For nearly every little girl who loves to play with Barbie dolls, the ultimate dream is to own Barbie’s Dreamhouse, a giant dollhouse for Barbie and her friends.  And now your little girl can have that dreamhouse without having to put in a second mortgage and spend all night putting it together with Barbie Dreamhouse Adventure.  It’s basically a virtual dollhouse for the Switch. When I first popped this review copy into my Switch, the game seemed vaguely familiar.  Turns out I reviewed this game five years ago when it was just a mobile app.  But this version takes out all the in-game purchase crap and adds a bunch of new things, so that’s good.  As a 47 year old man, I don’t have any interest in Barbie, but the franchise sure did get a boost of popularity this past year with that new live action movie that just came out (never saw it myself).  But let’s take a tour of Barbie’s Dreamhouse and see what all you can do!

I have to admit, Barbie has one cool house!  She has a grill and a pool on the roof (the plumbing for that has to be a nightmare), and the stairs can turn into a slide with a ball pit at the bottom.  Heck, even the kitchen has a 3-D food printer replicator.  Man, we’re getting into some Star Trek type stuff here.  How far in the future does Barbie live?  Other rooms include a music stage, dance floor, home theater, and Barbie’s bedroom, which has a fashion stage, dress up closet, and a computer that would make any eSports fan jealous.  There’s also a bathroom with its very own salon, and a kid’s room with a train and drawing station for Barbie’s youngest sister (Barbie has sisters?).  There is also a garden where you can grow flowers and trees, and then use them to make bouquets to decorate the house with.

Play control is done by moving a cursor around the screen with the L stick and scrolling through the rooms with the right stick.  There are icons you can click on to put Barbie and her friends and pets in various parts of the house, and drag and drop any food, flowers, and more wherever you want them.  You can also paint walls and other things with various colors, and even implement some cool multicolored neon mood lighting.  You can make your own little songs at the DJ station, mix various fashions at Barbie’s virtual mirror, and even make greeting cards for Barbie’s friends.  Nothing really wrong with the game.  It’s just a virtual dollhouse at heart, so if you have a little girl who loves Barbie, they’ll certainly enjoy this.

Kid Factor:

Nothing violent or objectionable here.  Reading skill isn’t needed as Barbie give you tour around the house, telling you what everything does.  But sometimes I did have a little trouble figuring out how to do certain things, like giving a greeting card I had made to Ken.  While I don’t think this game will replace physical play with a real dollhouse, this game would be a good compromise for any girl who wants a dollhouse, but maybe a real one is too expensive.  Plus you don’t have to worry about putting one together or picking up any messes.  Barbie Dreamhouse Adventures is rated E for Everyone.

Tags: Game Reviews, Movies with Children, Television