Bratz the Movie - Wii
Bratz have been around in games since 2002.
By now the game has been refined for ultimate appeal to girls.
Basically it includes every fantasy imaginable.
No hard work, studying science or sensible shoes here.
Yes to a fashion or a music career,
work involves searching out items for the best fashion magazine, skating, cell phones, rockin' guitar,
owning pets and dressing them up, trying various makeup, hair styles, runway posing,
lots of trying on clothes, shoes, jewelry, if you can't find what you want you are encouraged to design it.
If you have played the other Bratz games, you will find the settings, the plazas,
promenades, and the office familiar, which can be comforting but also disappointing.
This is not an open ended game – you are led from one activity to another.
When it's time to skate, you skate, when it's time to get a pet – you get a pet.
It is prescribed linear.
On the Wii you can do a few riffs on your guitar by strumming with the stick and pressing the correct
buttons – a little like Guitar Hero Lite.
It is a good design decision to place all the commands on the stick.
It makes it simple, but the controls still take some getting used to.
You have to wait for the star to appear on the screen before you press the B button to move.
Sometimes the star disappears, flickers, or just doesn't move to where you want to go.
It's the problem of some games on the Wii – the PS2 controllers just seem to be more responsive.
The voices are much too saccharin and the constant encouragement from Bunny Boo, Pretty Princess,
Angel and Kool Kat becomes wearing to this reviewer.
The only dark cloud in the land of sweetness and light is Burdine, the established fashionista and the Tweeviles.
The insulting comments from the Tweeviles were unpleasant and some other way of telegraphing their
nastiness should have been done.
The Bratz may be widely accepted as an alternate to Barbie,
but I find it hard to imaging that I would be happy if my son brought one of them home.
Reviewed by: Editor - 10/07
Ages: Everyone
Fun Factor: Usual girl stuff
Female Factor: Vacuous roll models