Description:
Is the fiercely competitive world of female gymnastics ready for the perkiness of Team Barbie? Once we got over those impossible bodies, we grudgingly realized that Barbie Team Gymnastics would probably be a dream come true for any girl who loves both gymnastics and Barbie. However, don't rely on this game to teach any lessons about sportsmanship: either Team Barbie cheats, or the judges in this program all work for Mattel. Play begins in the lounge, where Barbie and her lithesome yet curvy teammates, Christie and Teresa, await practice orders. Players must guide the girls through practice routines on the vault, uneven bars, balance beam, and floor. Moves are executed by hitting the arrow keys and space bar in a sequence that suddenly appears on the left side of the screen. If a player hits the wrong keys, or doesn't hit the right keys soon enough, their gymnast will bobble or (gasp!) fall off their apparatus, and the coach, Kira, will chirp "Don't give up!" as the program churns relentlessly onward. Maintaining composure after knocking Barbie off the beam is difficult, but just like an actual competition, the good players shake it off and keep going. Young gymnasts will probably enjoy sweating out their mistakes, the realism of the sounds (that hollow thud as hands and feet contact the balance beam), and the 3-D images of gymnasts performing their moves as the "camera" swoops in for different angles. Another nice touch is a replay component that allows players to watch their routines once completed. It's hard to watch the routine as it's being executed, because you must instead keep your eyes on the "Power Bar" that orders the keystrokes for each move. When players master enough walkovers and handsprings to earn a high score, they're allowed to attend local, sectional, regional, and national competitions where prizes are trophies, new moves to add to their repertoire, and of course, new team outfits. Here's where the cheating came in: at a local competition, we ran our Team Barbie members through their paces and scored 9.2s and 9.3s, while our competitors consistently scored 9.5s and 9.6s. Despite this, come trophy time, Team Barbie got the gold with a score average that was mysteriously boosted to 9.4! For this blatant disregard for the lessons of losing and accurate math, we'll give Barbie Team Gymnastics an 8.3 for style, and a 7.0 for execution. (Ages 6 and older) --Anne Erickson
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