O3 Entertainment Barbie and Her Sisters: Puppy Rescue - Wii U

Background: This game was a gift for my daughter for her 5th birthday. She is just learning her letters and can spell her name, but cannot read. This was the first Wii U game bought specifically for her, but she has played games like Wii Sports Resort,etc. with the family.Right off the bat, let me issue a warning: If you create a new game and then exit before bringing your first puppy back to the center, the game file will become corrupt and will not autosave at all. You have to bring the puppy back to the center and perform its initial treatment, triggering the first autosave point as the dog is placed in a kennel. I learned this the hard way after my daughter lost all of her progress twice. If this happens to you, create a new game over the corrupted slot and you'll be fine.As for gameplay, I noticed a few things that make the game very difficult for younger children. The first flaw becomes obvious the moment the game starts, when you realize you have no idea how to control Barbie on her bike. This information is in the manual, or you can rely on trial and error.Having figured out how to ride the bike, my daughter quickly became frustrated by the hyper-sensitivity of the left stick. The roads in town are curvy and obstacle-ridden, and Barbie is difficult to control. Even worse,the developer decided to implement collision physics, so other bicyclists and pedestrians will knock Barbie off course. Frustrated, my daughter hopped off the bike and ran around town on foot. When she wanted to find her bike again, she opened the map, only to discover that the bicycle icon jumps around as you run toward it!Once you're on the trail of a missing puppy, a compass arrow appears to point you in the right direction. Unfortunately, it's exactly that: a compass arrow. If the puppy is in the southwest part of town, the arrow points southwest, even if there are impassable buildings and obstructions in the way. My daughter got her bike wedged in all kinds of doorways and alleys before we realized you had to stick to the roads to travel around town. A breadcrumb trail would have been so much better.Finally, my last major complaint is that the map has no labels to indicate where the Construction Site, Gardens, Suburbs, etc. are. Even better would have been pictographs (a bulldozer, tree, house, etc.) for pre-readers.Once she got the puppies back to the rescue center, my daughter enjoyed all the mini-games: teaching tricks, playing, grooming, etc. It's just a shame that a few design flaws made the actual rescuing portion of the game more difficult than it had to be for smaller children. Older kids who can read and who are more conversant with video games in general will have an easier time.

Keeps 5 and 3 year olds attention. They love it. Pretty easy for the kids to use and understand.

Ma fille a 8 ans et elle l'adore!

Bought this to play with my 6 yr old niece. Takes a little time to get used to it but we figured it out after about 30min. It's not a simple as I thought it would be so she could play by herself. Also, pop up "tweets" happen as you are playing which is confusing and distracting. Those I could do without. Price on Amazon was half of what it is at the store.

The kids love the idea of the game and doing things for the puppies at the rescue base, but they have a VERY hard time maneuvering Barbie on her bike. They usually have to just have her walk which takes to long and they get frustrated and bored. I typically have to play that part for them and then they enjoy the new puppy at the rescue area and are happy again