American Girl (video game series)


American Girl is a series of video games developed by various studios and distributed by American Girl.
Games in the American Girl series are based upon characters and stories set within the toy line's fictional universe, from historical-era characters like Kit Kittredge, to contemporary ones such as those from the Girl of the Year line or WellieWishers. Common gameplay elements within the series center upon educational activities, mostly focusing around American history and culture, though other aspects such as adventure, puzzle or even action elements are occasionally interspersed in some of the games.

Titles

Edutainment games

The first two games in the series marked American Girl's expansion into video games. They featured American Girl's historical character roster, which of the time consisted of six characters representing various periods of American history.
Besides Premiere and Dress Designer, Mattel Interactive also published Your Notebook , a software toy in the form of an interactive journal based on the Amelia's Notebooks children's book series by Marissa Moss, under the American Girl banner in 1999. Developed by KnowWonder, Your Notebook allowed the user to write their own journals with the help of the titular protagonist, and comes with stamps, text effects and styles to which the user can add to their entries.

Games published by [THQ]

In the late 2000s American Girl collaborated with THQ for a number of games based on their franchise. Three of the games were released exclusively for Microsoft Windows, all of which are presented in a 2.5D isometric viewpoint using pre-rendered characters and backgrounds, while the other two, namely Julie Finds a Way and Kit Mystery Challenge, are released for the Nintendo DS.
Since 2011 American Girl released mobile apps for download on major smartphone and tablet platforms, mostly consisting of simple games and software toys for young girls. Most of the games, which are published by the company, are exclusive to iOS, though Isabelle Dance Studio and Grace Sweet Shop were later ported to Android; newer titles in the series also saw simultaneous iOS and Android releases.
Most games in the series puts players in the role of an American Girl character, typically a Historical/BeForever character like Kit Kittredge or a contemporary one such as any of the Girl of the Year characters like Grace Thomas, Isabelle Palmer or Lea Clark. The games' presentation may vary from one title to the next, from an edutainment game typical of The American Girls Premiere and Dress Designer, a Nancy Drew-esque mystery as seen in Kit Mystery Challenge, to an action-adventure platform game as seen in Lea Born for Adventure.

History

The first game in the series, The American Girls Premiere for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS, marked the debut of Pleasant Company into the digital software space. Linda Ehrmann, vice president of Internet business strategy consulting firm Grey Interactive, said that the video game had a due potential as it was entering a relatively untapped market, commenting that in the interactive media space, "girls are for the most part totally ignored."

Reception

The American Girls Premiere was released to mostly positive reception, and received accolades from various parenting organizations; subsequent games in the series however received tepid to negative scores from gaming publications - American Girl: Kit Mystery Challenge for example was panned for its repetitive gameplay, tank controls and lack of replay value.