Barbie Horse Adventures

Last updated
Barbie Horse Adventures
Genre(s) Adventure, children's, role-playing
Publisher(s) Vivendi Universal Games
Activision
Platform(s) Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, Windows, Wii, Xbox
First releaseBarbie Horse Adventures: Blue Ribbon Race
September 17, 2003
Latest releaseBarbie Horse Adventures: Riding Camp
October 21, 2008

Barbie Horse Adventures is a series of video games based on Mattel's Barbie line of dolls. The series is aimed at children and involves various aspects of equestrianism.

Contents

Gameplay

Players take on the roles of Barbie as well as other members of Barbie's friends and family. Settings range from natural (hills and woodlands) to artificial (horse ranches and racetracks).

Gameplay is based around various aspects of equestrianism, with the precise activities varying from game to game in the series. Players tame, feed, groom, and train horses. Horses may become lost, whereupon players will have to find them. The central part of gameplay, though, is riding horses by various methods, including trick riding and participation in horse racing. Players may be attacked by hostile animals such as porcupines and skunks.

Additional non-equestrian gameplay is provided by customizing the player character, who typically gets a large and diverse wardrobe with which to play dress-up.

Games in the series

The games in the table below are listed in chronological order by release date. In addition to the games in this table, the equestrianism-based gameplay of Barbie Riding Club (1998) and Barbie: Race & Ride (1999) make them spiritual predecessors to the Barbie Horse Adventures series.

TitleRelease datePlatforms
Barbie Horse Adventures: Blue Ribbon RaceSeptember 17, 2003 [1] Game Boy Advance
Barbie Horse Adventures: Mystery RideSeptember 23, 2003 [2] Microsoft Windows
Barbie Horse Adventures: Wild Horse RescueNovember 4, 2003 [3] PlayStation 2, Xbox
Barbie Horse Adventures: Riding CampOctober 21, 2008 [4] Microsoft Windows, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, Wii

Blue Ribbon Race

Barbie Horse Adventures:
Blue Ribbon Race
Developer(s) Blitz Games
Möbius Entertainment
Publisher(s) Vivendi Universal Games
Platform(s) Game Boy Advance
Release
  • NA: September 17, 2003 [1]
Genre(s) Action-adventure, racing
Mode(s) Single-player

Barbie Horse Adventures: Blue Ribbon Race is the first game of the Barbie Horse Adventures video game series based on the Barbie line of dolls by Mattel. The game was released on the Game Boy Advance in 2003.

The player takes on the role of Barbie and races horses through various tracks of the Primrose Hill Charity Cup. [1] To complete the tracks successfully, Barbie has to collect items along the way.

Unlike all later games in the Barbie Horse Adventures series, Blue Ribbon Race used 2-D sprites instead of 3-D graphics. The camera used an isometric viewpoint. The game supported multiplayer play by allowing two players to compete in minigames. [5] Barbie can change into several different sets of clothing, enabling her to play dress-up. [5]

Mystery Ride

Barbie Horse Adventures:
Mystery Ride
Developer(s) Blue Monkey Studios
Publisher(s) Vivendi Universal Games
Activision
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows
Release
  • NA: September 23, 2003 [2]
Genre(s) Action game,
adventure game,
children's game,
racing game,
roleplaying game
Mode(s) Single-player

Barbie Horse Adventures: Mystery Ride is the second game of the Barbie Horse Adventures video game series based on the Barbie line of dolls by Mattel. The game was released on Microsoft Windows in 2003.

The plot involves Barbie having to solve the mystery of the missing horse of Barbie's friend Teresa. To do so, the player, as Barbie, has to explore the countryside, consisting of varied terrain ranging from forest to desert, while solving logic puzzles.

Mystery Ride is the first game in the Barbie Horse Adventures series to use 3-D graphics. The core gameplay is based around equestrianism, including feeding, grooming, and training horses. Barbie can also change into several different sets of clothing, enabling her to play dress-up.

Common Sense Media gave Mystery Ride 4 out of 5 stars, complimenting the horse riding as "amazingly realistic" and saying that the game overall was "very satisfying to play". [6]

Wild Horse Rescue

Barbie Horse Adventures:
Wild Horse Rescue
Developer(s) Blitz Games
Publisher(s) Vivendi Universal Games
Director(s) Phil Drinkwater
Producer(s) Team Banshee
Programmer(s) Chris Fry
Matthew Hayward
Rob Grant
Carl Warwick
Composer(s) John Guscott
Matt Black
Platform(s) PlayStation 2, Xbox
Release
  • NA: November 4, 2003
Genre(s) Adventure
Mode(s) Single-player

Barbie Horse Adventures: Wild Horse Rescue is an adventure video game developed by Blitz Games and published by Vivendi Universal Games. It is the third game in the Barbie Horse Adventures video game series based on the Barbie line of dolls by Mattel. The game was released for PlayStation 2 and Xbox in 2003.

