merlot's Full Review: Barbie As Rapunzel for Windows, Mac
With two daughters in my house it's pretty hard to escape the Barbie as Rapunzel toys that are currently overtaking the market. Thankfully, Grandma wants to incorporate educational toys into our childrens lives. That's why she bought our 6 year old Barbie As Rapunzel CD-ROM for Windows.
Since Christmas this game has been an almost permanent fixture on our computer screen. The other night after dinner I came to use the computer and sure enough the Barbie as Rapunzel game was just waiting for someone to come back and play it. I decided to see what all the rage was. My daughter was a little surprised when she came in and I was playing her game, but how's a mom to know what the cool toys are if she doesn't play with them herself?
Barbie as Rapunzel CD-ROM is a "creative adventure" for ages 5 and up. It is rated E for everyone. My oldest daughter is 6 and really likes the game, which surprises me because it isn't very challenging and she usually likes the learning games more lately. My 4 year old can also play the game although she does have some trouble.
I am surprised that this game has lasted a month beyond Christmas. There isn't a lot to it. When I completed the game (in about 30 minutes) the other night, I looked at my husband and said "Is that it, I played for 30 minutes and that's it? Oh whoopie!" LOL.
Here's what's needed to play this CD-ROM (and yes, I took these straight from the manual).
•Windows 98/2000/ME/XP
•Pentium (or equivalent) 266 MHz or faster
㩄x speed CD-ROM drive
�� MB RAM
㩄 bit color
��X480 screen resolution
•Windows compatible sound card
•QuickTime 5.0.2
•Standard keyboard and mouse
Installing the game is easy. Insert the disk and it should start the set up process immediately, if not just follow the directions which are included in the game.
The Game
Rapunzel and Prince Stefan are getting ready to attend a Masquerade Ball. Unfortunately, Gothel, the evil witch has cast a spell on the castle. The spell has destroyed all the beauty in the castle and it's your job to restore the castle. The spell also knocks all the gems out of Prince Stefan's crown and scatters them in each room. Prince Stefan is turned to stone and hidden in the Garden Maze.
Once you restore a room you will be given a magnifying glass to use to find the gem that's in that room. Once you have all the gems you get to go to the Garden Maze to rescue Prince Stefan. When you find him you get to put all the gems back in his Royal Crown. Can you stand all this excitement? Are you up to the challenge? I think you are.
Restoring the rooms is quite easy. You simply pick a room and get to work. You are given a magic paint box and a wand. Move the wand around to find an area that needs to be restored. Then you can open the paintbox and you will be given a wand, a paintbrush, living stickers, or twinkle sprinkles. All of these things will help you restore the castle. Don't worry, it's not as boring as it sounds (yeah right), each tool in the magic paint box will actually let you decorate a couple of different ways. You can click the area to find just the right decoration. Once you've decorated the room you get to find the gem and move on to another room.
There are different activities that you can do to complete the goal. There are the Royal Thrones that need to be restored, you get to pick from a few different cushions and styles and then color them in. You get to select from a few different flowers to put in the garden, you will learn the names of these few flowers. You color them and can then decorate them with living stickers before planting them in the garden.
Once you have completed all the objectives you can color a mask for Rapunzel to wear to the ball, then pick a gown for her to wear and she and Prince Stefan are ready to go. There is a scrapbook of the rooms you restored at the end of the game. Of course throughout the game you are given the option to print things as you go.
What Do The Kids Think?
Both of my daughters really enjoy playing this game. They play it almost every night. They enjoy restoring the rooms and having the different possibilities available for each room.
What Does Mom Think?
Personally I didn't think this game was all that exciting. I would think that children would get tired of playing it since it's basically the same game and can be completed fairly quickly (especially for anyone over the age of 5). I would think the older you are the more boring this game would be.
There really isn't any educational value to this game. You don't learn to read, you aren't learning phonics or math, it is purely creative, which isn't a bad thing. I am all for creativity but I would have liked this to be mixed in with a little education also, but what do you really expect from a Barbie toy?
The game itself has fairly good graphics. Rapunzel speaks to your child as the game is played, helping to direct your child to find the gem, or to find an area of the room that can be restored. If your child walks away from the game Rapunzel will repeat the same sayings over and over "You must click on the magic paint box to close it" which can get mighty annoying. There are a lot of pauses in the game while other things load and that can sometimes be annoying, but for the most part is to be expected.
This game sells for $29.99 (that's the MSRP) but I notice it is currently listed at $19.99 at Amazon. My daughter received this as a gift so I am not aware of how much Grandma paid for it.
This game is just average. If my kids are spending time on the computerI do not think that this game is worth the full price, I don't even think it's worth $19.99. I wouldn't pay more than $10 for this game. I think the long term playability of this game is pretty short, I would imagine my kids will be done with this game within another month or so.
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