Everyone's heard of Barbie - since 1959 she has been one of the best-selling dolls, with apparently 3 being sold every second. The odds are you probably had at least one, if not more - me and my sister had about 15 Barbie type dolls between us, bought from that painfully pink isle of Toys 'R' Us; a collection made up of several Barbies, multiple Shelly child-Barbies and a Ken, as well as three of the five Spice Girls dolls. Ah, the 90s.
Barbie often appeared in 'sets', where the doll came bundled with some furniture/accessories - a fair few of these involved Barbie and various animals (I always quite fancied the Vet Barbie set). These sets often came with various pet-related accessories, including baskets, brushes, bowls of dog food and the like - one of the relatively new sets is called 'Potty Training Pups', which comes with - I kid you not - newspaper which changes from yellow to brown when water is applied. Thankfully, there's no potty training in this game - Barbie: Groom & Glam Pups takes a more traditional route, letting you bathe and groom your puppy, as well as teaching it tricks and dressing it up. Except back in the day, Barbie dogs didn't get their own range of clothes.
There's even a whole range of accessories just for tails. Wow.
First things first, you'll need to pick yourself a dog - there are a total of six breeds to choose from, although only the first two (the Pomeranian and the Samoyed) are unlocked at the start. The other four breeds, Bichon Frise, Poodle, Shis Tzu and Yorkshire Terrier, become unlocked as you play through the game. Unfortunately, every breed is one of those annoying yappy handbag dogs (give me a big dopey Labrador any day), although I guess it kind of fits with the whole Barbie persona. Once you've chosen your canine companion, you get to name it - say hello to Dave the Pomeranian.
Barbie then talks you through the various things you can do with your new pup - the voiceovers ensure that the wobbly readers who might struggle with the subtitles still know what's going on. First things first, you need to groom your new pup, which is a relatively simple affair that involves pointing at the screen with the Wii Remote, pressing down the A button and moving the brush-shaped cursor over your dog - you'll see hearts appearing, so you know when you're doing it right. You can also bath your dog, a three-stage process which works in much the same way - first you need to wet your dog's fur with the shower head, then rub shampoo over them, and finally rinse it off.
Apparently, only one side of your dog needs brushing.
Next Barbie takes you to the Boutique - this is where you get to dress up your 'diva dog' in a variety of accessories, from hats to glasses to shirts to various bows and collars. As you progress through the game, you'll earn new accessories, which can be bought using the money you earn from the shows.
Then comes the training area - this is where you get to teach your puppy various tricks, and the better trained they are in a specific trick, the more money you'll earn for it in performances. To get your dog to do a trick, simply follow the movement of the Wii Remote in the bottom right corner - for example, shaking the Wii Remote from side to side makes your doggy dance, and flicking the Wii Remote down makes him sit. To teach your puppy a new trick, you'll need to repeat it half a dozen times, and give him a treat after each one he does correctly. There's a total of about 30 different tricks to teach your dog, which unlock as you progress through the game.
Finally, comes the performances - these are your main source of income to fuel your dog accessory addiction, and come in three forms - runway shows, photo shoots and dance events. During a runway show, your dog will stroll down a catwalk and the actions for half a dozen tricks it knows will appear in the bottom right corner at random - follow the prompt in the few seconds you have to earn money. Photo shoots let you pick a backdrop and a set of props before you get down to business. Holding the Wii Remote sideways, your dog will perform five random tricks it knows, and it's your job to snap a picture at the best moment, indicated by the bar below - when the line reaches the light blue area, you need to press the 2 button to take a picture, adjusting the camera's position with the + control pad as you see fit. Better pictures will give you more money to spend on accessories. The last type of performance is a dance event - in this you compose a routine of six tricks and choose the music you want to perform, before your dog takes over, performing each of the tricks in succession, and earning you money in the process. As each trick is performed, coins get dropped on the stage - pointing at these with the Wii Remote and pressing the A button will pick them up, netting you some bonus cash.
Runway events have you performing random tricks, whilst dressed as some sort of ladybird.
All in all, Barbie: Groom & Glam Pups isn't a bad game for young girls (or 14 year old boys, as I found out, spending the best part of an hour trying to convince my brother to come off it so I could write my review), especially if they're into virtual pet-type games. And with a trick system that's far less frustrating than Nintendogs, and for about £10 in shops, you could do far, far worse.
Format Reviewed: Nintendo Wii
