Polly Pocket: Super Splash Island (Game Boy Advance) - Review by Andrew

Introduction

Ever since the introduction of the 'pink' handhelds there's been a huge increase in games that cater for girls. Unlike previous titles such as Crash, Spyro and even Mario that managed to also appeal to the female audience, these titles are based on existing franchises solely marketed at girls. Polly Pocket is a great example of this and, like BRATZ (who have also appeared on the GBA) you can get pretty much anything you can think of with the Polly Pocket logo on. This latest GBA outing though finds Polly and her friends at Super Splash Island thanks to her luck in a radio contest. Fortunately I won't be alone either in reviewing this game; as usual I have enlisted the help of my game-crazy nieces to put me on the right track. So, what did they think?

Gameplay

After entering the park you'll be glad to know that all the attractions are open to you immediately, well all but one. Off limits is the Giant Water Slide, which can only be accessed once you have won the required number of tickets during the other attractions. These are mostly based on classics from the past. River Rapids, for example, is Toobin' whilst River Crossing is Frogger. There are others which have a little more freedom such as the Jet Boats but most of these rely on tried and tested formulas. The amount of tickets you collect is dependent on how well you do, although you will have the opportunity to amass more if you select the hard mode as opposed to easy. Another great touch is the fact that all the games are multiplayer but unlike most DS titles there's no need for you to have two GBAs because, after selecting which character you wish to play as, you simply have your turn and then pass the GBA to your friend so they can try and beat your score. The only snag is the lack of any automatic save (which has instead been replaced by a password system) that could have made bettering your own score an endless challenge.

Previous instalments of Advance Wars required you to use the D-Pad, and this The control system differs from game to game and is very intuitive. Even if it wasn't you can always drop by the 'Info Booth' for a full overview of the various attractions and their objectives.

Graphics

The visuals here are very true to the Polly Pocket world so I'm sure there will be few complaints from fans. Because of the nature of the games there's little in the way of animation but what there is works fine and obviously causes no slowdown. The highlight is possibly the intro, which is told through a collection of static cut-screens although a few more of these would have been nice.

Sound

The music isn't too bad and you do get a different tune for each of the Park's attraction. These are probably best described as 'Tropical' in essence but they certainly suit the holiday/having fun theme. Unfortunately they also suffer from the dreaded repetition from being 'looped' a little too much on some of the more involved mini-games.

Final comments

You could certainly argue that there's absolutely nothing new about Polly Pocket and if you've played as many games as I have over the past few years that's certainly true. On the other hand my nieces loved not only the various mini-games but also the fact that both of them could play the game using a single GBA attempting to outdo one another's scores. So, in other words, while from a technical point of view this is hardly pushing the GBA's hardware I'm by no means an expert in games squarely aimed towards a pre-teen female demographic. It's my nieces' opinion that's far more valid and for that reason alone this is a hit.

Pro: Mini-Games Always Available, Single Cart Multiplayer.
Con: Not Very Original, Password Save.
Final score: 7.1

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