Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus 2005 By: Mattel Interactive

Overview:

"Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus" is a side scrolling platform game in which the player controls Princess Anika, and her horse Brietta. Princess Anika's subjects have been turned to stone (on her birthday no less!) after Princess Anika refuses the marriage proposal of an evil wizard. Princess Anika must use her magic wand to free her subjects from their granite prison. While navigating 20 levels of gameplay, the player must look for hidden jewels that imbue her wand with special powers.

"Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus" is rife with the sexism detailed in my earlier reviews of Barbie games, but to its credit, "Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus" features better graphics, more interesting and interactive levels, and a level of depth not observed in its predecessors.

"Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus" is an exceptionally easy game that takes a very small time commitment to complete, perhaps the game is more challenging for the age range targeted by the developers. While "Barbie and the Magic Pegasus" is exceptionally easy, the game is very slow moving and seems to drag as it progresses.

"Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus" is the best Barbie game that I have played thus far. The graphics are leaps and bounds better than the previous entries in the series. The levels are interactive and necessitate the player to augment Princess Anika's wand to reveal doorways, and deconstruct walls. "Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus" employs the same techniques of prior Barbie side scrolling games, but does take steps to make improvements. Unfortunately, Princess Anika is still subjected to the misogyny that we've come to expect in the Barbie series.

Directions:

Princess Anika must navigate levels while using her magic wand to return her subjects back to flesh and bone. Levels are completed once all the stone persons have been found and freed. There are four worlds to explore, each with three levels, some featuring bosses.

Princess Anika must collect jewels to grant her magical wand new powers. Some of the powers include the ability to jump higher, and the ability to change enemies into plants. Different outfits are also interspersed throughout levels.

"Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus" has two different difficulty settings, normal, and easy. There are 8 different mini-games available to play in Arcade mode, found in the main menu.

"Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus" includes a password progress system.