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> Results: Bratz: Forever Diamondz
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Love them or hate them, the teenage Bratz girls have supplanted Barbie in the fashion doll world, and their media empire now encompasses games too. Forever Diamondz, the girls' second outing on the PS2, is based on the recently released Diamondz straight-to-DVD animated movie (itself based on the latest blinged-out doll line), and follows Sasha, Cloe, Yasmin, and Jade on their road trip across America, competing in the "America Rocks" reality TV fashion show in their bid to obtain the ultimate prize: diamond-studded go-go boots!
The game has you traveling from town to town in the Fashion Show on the Go truck, completing tasks necessary to both put out a new issue of the Bratz Magazine and compete in the America Rocks show in each of the three locales as you advance towards New York. You can take control of any of the girls at any time, and each character has their own tasks. The tasks themselves are quite varied; design a promotional poster and put them up around town, put together a particular outfit for a friend, find a lost item by following your chosen pet around, compete in dance competitions, and so on. It is an open-ended design, which means that if you wish you can just wander through a mall buying new music and trying on clothes instead of following the storyline, though you will be called on your mobile phone (yes, you can buy new ringtones and faceplates, and each girl has their own phone!) when you're needed for a particular job. In addition to the main game, there is a handful of two-player games available, such as matching cards. It is all pulled together in a slick fashion, with lots of video sequences from the movie, a ton of irritatingly catchy (if lyrically bland) tunes from the Bratz media universe, and some well-executed voice acting. Unfortunately, this polish hasn't extended enough to the game's technical aspects, as there are two glaring issues. The characters look good but cast shadows that can have spastic explosions for no apparent reason, an effect that can cover the entire screen in abstract shadowy shapes and persists until you switch the console off. While it doesn't stop you from playing, it's distracting. The other issue is that you're stuck looking at a "Loading.." screen every time you go to try on clothes or do your make-up. As a large portion of the game involves these very activities, it gets quite frustrating οΎ– especially during fashion shows when you have to play dress-up for three characters. Technical issues aside, I had fun playing through the story, and I'm far from the target demographic. True, this is basically a shopping simulator with a couple of simplistic minigames added on, but it is well done for what it is. If your kids' tolerance for problems like those described is lower than mine, and they love the idea of shopping with the Bratz girls, this could be a holiday hit in your house.  Other Platforms There are three different Forever Diamondz games spread over four different platforms. The Gamecube and Playstation 2 games are basically the same. The Gameboy Advance version is similar to the inferior DS game reviewed elsewhere on GamerDad, except without the stylus and microphone controls. 
The appropriateness of the Bratz themselves is a controversial topic and is outside the scope of this review. If you're wondering whether to buy this game for your child, you have likely already made up your mind about the effect - if any - of selling an idealized, materialistic teen lifestyle to its target market of 8-11 year-old girls. This game does nothing to change that, but the arguably positive aspects of Bratz (diversity, "girl power", confidence, self-expression, etc.) are presented through the dialog and soundtrack. It should probably be noted that many of the clothing and accessories available are a lot more grown-up than in the handheld games, but again this reflects the actual Bratz dolls. The only real item that stood out to me was at least one mission that involved spreading gossip about other characters. It's not particularly malicious, more like who's going out with who, but the concept doesn't agree with me. Almost as if to redress the balance, a couple of missions require the player to be the bigger person and assist the "bad guys" (represented by the suspiciously Barbie-like Tweevil twins) even though they are not nice to the Bratz.
As many activities are prompted by phone messages, reading skill is necessary to understand the required task, but in some cases the characters involved will also verbally go over the instructions. Younger players who can't read will probably struggle trying to find where to go unless an older child or parent shows them first. Comments? Chat about it in our forums! Format For Printing | Tell A Friend | Digg | Slashdot | del.icio.us | Buy This Game Browse Amazon.com's selection of "bratz diamondz" themed games Home > Review Archive > Video Games > Results: Bratz: Forever Diamondz |
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