It is admittedly sometimes really awkward to write reviews about any entertainment vehicle, be it video games or movies, which are so obviously not geared to your particular age group or demographic. Parents see this all the time with their kids. You always wonder what is going on in their minds as they see Miley Cyrus as Hannah Montana bouncing around or Pikachu blasting lightning in the newest Pokemon cartoon. What about those husbands that have been dragged on dates to see their spouses' latest chick flick like Sex in the City? Conversely, what about wives who go and see their husbands rolling on the floor laughing at Harold and Kumar: Escape from Guantanomo Bay?

That is not to say that you cannot enjoy entertainment not directed at your age or gender. It just merely means that you are not part of the developer's target demographic. Pixar animated films are great examples of this as they have garnered a hard-earned reputation of having movies appeal to all age groups and gender.

Which brings us to Disney Fairies Fly, an iPhone game based on Disney's Tinker Bell movie. Now, I'm not a girl nor am I remotely close to the age group this is meant for yet here I am reviewing this game. However, I have to say, I am a video game lover. It doesn't matter what you put in front of me, I'll still play it. I'm looking at you Hello Kitty games! As a side note, Hello Kitty Online is coming and I'm sure my wife is going to make the temporary jump from World of Warcraft to the land of the super cute feline. Also, I must admit, Tinker Bell is actually not so bad an effort for a straight to video Disney project. Kudos goes to John Lasseter for that but I digress -- you can check my Tinker Bell movie review for more information.

So back to Disney Fairies Fly. This is a game targeted to girl gamers below the age of 10. Parents should immediately be delighted to know that there is, of course, no violence whatsoever and that the whole experience is decidedly family friendly. Your goal is remarkably simple. The game is broken down into five stages linked to different areas of the fairy kingdom although at the start of the game you only have access to Spring Valley. Each stage comprises three levels which you must complete before you can proceed to the next stage. At the start of each stage you are given a choice of five (later six) fairy characters all based on the movie: Tinkerbell, Silvermist, Fawn, Iridessa, and Rosetta.

It does not really matter who you use as they all control the same way using a combination of the iPhone`s acclerometer and touch screen. Tilting the phone up makes you character fly towards the top of the screen. Tilting down does the reverse and makes your character fly towards the bottom. You have access to a dash button on the bottom right of the screen that will give your selected fairy a slight speed boost.

So what exactly is this game about? Simply put, using the aforementioned controls you are tasked to guide your fairy through the level all the while picking up objects in the form of screws, flowers, or orbs of different colours. Each successful object you pick up gains you points towards your score. The game throws obstacles in your way that you must avoid such as flying birds, bees, trees, reeds, rocks etc. If your fairy hits any of these her health (pixie power) will decrease. Hit too many of these and your game will end. Scattered somewhere in each level is a single health powerup that will restore some of your lost pixie power. The game is actually not very forgiving with these obstacles as even touching any of them with your chosen fairies`feet will cause you to lose pixie strength.

So what`s next? Nothing. That`s all the game is about for every single level, every single stage. All you need to do is fly successfully through to the end of the level whereby you proceed to the next one. There`s absolutely nothing else to do except repeat levels to get a higher score. Each of the levels can be completed in about 2-3 minutes and the overall game length comes in at about 20-30 minutes depending on your dexterity. Now I realize that is a miniscule amount of play time but take that with a grain of salt as I`m a veteran gamer and no where close to the target demographic. I`m assuming kids below ten might take a bit longer but I wouldn`t underestimate them too much as I`m sure they can barrel through this game with ease.

That brings me to the conclusion that this game is really made for the wrong platform. The Nintendo DS would make much better sense since I can`t see too many children who have their very own iPhones. This is more of the case where a parent would buy this game and just lend it to their kids to keep them temporarily occupied. Indeed the Nintendo DS does indeed have its own version of the game but it is different with many other activities and mini-games. The iPhone version seems to have been watered down to the very basics.

Being a Disney produced game it does have decent production values. All the fairies are more or less well animated and the hand drawn backgrounds from all stages are striking with a fairy tale flair to them. Music and sound effects are pleasant enough. However, the game play is totally stripped to the bare bones which is not too surprising since it is aimed at kids. Just about anyone else is going to find this offering to be completely minimalist. You can`t even move left or right horizontally on the board unless you use the dash function. I`m going to admit that I never used the dash even once and although I hit an object and got hurt it didn`t impede me at all since the game is generally so easy. The difficulty does show signs of ramping up as the stages progress but all that amounts to is a couple more obstacles thrown at you.

Like I said earlier this is not a game made for a 30+ year old die hard gamer. It`s squarely for kids and though I can`t fault Disney for doing this it doesn't mean that the end product is remotely acceptable for anyone but the youngest toddler. At $4.99 it is hard to recommend to anyone except those parents who are brave enough to lend their spanking new iPhones to their kids to mess around with.

** out of ****

Developer: Disney Mobile Studios
Publisher: Disney Mobile Studios
Released: 11/24/08
Version: 1.0.3
Size: 39.5 MB

© 2009 The Galactic Pillow