Finding games for young girls that don’t emphasize fashion or makeup (yes Bratz, I’m talking to you) can be a chore, but sometimes something cute and entertaining comes along that won’t pass along any kind of wrong message to influenceable minds of little girls. Strawberry Shortcake: Strawberryland Games is one of these cute and entertaining games.
Playing as Strawberry Shortcake or Blueberry Muffin, Strawberryland Games takes the player through a series of fun mini-games, part of the Nearly Once a Year Festival. Peppermint Fizz and her pet Cola Chameleon have been cheating their way to victory, so the objective is to win in all of the competitions, fair and square.
There are three different Strawberryland Games: Berry Boarding, Balloon Rise and Black Liquorice Leap.
Berry Boarding is a snowboarding game that sends you down the Sundae Slopes collecting berries, performing tricks and dodging obstacles. You move by using the D-pad and do tricks by pressing the respective buttons while airborne. Certain berries let you perform special moves reward you with bonus time, but some of these are done by using the stylus, which becomes a bit of a hassle when you’re keeping a hand on the D-pad and another on the buttons. There is also a wireless version of Berry Boarding where you can race someone else.
Balloon Rise is a platform game where you place little balloons for Strawberry Shortcake or Blueberry Muffin to step by simply tapping the touch screen on the spot you want a balloon to go and jump on it by pressing the A button. The objective is to reach the top as quickly as possible, but you have to keep an eye on your air meter and take in consideration that Strawberry doesn’t jump too high.
Liquorice Leap is played with a pet, a cat or a dog (Custard and Pupcake), depending on your preference. The task consists on placing floating liquorice platforms on the water to form a safe path for your pet to cross and reach the goal. You drag and drop the platforms to anywhere on the screen, but they must be in range of your pet’s jump.
Aside from these three race games, there are more activities. One is a balloon ride, where you just control the balloon and enjoy the view until you reach the landing platform. It’s a little relaxing activity in case you get tired of competing. The other event is the Berry Cherry Games, which happen to be my favorite.
The Berry Cherry Games have three different mini-games to play: Berry Tap, Berry Bounce and Berry Tiles. There’s no competition involved in these, only a timer to give you a little bit of a challenge.
Berry Tiles places the little dog Pupcake on a 4×4 board. Everytime you step on a tile, its image will change. The goal is to flip all tiles to have the same image, it’s pretty simple. Initially, you have 60 seconds to get as many boards as you can, with 10 seconds added per board you complete.
Berry Tap gives you an area with several holes and 30 seconds per level. Berries will pop up from the holes and remain for a brief second and then go back in. You have to tap ten strawberries to proceed to the next level. In some cases, gophers will appear. Tap them and berries will appear in their place.
Berry Bounce is a fast-paced tapping game where berries of all kinds pop out of the holes. On the top screen there is a “list” of which berries you have to get to advance a level. It doesn’t matter in what order you get them, as long as you get them all. Tap a berry that is not on the list and another berry icon will appear on the top screen.
Each of the games has several levels of increasing difficulty, and completing them awards you with Strawberry Tickets. It’s especially easy to get lots of tickets in the Berry Games. You can redeem tickets in the Dessert Booth for useful treats that help you in these mini-games.
The Dessert Booth lets you purchase dessert boosters or make them yourself. First, you must have enough tickets to purchase the dessert or ingredients for what you want to make. You then pick the race you want to get a booster for, pick the type of booster and either follow Angel Cake’s instructions and make it yourself, or have Angel Cake make it for you.
Making the desserts is a really cute process, since you get to mix, stir, set the oven timer, bake or freeze your ingredients all by using the touch screen. Dessert boosters will become available in the race they are specific for, and they range from letting your pet do three jumps in a row in Liquorice Leap to placing bounce clouds in Balloon Rise, even double the amount of berries you collect in Berry Boarding.
Getting into the technical aspects of the game, Strawberryland Games offers easy controls and gameplay, cute and vibrant graphics and smooth animations. The downside is the music, which becomes repetitive a bit too fast.
But when all is said and done, Strawberry Shortcake: Strawberryland Games is a deliciously entertaining collection of mini-games, perfect for the Nintendo DS. The different difficulties ensure that there is enough challenge for girls of all ages and the variety of the games offers something for everyone.
And did I mention it’s scented?
Special thanks to Damien Sarrazin and The Game Factory for providing a copy of this title.