Barbie Beauty Styler

Barbie Beauty Styler is a creative painting / drawing package featuring Barbie and her friends Teresa, Kira and Christie. It is aimed at the younger gamer. There is very little writing, all the icons 'speak' to identify themselves as the mouse passes over them and the game regularly chips in with encouraging comments like 'You're really good at this' and 'Isn't this fun!'.

As the gaming equivalent of dressing up dolls this game's strength lies in its ease of use and the number of possible combinations of model, pose, location, clothes and accessories that can be used to create a picture. Once a picture has been created it can be printed and / or saved in Barbie's Beauty Book.

The game starts by opening Barbie's beauty case, selecting one of the models and whether a full or close-up portrait is going to be used as the starting point. From there the player chooses from one of four locations, Fantasy, Party Fun, Evening Glamour, and Totally Trendy, which will form the background for the picture. Each location has a its own music track and offers five different backgrounds. With these selections made the game displays the model on-screen against the chosen background on the design screen and the real fun begins.

The Design Screen is what this game is all about. Around the screen in two arcs, one on the right the other on the left, are a series of special effects windows. By selecting these the player can use the mouse place sequins on the models dress. This can be done by placing one sequin at a time or my holding down the left mouse button while moving the mouse whole strings of sequins can be used to decorate the dress of any part of the picture.

The arcs that show the available effects can be rotated to bring yet further effects into view. Mistakes can be removed either with the erase icon which restores the picture to its original state, with the undo icon which removes the last placed piece, or any of the three scissors icons which allow parts of a placed adornment to be removed.

Around the edges of the screen are the Styling icons. These change the available effects shown in the design arcs. When the 'Styling Brushes' icon is in use the arcs will show a series of hair effects while the 'Accessories' icon will show sunglasses tiaras etc.

The designer screen also allows player to add animated stamps such as butterflies and raindrops to their picture, change the models outfit and add a friend.