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To
be reading this it is probable that you are a gamer. And, the
chances are that you are part of the sixteen to twenty four year-old
male gamer demographic. So why are you reading this review? It is
doubtful that you are a Bratz fan. Maybe you are curious to
see if Bratz: Rock Angelz is as bad as you think it could be?
Or maybe you are a Bratz fan, closet or otherwise, and are
hoping it is a good as you think it could be? Alternatively there is
option three; you have no idea what Bratz is and are hoping
it is better than Resident Evil 4, Halo: Combat Evolved
or any of the The Legend Of Zelda series. Well if you chose
door number three it’s probably best you do not read on, however,
if you did not, please continue…
As
you may or may not know, Bratz is a fairly well established
toy/entertainment franchise aimed at girls between the age of four
and fourteen. The Bratz are a range of characters who are
preoccupied with social advancement, fashion and “hangin’ out in
the mall”. Perhaps not setting the best example for children
today, but that is probably a discussion for another website. As
there is also a television series, a videogame was inevitable at
some point. Originally released for the PlayStation One and Game Boy
Advance was Bratz; an average Dancing Game that really was
not anything special (and more than a little bizarre on a console
without a Dance Mat of any kind… and handheld) typical for these
types of franchise tie-ins, but what about Bratz: Rock Angelz?
Can it break the mould?
Bratz:
Rock Angelz is less of a single game, more of a selection of
decently varied sub-games. The story is that one of the Bratz,
Jade, is offered a job at Your Thing, a fashion magazine. This turns
out to be possibly the worst job ever with probably the worst boss
ever and to cut a long Clueless-esque story short, she gets
fired. In an attempt to cheer the aforementioned girl up, her
friends Sasha, Jasmin and Cloe decide that they should start their
own fashion magazine.
The
game is based in a fictional city and although this city has only
three main areas, there are dozens of shops to explore as one the Bratz.
There are also three other areas that become available as the game
is played. The magazine forms the basis of the game; the Bratz
must complete several sub-games in order to complete articles. These
include racing around on roller skates, designing T-shirts,
photographing wildlife and posing for fashion shoots and to be
honest, there is a decent amount of variety in these games. The
games are also reasonably fun, however they are very easy for even
the casual gamer, but then this game isn’t trying to be Bratz:
Total Warrior! But children, namely those targeted by the
Bratz franchise, could have a lot of fun with a small amount of
challenge and can expect around ten to twelve hours of entertainment
if following the main quest.
Another
huge part of the game is the extensive clothes buying, make-up
application and hair styling which, although this is probably the
last game you would expect to be comparable, is very similar to the
character personalisation sections of Grand Theft Auto: San
Andreas. However, unlike Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas,
you will need to know your co-ordination, lest your so-called
friends publicly mock you. Frequently. Get it right, however, and
you will receive praise from all angles. The game also features a
range of unlockables, another seemingly mandatory feature these
days, which unfortunately does not particularly add to the game as
the tokens  required are easy to find and the only reason to do so is
to subject yourself to more Bratz related merchandise.
Graphically
this game is of an average standard, the areas are generally well
drawn and the bright vibrant colours fit well with the game and its
designated age group. However, although quite reasonably drawn,
in-game character models suffer a little too much from polygon
cross-pollination. Some outfits are exposed in places they really
shouldn’t be giving a sloppy feel to what otherwise is a fairly
well polished game. The T-shirt and poster design programming is
good though and the T-shirts are translated well from 2D to 3D. The
sound in Bratz: Rock Angelz is probably one of its better
points; there’s quite a lot of in-game speech and dozens of Bratz
pop songs. However, you will soon find that each of the games AI
characters have only but a few different phrases which can become
somewhat irritating toward the end of the game.  Although the music
is hardly Radiohead, it is decently produced and can be changed in
almost all places by using the Stereos in-game. New music can also
be purchased from some of the games’ shops and is a nice touch.
Bratz:
Rock Angelz is not a life changing work of gaming art, but then
you probably guessed that already. The innocent everyday nature of
the shopping and photography does make this game comparable to
Nintendo’s brilliant Animal Crossing, but Bratz: Rock
Angelz is nowhere near that in terms of originality and
gameplay. It’s also, at the risk of sounding sexist, not a boys
game. Buying this game for your eight year-old son is likely to have
undesirable effects in the future! Still, it is quite well tailored
for children with it’s easy game play and simple layout. It does
also have a very large amount of outfits available as well as
several hairstyles and a huge amount of make-up colours and face
paint. All-in-all the title offers a decent, if slightly morally
questionable, kids game.
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