Disney Princess: Enchanted Journey for PlayStation 2 Reviews & Ratings by IGN

It's a fact that every little girl dreams of being a princess. There's something about dressing in puffy pink gowns and waiting for Prince Charming to save them from their woes that is irresistible to young girls (and even some adult women). Disney has smartly tapped into this princess obsession with the Disney Princess franchise, which has generated them a tidy profit. Pretty much anything that is slapped with the Disney Princess label is going to do well with little girls. But that's no excuse to churn out products of less than stellar quality, which is what Disney Princess: Enchanted Journey amounts to.



The game starts outside a place called Castle Gentlehaven. As a young girl in search of adventure, you'll follow a magic pixie to the castle where she explains the situation. It seems that the castle acts as a gateway to four magical kingdoms ruled over by different Disney princesses, who are in a bit of a bind. An evil witch and her impish minions have stolen time, color, trust and sound from each of the kingdoms. The pixie claims that you are the only one who can help these regal ladies. She then informs you that must visit each magical kingdom (which can be accessed by going through a portal in Gentlehaven's basement) and use a magic wand to help restore order. It sounds like a journey worth taking up, but be ready for some bumps on the road.



The first and most obvious bump is gameplay. Your enchanted journey consists of little more than a string of simple mini-games where you'll have to re-arrange objects, turn evil Bogs into butterflies or restore color to an area with the flick of your wand. There are four kingdoms consisting of three chapters each (Belle's kingdom makes five but since it only consists of one mini-game it doesn't really count), and in each chapter you'll be given a set of tasks to perform, like catching items in a basket or herding animals into a small area. Unfortunately some of these tasks are nothing more than pointless busy-work meant to stretch out the game, and they tend to be quite similar; i.e. some of the games are recycled. This makes Enchanted Journey a lot less enchanting, especially as you get towards the end.



Then there's the graphics. This is an issue which is more like a pothole then a bump. Edges are jagged and uneven, and it's obvious that in order to save money the developers sometimes re-use an area or an NPC and just change the skins around. It also doesn't help that when a character is speaking their mouth tends to arbitrarily move up and down or not move at all. The overall effect of all these short-cuts is that it makes the game look cheap.



That's not to say the entire journey is uncomfortable. The music is simple but pretty, and the game features the ability to determine your character's looks, including hair and eye color, the cut of her dress, the color of her dress, and what jewels she wears. This makes things a bit more fun and personal, and the effects for the magic wand and pixie are quite pretty. And once you've completed the game you'll have the option of re-visiting the kingdoms in your very own special outfit (to say what kind would be a spoiler).

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