Diva Starz

Reviewed by Anise Hollingshead
Published by Mattel Interactive

Age Group: Age 4 to 8, Age 8 and Up
Type: Art/Creativity, Arcade, More Fun
Price: $20

PC version requires:
P166, Windows 95 or later, 32MB RAM, 30MB HD, 8x CD-ROM, 16-bit sound card, 2MB video card, 16-bit color

Mac version requires:
iMac (G3) 233 MHz or higher, System 8.1, 64MB RAM, 30MB HD, 16-bit color, 24x CD-ROM, 20MB free memory

Description:

Those totally cool teens, the Diva Starz, need your help in designing the perfect hair, outfits, accessories and music during their trip to the mall! If you get the choices right, you earn tokens to play in the arcade, which in turn can earn you credits to buy even more items to use with the Divas.

The mall areas include: The Fashion Shop, where you choose outfits; The Style Spot, where hairstyles are chosen; and The Music Spot, where you design the right tune. These activities can be played in Challenge Mode, where you earn tokens for the arcade, or free-sytle mode.

The arcade games are: Rollerz, an obstacle course; Power Purse, a simple "catch things as they fall" game; and Diva Starz Mark, a tic-tac-toe game.

Features:

  • 4 Diva Starz
  • Hair, clothes and music fashion fun
  • 3 simple arcade games
  • Challenge mode or free-style mode
  • Excellent manual

Technical Aspects:

This program installed easily, and ran fine. The voices in challenge mode are somewhat lower than the rest of the sound, making it hard to hear them.. The arcade games are a little difficult to play because of slow movement. On the positive side, the manual is one of the most detailed and informative I've seen, and the graphics are well-done and colorful

Report and Conclusions:

While I understand that there is a place for "girl-games", and my girl-dominated family does own many of them, this program doesn't do much for the genre. The fashion areas in the mall are fun for the first several times you play, but after awhile, it's pretty much the same old thing. The arcade games could have saved this program, but they're too simplistic and difficult to manuever, as well. For instance, the Power Purse requires you to use your mouse to slide the purse under falling items. The problem is that you can't get the purse back and forth quickly enough to catch them very well. In Rollerz, you have to skate past obstacles using the keyboard, but again, movement from side-to-side is very slow so you end up getting creamed. And Diva Starz Mark, well, it's a game of tic-tac-toe, 'nuff said there.

A good-looking game at first, but one that won't have lasting appeal.




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