Bratz Ponyz is a really cute game. Pink and Purple, with cute little ponies that look like the original Pet Shop toys. However, cute will only get you so far. Despite a promising beginning, Bratz Ponyz lacks substance and falls short of its potential. That’s really too bad, as this could have been a very good game for little girls. The problem is that the good stuff is negated by bad design, a lack of variety and missing content.

The game begins with the setup screen, where players choose the horse they want to represent them in the game. These ponyz are all very feminine and cute. Once a pony is chosen, it’s off to the adventure. The game is a collection of mini-games, loosely connected by a pseudo adventure of sorts that has the players looking for a hidden marble that contains a piece of furniture to place in their house at the end of each adventure day. Essentially, players will play four mini-games, collect the marble, return to their house, and see what the furniture is.  And that’s it. Once the furniture is unveiled, it’s off to play the mini-games again, collect the marble, return to the house…..And again. And again.

The mini-games are actually fun and fairly well-designed, except for a few instances of the “blowing into the microphone” control. The games are in workshops: Makeup, Tattoos, Jewelry and Hairstyle. These workshops are accessed in each new gameday by finding a certain item to open the workshop, like a flower or a feather. In Makeup, players will play one of four variations of mini-games where the stylus is used to color the pony’s head. Tattoos is a coloring book game, and Jewelry is a simple arcade game where players use their stylus to capture matching beads to string a necklace. Hairstyle offers three variations of haircare using the stylus to wash, brush and blow-dry the pony’s hair, with the hairdrying game also utilizing the blowing into the microphone control.

These games are fun to play, but the ones that use the microphone don’t work quite as well, simply for the fact that looking at the screen from two inches away while blowing makes you cross-eyed. Trying to see the action on the screen while inches away is difficult to say the least, and certainly uncomfortable.

However, while fun, there are only a few mini-games and they soon begin to pall on players. There is also a multi-player mode with two new games, besides two of the original games, but there’s not much to them. As there isn’t much of anything else to do, this entire game begins to pall. It’s a question of missing content. The whole furniture thing is meaningless, as players can’t actually do anything with the furniture except look at it. The jewelry, makeup and flowers that are found or made during the game can be worn by the ponyz, but only on the inventory screen.  They won’t have them on while playing the adventure.

There are four other islands besides the main island that contains the four mini-games, but there isn’t anything to do on them, either. I can’t understand why they are included at all. Basically, players will travel to the other islands to find either the item needed to open the workshop or the furniture marble, and then return to the main island. That’s it. Getting to the islands involves playing one of two simple arcade games. One requires blowing into the microphone to float a hot-air balloon, and the other has players using their stylus to spin the wheels faster on the paddleboat. Neither is anything to write home about.

What this game should include is the ability to wear original designs from the workshops, have some type of collection aspect for the flowers and feathers, have interactive furniture, be able to decorate the houses in other ways, and more types of mini-games. The blowing into the microphone doesn’t work well, and should be ditched.

All these negatives are unfortunate, as the core of the mini-game design and the graphic presentation are actually engaging and attractive. Young girls will enjoy the cute ponyz and the mini-games at first, but they will soon tire of doing the same things over again. Best for younger players.

Gameplay: 5.0
At first, this game is fun. After a while, it’s not. There is a total lack of variety in the content.

Graphics: 8.0
The graphics are really good, and the ponyz are attractive and cute. The backgrounds are also nicely drawn and colored.

Sound: 6.0
The sound is alright, but could have been better. More songs that could be changed in a radio mode would have been good.

Difficulty: Easy
This game is very easy and is designed for young children.

Concept: 5.0
It almost seems as if the designers started with a good idea of what they wanted in this game, but then either stopped midway or changed design teams.

Multiplayer: 5.0
The multiplayer function doesn’t add much to the game.

Overall: 5.5
A wholly average game that could have been an above average game with a little more time spent on it.