Barbie Horse Adventures: Wild Horse Rescue is an adventure game played from a third-person perspective. A storm comes in and causes the gate at a ranch to open, letting horses and foals run away. Barbie must track down the foals and horses through 3 parts of 3 different settings: the forest, the mountains, and the beach. There is an average of three foals plus one horse that can be found at the end of the section. In the 2nd part of the section, a missing horse will be found by someone else, and Barbie must race them.

The game has been heavily criticized by the gaming press. X-Play dubbed it a Game You Should Never Buy [7] next to Monster Garage: The Game and Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing . In the episode, X-Play co-host Morgan Webb called Barbie Horse Adventures: Wild Horse Rescue the worst game ever made, and continues to reference it so in ongoing episodes after giving the terrible review of having a 1 out of 5. IGN gave it a 4/10 rating, and XGP Gaming rating it a 4 out of 10.

Decent reviews, which mainly point out that the game was being geared towards children, were given out by TeamXbox (3.8/5) and the British Official Xbox Magazine (6.7/10).

Riding Camp

Barbie Horse Adventures:
Riding Camp
Developer(s) Pixel Tales
Publisher(s) Activision
Platform(s) PlayStation 2, Nintendo DS, Wii, Windows
Release
  • NA: October 21, 2008 [4]
Genre(s) Adventure, role-playing
Mode(s) Single-player

Barbie Horse Adventures: Riding Camp is an adventure role-playing video game developed by Pixel Tales and published by Activision. It is the fourth game in the Barbie Horse Adventures video game series based on the Barbie line of dolls by Mattel. The game was released worldwide for PlayStation 2, Nintendo DS, Wii and Windows in 2008.

Barbie Horse Adventures: Riding Camp is an adventure role-playing game set in an open world environment and played from a third-person perspective. The player takes the role of Barbie on an island which has been the victim of a storm. The game is free-form in a sandbox world, allowing the player to take part in a wide range of activities.

The core gameplay is based around equestrianism: players tame, feed, groom, and train horses of various breeds.

As Barbie, the player has the option of completing various quests given to her by the denizens of the island, such as finding lost items or fixing broken objects. Travel over the island is on horseback. The player can participate in timed horse races and can also buy diverse sets of clothing, enabling Barbie to play dress-up.

IGN noted that though it was not a sophisticated game, it was a good game for its target audience of young girls. [8]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mattel</span> American multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company

Mattel, Inc. is an American multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company founded in Los Angeles by Harold Matson and the husband-and-wife duo of Ruth and Elliot Handler in January 1945 and headquartered in El Segundo, California. Mattel has a presence in 35 countries and territories; its products are sold in more than 150 countries. Mattel consists of three business segments: North America, International and American Girl.

<i>RollerCoaster Tycoon</i> Video game series

RollerCoaster Tycoon is a series of construction and management simulation games about building and managing an amusement park. Each game in the series challenges players with open-ended amusement park management and development, and allowing players to construct and customize their own unique roller coasters and other thrill rides.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MGA Entertainment</span> American toy company

MGA Entertainment Inc. is a manufacturer of children's toys and entertainment products founded in 1979. Its products include Bratz, Num Noms, Lalaloopsy, and Rainbow High, as well as toys targeted at boys such as Scan2Go. MGA also owns Little Tikes and animation studio MGA Studios.

<i>Mattel Auto Race</i> First fully digital handheld video game

Mattel Electronics Auto Race was released in 1976 by Mattel Electronics as the first handheld electronic game to use only solid-state electronics; it has no mechanical elements except the controls and on/off switch. Using hardware designed for calculators and powered by a nine-volt battery, the cars are represented by red LEDs on a playfield which covers only a small portion of the case. The audio consists of beeps. George J. Klose based the game on 1970s racing arcade video games and designed the hardware, with some hardware features added by Mark Lesser who also wrote the 512 bytes of program code.

<i>Barbie</i> (media franchise) Multimedia franchise featuring Barbie

Beginning with the release of an eponymous video game in 1984, Barbie, a fashion doll manufactured by American toy and entertainment company Mattel and debuted on March 9, 1959, has been featured in a media franchise predominantly consisting of a film series and media formats across technologies like television and the Internet. Since then, it has become one of the highest-grossing media franchises of all time and has been referred to among fans as the "Barbie Cinematic Universe".

<i>Barbie: Race & Ride</i> 1999 video game

Barbie Race & Ride is a 1999 Barbie horse-related video game for the PlayStation developed by Runecraft. Its equestrianism-based gameplay makes it a spiritual predecessor to the Barbie Horse Adventures series.

