Everyone loves to make fun of Barbie, admit it, you do, too. But regardless of how people feel about her, the fact remains that Barbie has stayed among the most popular toys for young girls for decades, no mean feat. This past decade has seen Barbie appear in animated form on the computer and most recently on video gaming systems. The games are a mixed bag, with some really good ones mixed in with some stinkers. Barbie Groovy Games is one of the better releases and demonstrates that some companies actually do care about their products, even when targeted toward the "girl games" crowd.

There are nine games included of the mini-game sort. Most are familiar types such as matching, "follow that button" memory, hangman, checkers, tetris, tic-tac-toe and the like. But Digital Illusions Canada and Vivendi Universal have managed to add special features and twists to make almost all of these games a little out of the ordinary and a whole lotta fun for younger players, thanks to their obvious research into what really constitutes an enjoyable game for the little fry.

Bubble Machine is a tetris-like game with a Placer Racer (from the Hoyle games) twist: players use a bubble machine to pop bubbles of three in a row. Checkers is simply checkers, but checkers is a great strategic game to offer and is one that usually doesn't make it onto a mini-games collection. Daisy Derby is a hangman game where horses race to the finish line instead of drawing a figure, and Conga Line is a fun arcade style game that involves picking up dancers to add to the conga line. Gems and Jewels is a "four in a row" game that features other matching characteristics besides just colors. D.J. Booth is a matching game that offers new twists like taking away points from the other player and wild cards, and Four Scoops is another "four in a row" game that uses scoops of ice cream. Groove and Move is a button matching/dancing game and Tic-Tac-Toe is, you guessed it, tic-tac-toe.

With the exception of Tic-Tac-Toe, all of these games are fun to play because of their thoughtful design and colorful graphics. Motifs of pretty butterflies and flowers abound, along with cute items like bubbles and ice cream. The features added to each old standby adds new fun for kids for most of the games (with the exception of tic-tac-toe, possibly one of the lamest games ever and one that is impossible to make challenging), and the sheer variety of games included will keep kids playing for a while. However, while all these new twists make these activities more engaging, it's the fact that all the games are also 2-player that really adds to the game as a whole. Think car trips with little kids, think loooongggg car trips.....

Playing against a friend or sibling with these games is really a lot of fun, especially in Daisy Derby, where kids can enter their own words for opponents to guess and Checkers. Four Scoops and Gems and Jewels are great critical thinking games where players have to think hard to keep from giving the winning move or piece to the other player. The other games are also more fun to play with others.

The interface is quite easy to use and young kids will be able to pick the game up and start playing quickly. Moving back and forth between games is very simple and usually just involves going backwards through the menus with a button. The number of players has to be set for the whole game at the beginning, but the difficulty levels can be reset at each individual game. There are three difficulty levels, but for the most part I didn't see much difference between levels, except that the action in Conga Line and Groove and Move was faster, and the words were harder in Daisy Derby.

The colors and designs are unashamedly Barbie Pink, but none the worse for that. The games are all very colorful and replete with cute items, like butterflies, flowers, hearts, bubbles and stars. The backgrounds are light and bright, which certainly helps in seeing what is happening on the screen, unlike many GBA games.

A delightful collection of games for young girls and boys (yes, young boys will have fun, too; although they may balk at mom or dad buying them this game personally, they'll definitely not object to playing with their sister's copy.) The variety and quality of these games will keep kids playing a long time, plus the 2-player feature decidedly adds to the longevity. Unlike many of the platform style games for this age group, these games' very essence is that of replayability, always a consideration when purchasing a game for children. Best for ages 5-10, although many older kids will get a kick out of playing, too, as did my 12 year old and friends. Parents will appreciate the value for the money with this game.

Gameplay: 8.5
A good collection of engaging games that will keep young kids' attention for a long time.

Graphics: 8 
Great graphics!

Sound: 8
A nice variety of sound and music, a different tune for each game. The music is catchy and not jarring on parents' ears.

Difficulty: Easy/Medium
Most of these games are pretty easy, with the exception of the critical thinking ones like Four Scoops, Checkers and Gems and Jewels.

Concept: 7 
These games have been done before many, many times, but the presentation and quality of these add something extra.

Multiplayer: Yes
There is a 2 players mode, which is more fun than playing by yourself.

Overall: 8.4
A young children's game for the GBA that is actually worth the money, which is not that common.