Barbie and Her Sisters Puppy Rescue (Wii U, 3DS, Wii, 360, PS3)

BARBIE_BOXAs a guy with six brothers and no sisters, I never had much exposure to Barbie toys. I remember as a kid seeing toy commercials for Barbie’s sister Skipper, but it turns out she has two other sisters as well.  See, video games do teach you stuff.  So anyway, it seems as though Barbie and her three sisters have started a puppy rescue business (they must have rich parents), and now you can help them find lost puppies, give them checkups, clean them, and find them new homes!  Barbie and Her Sisters Puppy Rescue is available for Wii U, 3DS, Wii, 360, and PS3, but reviewed on Wii U here.

So the first thing you’ll do in the game is ride your bike around town as Barbie looking for lost puppies.  Shortly after venturing out, Barbie will get a call on her cell phone and then you must follow the arrows and map to where the puppy is located.  You might have to do this a few times.  Once you find the puppy, you’ll either pick it up or play a mini-game to earn its trust.  You might have to match the item it wants, or find it in a hedge maze.  Then you put the puppy in Barbie’s bike basket and pedal on back to the rescue center.  The bike portion of the game is probably the most confusing because it requires knowing how to read a map in 3-D space, and they don’t give you any instructions about how to move your bike around or how to get off.  Luckily there are bike racks everywhere and your bike always materializes near one in case you need to hop off and walk around.

Back at the rescue center, Barbie gives the puppy to her sister Skipper, who is apparently a trained veterinarian now. Skipper will scan the puppy to see if it has a chip, and if it does, they’ll know who to call to own it.  If not, you’ll be able to name the puppy and must find it a good home later.  You’ll play another mini-game here where you might have to give the pup a vaccination, spray for fleas, or clean its teeth.

After that the puppy goes out to the kennel. Before you can do any activity, the puppy will need to rest a bit.  When you play mini-games and find puppies a home, you’ll earn bones.  You can spend bones to buy more kennels to hold more puppies, and you can also buy items to decorate the kennels with, which will also help reduce the puppies’ rest times.  While waiting for the puppies to rest up, you can go out to find more puppies, or take care of the ones you already have.

Once the puppy’s rest time is up, it’s off for training. Play an obstacle course agility training mini-game with another one of Barbie’s sisters, or you can just play with it out in the yard and pet it or play fetch.  After agility training and another rest, it’s off to Barbie’s final sister for grooming and another mini-game where you soap up and rinse off the pup.  And finally you must either call the owner of the lost pup, or find a match for a new home.  And then you start the process over again.

The only problem I had with the game is the lack of instructions to do certain things. I don’t know if the physical copy of the game has good instructions, but the downloadable one sure didn’t.  The graphics are pretty decent but the puppies’ huge eyes make them look freaky (I named a couple of the puppies things like ‘Coffee,’ ‘Espresso,’ and ‘Red Bull.’).  While the game is pretty repetitive, young Barbie fans should enjoy this one anyway.

BARBIE_SCREEN

Kid Factor:

Reading skill is a must with all the text, and younger gamers may need help with some of the parts of the game. But it should please little Barbie fans anyway.  And it might be considered educational as it teaches the importance of taking care of pets, taking them to the vet, and getting them chipped so they can be found easier.  Barbie and Her Sisters Puppy Rescue is rated E for Everyone.

One Response to “Barbie and Her Sisters Puppy Rescue (Wii U, 3DS, Wii, 360, PS3)”

  1. Hello Cary,

    I agree with you about the instructions on the game. It is very confusing. My kids played the game without finding any puppies 10 times. Last weekend I sat down and helped them. We have done almost everything accept the ‘Adoption’. How do we do the following: “And finally you must either call the owner of the lost pup, or find a match for a new home. And then you start the process over again.”?

    Regards
    Matthias (Dad)

Discussion Area - Leave a Comment




Tired of typing this out each time? Register as a subscriber!