Barbie Explorer

BARBIE EXPLORER (Playstation)

I include the Barbie games in my reviews as they have a reputation of being boring, easy games for young girls. But not all of them are so, and I wanted to show the exceptions I have discovered. This game above all stands out as being the best of the bunch for the older gamer who is looking for an entertaining challenge. Despite it being reasonably short, the younger players can take years to complete it.

There is a two player option for the game but I'm not sure what this is about. In the one player version you take on the role of Barbie, this time being an archaeologist adventurer in the style of Indiana Jones or Lara Croft. (Though in the game she's actually a reporter, but she's Barbie - she can do anything!) Barbie runs, carefully walks, jumps, rolls, climbs and swings her way through various obstacles, as well as manipulating objects. There is a useful training level to familiarise yourself with all of Barbie's abilities and how to control them. There are also three difficulty levels; easy, medium and hard, which define how many accidents Barbie can have before she dies.

Barbie's mission is to collect four artifacts scattered around the world. The three opening locations can be visited in any order, and in their natural order become progressively more difficult. Once all three have been completed this reveals the fourth mystery location, most difficult of all, where the final artifact can be found. Each location has three levels to complete, usually increasing in difficulty with each one, and ends with a fourth level in which Barbie must get past a creature guarding the artifact. She has no weapons and does not fight, so to deal with the guardians and other creatures along the way that are trying to hurt her, the only option is to avoid them.

The way is pretty much linear throughout each of the levels, so there's no getting lost, although there are side ways to explore and hidden passages. It's mainly a physical challenge throughout requiring skill, but there are also some puzzles requiring thought, some with a time limit. These usually aren't too tricky but can cause problems. For example the first one I encountered was extremely simple, but the way it worked was deceptive and made it appear far more complicated than it actually was. Also one of the puzzles I never managed to figure out, but just got it right by chance. In addition to the main mission Barbie has the option of collecting gemstones along the way, and to find and collect them all makes the game even more difficult than it already is.

Overall the game is quite challenging and exciting, and never gets boring. As it progresses new interesting things appear, for example in Tibet many of the paths are icy and Barbie slips and slides while doing even the most simple of things. My only complaint is that compared to the rest of the levels, the guardian levels were a bit too easy, and could have been more exciting if there were more of a challenge involved. But I would recommend this game to anyone. As Barbie herself says when she completes it...

"It wasn't easy, but it sure was fun!"

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