Review: Barbie Horse Adventures (XBX)

Finally! An excuse for Gamestyle to get its hands on some dolls (all in the name of research, of course). Barbie Horse Adventures could have been another licensed pile of poo, with overly simple gameplay to amuse little girls for an hour, wrapped up in a pink box. Which is why it was a surprise when it turned out to be quite good.

Barbie and her friends, Christie and Teresa, plan on spending the weekend at Silver Valley Riding School, but when they arrive, the Stable Master, Mrs. Hepburn, informs them that there's a storm coming. That night during the storm, the gate blows open and all the horses run away. Barbie volunteers her friends and herself to find them. What this all means is that you must help Barbie find the horses by exploring the countryside.

You start at the riding school, where there are four areas - a dressing room where you can dress Barbie, a stables where you can choose the horse you want to ride, and a cleaning area to clean your horse. The final area is where you enter each of the ten levels, represented by ten gates. When you start there is only one gate open, but as you complete each level you open another gate and access to another level.

There's loads to do on each level; the common goals are to rescue the six lost foals, collect the 200 coins scattered throughout, and find the three present boxes. There are also clock challenges: when you collect a clock icon, you have to find the remaining clock icons within the time limit. Each clock you collect adds a few more seconds to the timer. If you manage to find all the clocks, you're rewarded with a ribbon which you can attach to your horse in the stables (upon completion). In some levels there are also additional goals at the end, including having to lasso a horse to capture it or winning a race against one of your friends. Each of the levels is quite big and takes about 15-30 minutes to complete, depending on whether you want to finish all the goals or not. As well as riding your horse through the level, there are sections when Barbie must dismount and explore areas on foot. There are some simplistic puzzles to be solved as well - such as finding keys to unlock gates, finding the nearby switch to activate a dam, and pushing a drawbridge down and finding your way through a maze. The puzzles get a little harder on the later levels, without ever becoming too taxing.

Apart from the main levels, there are other things to do in the game. As mentioned before, you can dress Barbie in the changing room. You can choose an outfit comprising of an optional hat, top, optional jacket, trousers and boots (while Barbie helpfully models them for you). As you progress in the game, more items of clothing are unlocked, allowing for a greater number of outfits. The stable area is much the same, but this time you choose a horse to customise. You can change everything from the colour of the horse, to the style of mane, saddle and even the chance to attach any ribbons you may have won in the levels. The final area is a horse-cleaning area. Taking a horse out on the trails gets them dirty, so when you return you have to keep your horse happy by giving it a good clean - which forms a mini-game where you have to scrub your horse clean in the time given.

The levels lead on from each other very well. The ten levels are split up into four sections; the first three consisting of three levels and then a final level. The levels within each section have a common theme, like the forest section or the snow mountain section, but are sufficiently different from each other so they don't get boring.

The controls are simple to learn (as there aren't many buttons used) and in most situations a helpful graphic appears that tells you what happens when you press a certain button; for instance how to activate a switch. On horseback, the horse controls quite realistically and has a small degree of independence - for instance, your horse will refuse to jump over a high log if you haven't built up sufficient speed coming up to it.

The game's graphics are crisp, bright and colourful (as befits a Barbie game); the horses and characters have a decent amount of detail and look realistic, and some of the areas are great to ride through - especially sections with long grass and fences to jump over. The music is pleasant, but not very interesting (just your usual elevator-type 'muzak'). The sound effects are well-implemented, with area sounds that make you feel as though you are really there. The voices are also quite apt, and the lip-synching is good.

There are very few bad comments to be made about this game. There are occasional clipping issues with the graphics, and some of Barbie's sayings are repeated often. Also, the game is simple and very repetitious - with mostly the same objectives on every level (however you have to keep in mind the target audience, which is young girls).

In conclusion, Blitz Games has done a very good job with the Barbie licence; creating a game that's true to the character and also its target audience (for instance, never patronising them with overly-simple gameplay). The game features enough levels and unlockable extras to keep the player engrossed for a long time; so Barbie and horse fans alike - male and female, young and old - will all get something out of this. And Gamestyle has learned two more things from this enjoyable adventure: 1) Barbie can carry off any outfit, and 2) horses are way cool!

Rating: 7 / 10

Words by Gopinath Chandran