Teresa is a Mattel fashion doll marketed as one of Barbie's fictional friends. The first Teresa doll debuted as the 'California Dream Teresa' doll in 1988, and since then, she has been a recurring character in the Barbie toy line.

Tron is an American science fiction media franchise created by Steven Lisberger and Bonnie MacBird. It began with the eponymous 1982 film produced by Walt Disney Pictures. The original film portrays Jeff Bridges as Kevin Flynn, a genius computer programmer and video game developer who becomes transported inside a digital virtual reality known as "The Grid", where he interacts with programs in his quest to escape.

Monster High is an American multimedia-supported fashion doll franchise created by toy designer Garrett Sander and launched by Mattel in 2010. Aimed at children ages 7-14, the franchise features characters inspired by monster movies, sci-fi horror, thriller fiction, folklore, myths and popular culture, centering around the adventures of the teenage children of monsters and other mythical creatures attending a high school of the same name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mattel Interactive</span> Video game publisher and software distributor

Mattel Interactive was a video game publisher and software distributor.

A number of adventure/rhythm video games based on the Disney Channel show Hannah Montana and the film have been released. All the games were published by Buena Vista Games / Disney Interactive Studios.

<i>Pippa Funnell: Take the Reins</i> 2006 video game

Pippa Funnell 2: Take the Reins is a horse riding simulation game developed by French studio Lexis Numerique and released by Ubisoft on October 27, 2006 for the PlayStation 2 and Windows. The player takes the role of Jade as she attends the Sycamore Riding School in Scotland. Throughout the game, the player is able to train, care for, and compete with their horse while interacting with the other students in the Academy, and solving a mystery.

American Girl is a series of video games developed by various studios and distributed by American Girl.

<i>Sonic Extreme</i> Prototype video game

Sonic Extreme was a prototype video game created by Vision Scape Interactive in May 2003. Proposed as a spin-off to Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog series, Sonic Extreme featured Sonic and Shadow riding hoverboards in a Green Hill Zone-themed open world, with gameplay likened to Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. It featured three gameplay modes, which included searching for keys and Chaos Emeralds and fighting or racing another player. Vision Scape created the prototype while it made cutscenes for Sonic Heroes (2003); it was developed on the Xbox with intent to port it to the GameCube and PlayStation 2. The prototype was assembled using the RenderWare game engine and assets from prior Vision Scape and Sonic games.

<i>Gallop & Ride</i> 2008 video game

Gallop and Ride is a horse-themed video game for the Nintendo Wii, developed by Austrian studio Sproing Interactive Media GmbH, and published by THQ in 2008.

<i>Barbie: Magic Genie Adventure</i> 2000 video game

Barbie: Magic Genie Adventure is a single-player adventure/action game developed by Vicarious Visions and published by Mattel Interactive. It was released on the Game Boy Color on November 1, 2000.

Detective Barbie is a series of three mystery themed point and click adventure games starring the character Barbie. The series consists of Detective Barbie In the Mystery of the Carnival Caper! (1998) Detective Barbie 2: The Vacation Mystery (1999), and Detective Barbie: The Mystery Cruise (2000). The first two games were developed by Gorilla Systems Corporation and published on the PC by Mattel Media/Mattel Interactive. The third game was developed for the PlayStation by Runecraft.

<i>Mary-Kate and Ashley: Winners Circle</i> 2001 video game

Mary-Kate and Ashley: Winners Circle is a 2001 video game developed for the Game Boy Color by M4 Ltd. and by Tantalus Media for the PlayStation, and published by Acclaim Entertainment.

<i>Barbie Riding Club</i> Computer game

Barbie Riding Club is a 1998 computer game developed by American studio Human Code and published by Mattel Media. Its gameplay involves feeding, grooming and riding horses.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Barbie Horse Adventures: Blue Ribbon Race". Giant Bomb . Retrieved 2012-05-15.
  2. 1 2 "Barbie Horse Adventures: Mystery Ride". Amazon. Retrieved 2012-05-15.
  3. ↑ "Barbie Horse Adventures: Wild Horse Rescue". Amazon. Retrieved 2012-05-15.
  4. 1 2 "Barbie Horse Adventures: Riding Camp". Amazon. Retrieved 2012-05-15.
  5. 1 2 "Barbie Horse Adventures: Blue Ribbon Race". Amazon. Retrieved 2012-05-16.
  6. ↑ Gudmundsen, Jinny. "Barbie Horse Adventures Mystery Ride". Common Sense Media . Retrieved 2012-05-16.
  7. ↑ Satterfield, Shane (2004-03-23). "Games You Should Never Buy". X-Play. Archived from the original on 2005-04-06. Retrieved 2009-05-31.
  8. ↑ "Barbie Horse Adventures: Riding Camp Review". IGN. 2008-12-31. Archived from the original on January 1, 2009. Retrieved 2012-05-16.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.