Winx Club: The Quest for the Codex
© 2006 Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc.
Designed for one -or two-players on the Nintendo DS, PSP, and Game Boy Advance, this is an adventure combined with six games—all featuring the Winx girls which can best be described as fashion-conscious flying fairies, who are the subject of an animated TV series. We tested the Nintendo DS version. Your job is to visit magical lands and beat the bad guy (Lord Dakar) in order to save the universe. This requires shooting at flying bats, killing nasty insects, and building pipe mazes. There's a nice variety of things to do. You can follow a dance pattern in a game that is like DDR (Dance, Dance Revolution), only with a stylus rather than your feet. Another game has you tapping on a crystal in order to stop invading bugs. There's a lot of action to the games, mixed with a bit of informal learning Our testers liked the ability to select outfits for the Winx girls, or design their own and see it appear in the game. The graphics are similar to the television series, which fans of the show will like; and there's no shortage of action. Reading is required, but is minimal, and progress is saved automatically. While there are some rough spots to the design, there is plenty to do, and fans of the show will appreciate the chance to interact with the new players, in new ways. We did not test the multiplayer options.
$30, Nintendo DS*, PSP, GBA
Teaches: logic, music, spatial relations, rhythm
CTR Rating: 82%