles back up into the air until they pop. You can accomplish this by using the D-pad to move your character around. You will need to obtain ten island roses the advance through this area.
The next area you will come upon is the Harbor Village. Harbor Village offers the five mini-games of Treasures of the Deep, Dress Designers, Rock Skip, Garden Getaway, and Butterfly Catch. Garden Getaway is a game where you will use the D-pad to race Barbie to the other side of the garden all the while avoiding the guards. During Dress Designers, you will point the Wii Remote at the screen and cut along the lines of fabric. The first one to complete the dress wins! You will need to achieve ten island roses to advance into the next area, Apollonian Castle.
In Apollonian Castle you will be able to play five mini-games. The mini-games are Belles of the Ball, Princess Prep, Tea Party, Hedge Hijinks, and Queens Bouquet. While playing Belles of the Ball, you will need to guide Barbie into performing the correct dance moves. You will do this by using the Wii Remote to tap the dance moves at the right time. During the Tea Party game, Barbie will have to serve her guest’s tea and cake in the correct order. This is accomplished by using the D-pad to pick up the food and then deliver it to the correct person. After receiving five island roses you will be able to advance to the Royal Green House area.
Here at the Royal Green House there are six mini-games. The mini-games are called Vine Swing, Rose Tonic, Wake Up, Night Light, Rose Bug, and Lullaby Song. The Lullaby Song is an interesting game Princess Rosella and the Queen will sing in a duet while you play. You will have to use the D-pad to move a symbol within the path of your notes or you will interrupt the song. Wake Up is a funny game where you run around and try to wake up different animals by shaking the Wii Remote. You will also need to scare off the rats that are putting the animals to sleep. You will need to obtain twelve island roses to complete this area and beat the game. Princess Rosella will finally be able to marry Prince Antonio and sail back to her island paradise. Here Princess Rosella and Prince Antonio will live happily ever after of course!
Each mini-game is different. You will be able to make use of your Wii Nunchuk in about half of the games. The mini games include drawing on the screen by pointing the Wii Remote to create certain shapes. You will also be able to race through mazes and skip rocks. Most of these mini-games require you to achieve 300 points which is usually extremely easy. However they throw some impossible games in there as well. But most of the time you will easily make more points than you need. I assume them made the points so easy to achieve because this game is geared towards young children. However most 7-10 year olds I know would be flying through this game just like I was.
As you complete each mini-game you can earn special items for Rosella. You can obtain dresses, jewelry, and shoes to dress up Rosella. You will be able to mix and match all of the items. You will be able to choose from Rosella’s simple island dresses to her extravagant ball room dresses. Unlocking the different outfits is easy so you will soon have a large wardrobe to choose from. This is really fun for young girls who have a strong fashion sense.
One of this game’s problems is its directions for the mini-games. Many times I had to go back and start the game over so I could reread the directions. The only time that you are given to read the directions is while the game is loading. Once the game is finished loading it automatically goes into the game. There is also a problem with the controls. A lot of the time I felt like the Wii Remote really wasn’t in tune with this game. Sometimes things would just sort of happen. Another thing about this game that is annoying is its load times. There are load times between each mini-game.
The visuals in this game are pretty good for this kind of game. The Wii is not known for its life-like graphics, so Barbie and The Island Princess is based more on fun. The graphics on this game come straight out of the movie. The mini-game graphics are mediocre at best. I really thought that they could have put more effort into the games. Really all of these games are simplistic games. However this game is geared towards young children so you can’t really fault them for the games simplicity.
The sound in this game is pretty much the same song over and over. You will also here Rosella and the other characters speaking to you. There are also a couple of songs Barbie and others will sing during the game but they’re nothing to get excited about. They could have changed up the sound and made it more enjoyable, but I know that they wouldn’t want to stray from the sound of the movie, however, they could have added more sound effects. Small things are missing that make the game less interesting.
This game, in stores, costs $39.99. I think that is a fair price because many young girls would enjoy playing this. I also think that this is a game that parents will be able to safely allow their children to play because it does not include any sort of violence. I think this is a fun game and I know many girls would spend hours having fun and playing with it. However, it can be pretty confusing when it comes to playing the mini-games. Parents should know that they may have to help younger children understand the directions.
I think this game is a great family game. The mini-games can be played again and again. Unfortunately the mini-games are not very entertaining after you have beaten them the first time but this game does offer the option to play dress up with Barbie which as a young girl I loved to do.
Overall I would recommend this game to parents who want something fun and safe for their children. This game was fun for me to play but it’s very simplistic and I would not recommend it for adults and teenagers as they would find it juvenile.