Say the words
“American Girl” to any pre-teen girl and you are likely to see that glazed over
look of joy mingled with the beginning signs of avarice. American Girl is a
highly successful brand name that offers the gamut from dolls to clothes to
books to … well, suffice it to say it is a deep retail name.
So along comes
American Girl, the video games. Two have recently been released – American Girl:
Julie Finds a Way for the NDS, and American Girl: Julie Saves the Eagles for the
PC. This review concerns the latter. In Julie Saves the Eagles, the story
centers around Julie Albright, who is a young lady living in San Francisco in
the 1970s. In the early part of the story, Julie finds an endangered bald eagle
family and takes it upon herself to see to their rescue.
As this is a
game geared for younger players, it is only appropriate that one such player
give her take on the game. Emma, age 11, played the game and wrote the following
about the title:
“Julie is a
young girl who lives in downtown San Francisco. She does quests with her friend
Ivy. Julie and Ivy meet a family of bald eagles at a rescue center. The names of
the eagles are Sierra, Shasta and their baby, Freckles. The eagle family can’t
be released because the rescue center doesn’t have the money.
“Julie wants to
help, so she goes around San Francisco asking for donations for the eagles’
release. She is also looking for things to sell at the Earth Day event. Before
the Earth Day event, you walk around town doing quests and playing mini-games
while collecting things to sell. When you collect stuff, you have an icon that
says inventory; when you want to go to different places there’s a map icon. You
can unlock new places to go to while playing the game. When you have to take
notes, you go to the icon that says Julie’s Diary (you can really type things
in). When you need help in the game, you can always go to Ivy or Julie’s mom for
advice.”
The game itself
uses both the point-and-click style interface as you can also use the arrow
buttons to move. Julie will find locations to enter, many side quests and can
talk to a wide range of people in the game. Some of the puzzles will involve
players doing a series of tasks to get the final reward.
Graphically the
game uses the low isometric viewpoint, but while not exactly high end, the
images are bright and colorful and should be pleasing. The audio is also solid.
The downside is
that initially younger players may be confused by the game and lacking solid
direction is a hinderance. The game, initially, sports an almost sandbox feel.
It is not until you actually start along the path that you begin to see a bit of
a structured course through the game.
This is a game
that is meant for younger players (the box says ages 8 and up) and in that
regard, it is a solid game. American Girl knows its audience and this game seems
to be right in line with that. Do not expect the game to have overly challenging
elements or to be innovative when it comes to the adventure genre. This is a
game that treads the familiar path well, but does it in a manner that should
appeal to its “American Girl” core audience.
Gameplay: 7.0
Not enough direction
initially, but once past that, Emma found the game to be “fun and really
amusing.”
Graphics: 7.7
Bright and colorful
graphics with decent animations. Certainly not graphical elements that will
challenge any machine or that scream ‘2007,’ but they are solid and will appeal
to the target age group.
Sound: 7.0
Decent and a good
support for the graphics.
Difficulty: Easy
Concept: 6.8
This is not a game
that is innovative in any way. The story is nicely realized and drives the
gameplay well.
Overall: 7.0
Emma thinks this is
an “8,” but that gets downsized just a bit simply because the game is not that
innovative. It delivers a nice message about conservation and being helpful, but
does not have any new gameplay mechanics or even puzzles or other elements that
are unique.
