Detective Barbie is a series of three mystery themed point and click adventure games starring the character Barbie. The series consists of Detective Barbie In the Mystery of the Carnival Caper!Detective Barbie 2: The Vacation Mystery, and Detective Barbie: The Mystery Cruise. The first two games were developed by Gorilla Systems Corporation and published on the PC by Mattel Media/Mattel Interactive. The third game was developed for the PlayStation by Runecraft.
History
The games were sold with pink-and-silver Barbie PCs. Detective Barbie In the Mystery of the Carnival Caper! was the 9th top-selling computer games at 13 software retail chains representing 53 percent of the U.S. market for the week that ended December 5, 1998.
Plot
''Detective Barbie In the Mystery of the Carnival Caper!''
Ken went to a local carnival and volunteered for a disappearing magic trick and now he can't be found. It is up the player to locate him.
''Detective Barbie 2: The Vacation Mystery''
Team Barbie Detective solve a mystery regarding a series of antique jewels that have been stolen at Lighthouse Cove hotel. Players can use the Barbie GamePad to play the game.
''Detective Barbie: The Mystery Cruise''
Announced on Nov. 20, 2000, this two-player game saw the player solve the mystery of stolen island art works.
Gameplay
In the case of the computer games, the entire game is controlled via a mouse. Players move Barbie to a new location by moving the mouse to the edge of the screen, where the cursor will turn into a big pink arrow. Players click on hotspots to interact with them, while interacting with characters to uncover clues.
Critical reception
''Detective Barbie In the Mystery of the Carnival Caper!''
Richard Cobbett of PC Gamer thought the game had neither glitz nor glamour. SuperKids warned that "persistence, patience, and good directional abilities" were required to solve the case, instead of logic and deductive reasoning skills. Russian website 7Wolf wrote that the graphics were simple, but thought it was a good game for girls to unite around. Buzzfeed thought the bestpart of the game was its rides such as Tunnel of Love.
''Detective Barbie 2: The Vacation Mystery''
Superkids thought the game may be too difficult for young players, and recommended that people with short attention spans should stay away from it. The Boston Herald thought the game wasn't innovative but that it would still provide hours of entertainment, though it did describe the game as one of the "hottest new releases" in the children's interactive software space.
