Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus

By: PoisonRamune, the Apathetic Lizardman

Before I do my review of this game, I just want to let you all know that I didn’t masturbate a single time while playing (or while thinking of Barbie’s in-game sprite).

I tried really hard to not like this game, but I honestly couldn’t. Barbie and the Magic of the Pegasus for Gameboy Advance is not a bad game, still for some reason it’s gotten a lot of bad reviews throughout the internet. Many complain that the game is incredibly easy (which it is). However, I found the game to be more challenging than that Monkey King game for Wii.

When I first tried the game out, I immediately noticed that the game was made by Way Forward (the people who were contracted to make Contra 4 and Shantae) and it shows. While the game is very simple (but what else is to be expected from a game that’s marketed to 5-11 year old girls), it stands as a gateway action-adventure game. It kind of reminds me of those old Mickey Mouse Magical Quests on SNES, as they’re seemingly made to teach your children the basics of an explorative platformer.

"The game actually becomes like a run and gun (maybe stall and gun) shmup once you get this."

The story deviates from the typical Barbie story arc (which I assume is about Barbie being a career woman with some sort of dream house and pink corvette); and follows a fantasy based setting. In fact, this game could have been about any archetypical princess with latent magic powers, as Barbie’s in-game character name is actually Annika (and yes, I actually remember their names). Another funny thing to note about this game it the fact that it’s like a double entendre of a license based video game, since Magic of Pegasus is a Barbie game made to promote a Barbie DVD.

"As the title implies... There's a pegasus in the game."

In Magic of Pegasus, the evil Wenlock forces Annika to marry him by turning everyone she knows to stone. Using your magic wand you are to work your way through each level by transforming your friends back into human form. Throughout the game you find upgrades to your wand allowing you to jump farther, transform enemies into platforms, etc. At the end of each world you are to fight a boss that is incredibly easy, yet kind of challenging at the same time. I mean, the bosses are easy in that you really have to try to die, let alone get damaged by them. However, they’re somewhat challenging in that you can’t just waltz up to them and lay down the smack down on them. The bosses surprised me in that they’re like primers for harder video games’ bosses (such as you needing to use the same trick you use to kill Bowser in SMB3 to kill the griffin in Magic of Pegasus).

"For the first time ever Barbie surfs down a tight rope. Actually, she might do that quite a bit, since I know there's a Marine Barbie. But it's not like I know everything about Barbies, honest."

I’m not going to lie; the game is pretty hard on the eyes in the graphics department, since everything is: hot pink, lavender, electric blue, or white (aside from the mushroom forest level). However, after awhile you kind of get used to it in the way you get used to the hard black and white motif of Schindler’s List or Madworld. The music is ok from what I heard (essentially nothing’s wrong with it, it’s just really whimsical), but truth be known I would only listen to the sounds when not in the presence of others, as not to make it known that I was playing a game made for girls.

"Prepare your eyes for extreme retina burn."

As I said before, the game is a pretty good game; nothing is broken or so heinously game breaking that the game is rendered unplayable (or even undesirable to play, as I caught myself playing the game for fun after I beat it for this review). However, I did find a couple things going on with this game that just didn’t make sense. The first thing is the alternate costumes you can get in this game. By doing some explorative gaming you’ll find secret rooms with timed minigames that allow you to win secret costumes; my main girpe with this is I’ve found no way to change Annika’s costume out to any of the one’s I won.

"Even thought this guys is Shrekish looking in his true form, he's pretty ok in his "Wenlock" form."

My biggest complaint is actually the game’s plotline. I mean, why is Annika being such a stuck up bitch? She should at least give this guy, Wenlock a chance. Not only is he the best looking male NPC in-game (gawd, this review is making me look gayer by the second); but she can just go on a date with him and then blow him off after he takes her out for bowling, drinks and dinner. This is really teaching girls the wrong ideals here. If they just sit around and wait for their GI Joes and Kens; how are decent guys like us dudes from RwN going to get the time of day?

"Every other NPC has a face like one of these guys."

I’m actually going to stow this game away with some sort of handheld system that can play it just in case I have a daughter that seemingly doesn’t like video games. She’ll probably play it, find enjoyment in it, and be turned on to play real action adventure games like Metroid or the newer Castlevania. The only sad thing is she’ll tell explain those games as “like this Barbie game my dad used to have.”

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