Any of us who have younger
girls know that Barbie continues to be the big rage, even decades after its
initial release (My mom was a big Barbie fan herself). Well, nowadays Barbie is
making lots of appearances as princesses and other fairy tale stars in both
movies and games, one of which being the new PC release Swan Lake: The Enchanted
Forest.
Swan
Lake
stars Barbie as Odette, the main character of the story. Her pet unicorn, Lila,
accidentally releases a spell that strips the enchanted forest of all of its
color and charm, not to mention all of the furry and magical friends who lived
there like woodland creatures, swans, and fairies. Odette and Lila head into the
enchanted forest to help restore it back to its original beauty through a series
of tasks to build magic wands in six different areas that the player must help
them complete.
These wands are your main
focus in the game, since they are the tools that are used to click and drag
colors and pictures back into the gray and dark forest. Each main screen has a
number of items that are collected in a magic bottle, and once all items have
been collected (you also have a handy magic book to check and see what you may
be missing), you then enter a magic chamber where they are mixed with other
items in a certain order to create wands like the flower wand, sparkle wand, and
fairy wand.
In addition to the main
search and find aspect with magic wands and restoration, there is a also a side
objective in each setting, and players will be doing things like matching up
musical flowers, painting pictures, or arranging swan eggs correctly to ensure
that they all hatch OK. There are also a couple of puzzles that I thought were
especially creative, like having to rearrange a lake reflection that was
scrambled up or having to catch fireflies with a rotating circle of different
colored flowers.
Graphically,
Swan
Lake looks good. All
of the backgrounds are still shots with interactive points to them while of
course Odette and Lila remain animated along with some other little things like
butterflies or some of the light beams which will blink in and out of the trees
periodically. Restoring the screen to its initial magic colors acts similar to
an airbrush effect as you hold and drag the mouse, which of course also looks
pretty neat.
The sound in
Swan
Lake was also done
well, with some pretty well produced and orchestrated music tracks that set a
good tone for what’s going on. The voiceovers were also done well, although I
have to admit that Lila’s voice got a little annoying after a short time period
… but then again that’s just me. It didn’t bother my daughter any, so as long as
it works for her than I’m OK with it.
Overall, younger gamers who
love Barbie will no doubt get a kick out of Swan Lake. The overall premise of
the game was very similar to Barbie: Rapunzel (restore the colors of the kingdom
which were taken away by the wicked stepmother), which came out earlier this
year, but some of the newer style puzzles and overall way to do restorations of
the screens will please fans since it’s different enough to not really be the
same thing done over again.
Gameplay: 7.8
Everything is
your typical Barbie point and click game, which makes it simple for even a four
or five year old player to get into and understand. The puzzles had a good mix
to them and ranged from simple to challenging, and while your little ones may
need some help now and then, there is also no time limit or any way to really do
it wrong so kids can keep trying. The replay value really will probably be
dependant on how much your girl is into Barbie though, since some of the puzzles
in the six levels may get a few changes in them but overall everything is pretty
much the same on the second time through.
Graphics: 8.2
The graphics in
Swan Lake were very bright, colorful, and stood out. The backgrounds are still
shots with some moving features added in, like light reflections or some smaller
animals, and Odette and Lila would move and animate. The FMV scenes also looked
good, and I especially liked the airbrush effect that restoring the area had as
you clicked and dragged the cursor.
Sound: 8.5
The music was
very good, and consisted of orchestrated numbers that set the tone well. The
voiceovers were done OK too, and encourage the player to make the right choices
or keep trying if they were missing something in the puzzle.
Difficulty: Medium
The game is built
to be simple for younger players to pick up and get into, but some of the
puzzles can be a little more challenging than others. The fact that you can keep
trying definitely helps though.
Concept: 7.9
Well, I have to
say that Barbie sure has been busy lately. While she’s not working the counter
at McDonalds and driving a $55,000 Corvette (I never understood how that worked
out), she’s starring in Swan Lake. The concept of the original story mixed with
Barbie was done well, it just may not be particularly long lived … especially
for older players.
Overall: 7.7
I thought that
the developers did a good job of the story and overall gameplay, I just didn’t
think that there was really a huge reason that a lot of players would want to go
back and play it again and again and again. While some of the other Barbie
titles offer more mini games or some options to really do some redecorating in
certain areas, Swan Lake seemed to have a little more of a “been there done
that” feel to it once you went all the way through the first time. If you’re
getting this for a major Barbie fan like mine though, there could definitely be
a lot more longevity to it for them.
