Tinkerbell and the Lost Treasure is without a doubt a kid’s title. This isn’t a game that, in adult hands, can still be entertaining or a challenge. Based on the recent Tinkerbell movie, you are tasked with guiding the popular Disney fairy around her world of Pixie Hollow and playing out the moments in the film. Finding a genre to place this game in is the most difficult task, much of it plays similarly to a puzzle game, but there are some platforming elements thrown in too.
It’s not a tough game by any stretch of the imagination and even kids won’t have many problems. The issues they will find are linked more to the touch screen interface on later platforming sections. Starting off, players have to do no more than guide Tinkerbell around her home by dragging her on the touch screen and a quick tap will interact with other characters. Later in the game there are sections that will require a defter hand.
As most of the action is placed on the touch screen, jumping and other moves such as holding on to platforms are performed by tapping certain circles on screen. While this isn’t an issue for an adult, the circles aren’t on screen for long and a child may become irate when they fail to grab a rope and get flattened by a rolling cup for 14th time. Aside from control issues, the events and locations in the game are true to the movie and kids will enjoy exploring the different locales here.
When you’re not jumping around and adventuring, you will be living up to Tinkerbell’s namesake and tinkering. There are many puzzles to be played, most of which are a breeze for the older player but younger ones will be challenged well. There are jigsaw puzzles to create maps, item manipulation with the touch screen to make things and of course plenty of tapping the screen and blowing the microphone to interact. The mini games are fun and even brought a wry smile to this stubborn reviewers face.
The entire game is presented very well and each character is wonderfully created exactly as they are seen in the movie. It’s a shame they aren’t voice acted but it’s understandable with the cost of production and limitations of sound on the cartridge. The music itself is cheesy but suits the title and its audience well.
Along with the story mode is fairy mode, an ability to create your own fairy and venture around the world of Pixie Hollow meeting characters and decorating your own house. It’s a simple game mode full of mini games and dress up moments, but with a devilish add on. The fairy mode is linked with the Disney Fairies Pixie Hollow MMO, this means that you can upload your character from this title to the online world created by Disney. Whilst this is a great idea, it doesn’t take a £25 game to achieve this goal, it seems more like a tool to grab more players for the online franchise.
Kids will enjoy this title, I would say that little girls will be giddy over exploring Pixie Hollow and living out the film, boys may very well stick to Ben10 and Star Wars. It’s not an overly challenging game, but it is a game designed with a certain age in mind, I can’t see anyone under the age of five being able to actually control the game at all. I finished the story mode in under an hour and even with children struggling more than myself, it can’t be a very long game. It’s fun while it lasts, but that isn’t very long at all.
VideogameUK verdict: 6/10
