Believe it or not, this game is actually a sequel (or spinoff) to one I reviewed a couple of years ago!  In the first game, you play as a girl who gets whisked away to a world inhabited by rabbit people.  You get transformed into a princess and the rabbits need your princess magic to help rebuild and decorate their castle.  The game was pretty much a rip-off of the indoor decorating aspects of Animal Crossing, and the sequel rips off pretty much everything else from that title.  In the sequel, you and your princess friends decide they want to try some Princess Cake.  Your rabbit butler knows an island where you can get the ingredients.  So now you set off for that island, where you’ll farm, fish, and gather materials to build shops and farms so you can make more things to restore the island to its former glory.  The game even uses the same ‘rolling log’ viewpoint that Animal Crossing does!

When you land on the island, your princess friends and rabbit butler set up some shops in a central square.  You can buy seeds and plants, craft buildings and bridges, and make new clothes and hairstyles.  Another friend lets you sell excess material you don’t need.  Your rabbit butler has requests that you can fulfill, and when you do, you’ll earn experience points and money.  When you get enough experience points, you’ll level up and can do more things.

The game is also a bit like Harvest Moon in that you can till the land and plant seeds and wait for them to grow.  You’ll use the crops to feed chickens, sheep, and cows to get eggs, wool, and milk.  You can also hit trees for wood and fruit, and catch bugs and fish, too.  You’ll use all these things to fulfill requests and build shops where you can craft more things.  While you must wait about five minutes or so for things to grow or regenerate, the game doesn’t have a day/night cycle or any other passage of time like Animal Crossing does.

My only problem with this game is that they show you pictures of the things you need to craft for requests, but they don’t tell you what it is or how to make them.  And the text can be too small in places.  But as an avid Animal Crossing fan, I even found myself a bit addicted to this game, at least for a little while.  So if you have younger girls who love Animal Crossing, they might like this one, too.

Kid Factor:

Pretty Princess: Magical Garden Island is rated E for Everyone with an ESRB descriptor of Alcohol Reference.  I don’t remember seeing anything like that when I played, but I’m sure it’s just used for cooking purposes.  Even though the controls are simplified for younger gamers, reading skill is still a must for all the text.  And I think kids would rather play Animal Crossing anyway, but if they can’t get enough of that, here’s another one for them!

Tags: Game Reviews