GBA

  News 
  Reviews
  Previews
  Hardware
  Interviews
  All Features

Areas

  3DS
  Android
  iPad
  iPhone
  Mac
  PC
  PlayStation 3
  PlayStation 4
  Switch
  Vita
  Wii U
  Xbox 360
  Xbox One
  Media
  Archives
  Search
  Contests

 

Disney Princesses: Royal Adventure

Score: 65%
ESRB: Everyone
Publisher: Buena Vista
Developer: Human Soft Inc.
Media: Cartridge/1
Players: 1
Genre: Adventure

Graphics & Sound:

The younger girl gamer market is probably one of the hardest demographics to crack. Unlike the general young gamer market, few developers can claim one-time membership of this specialized market. Often times, this leads to games whose presentation hits the mark, but fall apart when it comes to actual gameplay. Such is the case for Disney Princesses: Royal Adventure.

Off the bat, I really liked Royal Adventure’s visual style, particularly the re-imagined art style used for the now familiar princesses and other in-game characters. Rather than present assets drawn in the typical Disney style, characters look like flat cutouts (think something in the vein of South Park) with few details. As is expected, the entire game is brightly colored and filled with rich pastels. Environments aren’t overly detailed, opting instead for the minimalist style seen on characters.

Royal Adventure features little in the way of sound. The same one or two sleepy background songs play throughout the game. They fit the game’s lighthearted mood, but given uneventful gameplay, it becomes a little too calming. I was surprised at the lack of classic Disney music in the game, especially considering that all of the princesses featured in the game have their signature songs.


Gameplay:

Once upon a time, a castle was built. Upon its completion, six special guests visited the castle and left six shining tiaras. The tiaras were so bright that the castle became known as Castle Bright. Every year, the people would come from all around to view the tiaras on a special day known as the Celebration of the Crowns. On the eve of the Celebration, the tiaras are removed from the castle. Playing as Lily, the castle’s caretaker, you must search for the six Disney Princesses and unravel the mystery.

Again, Disney Princesses: Royal Adventure absolutely nails the presentation aspect. The visuals are appealing and the story is simple enough but also contains a bit of mystery. Where the game falls apart is gameplay – which seems to aim for a very stereotypical version of the game’s audience.

The game is broken up into six main “quests”, each involving the search for one of the six Disney Princesses: Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora, Ariel, Jasmine and Belle. In order to locate the princesses, you must first help out the people living around the castle, but not before completing favors for other members – leading to an endless circle of fetch quests. One character will ask for a white flower, but in order to get the seeds, you must first help the gardener’s brother find his missing chickens. Eventually the clues you gain will point you towards a magical portal leading you to the Princesses’ worlds, only to receive another fetch quest.

Some favors will lead you to one of the village’s shops, at which point you can play one of five mini-games. These include a matching game where you match outfits; a memory game where you remember a short sequence of potions; and a music game where you hit timed button presses. Of the five, the only interesting game is the music one – which is also the one that you see the least.

Even with the included mini-games, Royal Adventure becomes very repetitive and dull. Nothing happens as you roam from favor to favor and there really isn’t all that much variety in the number of things that do happen. It is almost if you’re playing through one long, drawn-out tutorial just waiting for the real game to start. Its not until the final quest that things become interesting, but even here all of the decisions are made for you, so you’re basically just following a set path.


Difficulty:

Even when looking at the game from the audience’s perspective, Disney Princesses: Royal Adventure is a little too easy. You are hand-led through the entire game, leaving little challenge. Nothing is left for the player to figure out. Were the game targeted for a much younger audience (age 5 or younger), this wouldn’t be as bad. However, considering the amount of reading involved in the game, it hits a higher age group.

As it stands, the lack of difficulty is almost insulting. I rarely say this, but speaking as a teacher, Royal Adventure misses a great opportunity to actually introduce some basic higher-order thinking skills. I can understand not having combat and more complex mechanics, but to strip away all problem-solving is a bit of a disservice.


Game Mechanics:

Disney Princesses: Royal Adventure keeps things simple. Lily moves with the D-pad and can interact with her environment by pressing the A button. Everything is context sensitive, so there is little room for confusion. Pressing the R shoulder button brings up a big, easy to read map.

Overall I liked the control setup, but what I didn’t like was the speed at which Lily moves. The girl is slow, making the already lengthy travels between favors even longer. Adding to the travel woes, paths will sometimes close off for no reason, forcing you to take a longer route.

Disney Princesses: Royal Adventure has the potential to be a fun adventure. It has the appeal down, but lacks gameplay. Royal Adventure could have been a much stronger game if the game’s few interesting elements (like Lily’s disguise or the music game) had been expanded on. Even at $20, Royal Adventure is hard to recommend to even the most dedicated Disney Princess fan.


-Starscream, GameVortex Communications
AKA Ricky Tucker

Sony PlayStation 2 Yakuza Sony PlayStation 2 .hack // G.U. Vol. 1 // Rebirth

 
Game Vortex :: PSIllustrated