Vimm's Lair: DS Reviews - Tinker Bell

Nintendo DS
Tinker Bell

Graphics:
Sound:
Gameplay:
Overall:
8.25
7.75
9.50
8.75
Votes: 4
Reviews: 1


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Reviewer: gir <3 Date: Sep 8, 2023
I've been playing this since I was a kid, 6 or 7 or so, obviously I'm biased yadda yadda yadda you get the idea. But after replaying this as an adult (who loved and still dearly loves the Tinkerbell movies) I can confidently say that this game is incredibly solid and you should give it a try if you have any nostalgia for the 2008 Tinkerbell movie. For a movie tie-in game aimed at very young girls with a Nintendo DS, it's actually a little unbelievable how seriously *good* this game is.

Graphics: 9
Naturally we're dealing with DS graphics here, however the amount of thought put into the aesthetic and the effort put into really bringing the movie to life cannot be understated. The character models look absolutely spot on to the movie, the backdrops are charming and nice to look at, and the colors pop in all of the right ways. I especially love the UI design; the nice, light purple compliments Tinkerbell's classic greens very nicely.

Sound: 8
This is the only point that I really feel needs any noticeable improvement. Again, Nintendo DS limitations, you can only expect them to stretch so far before it starts hitting a wall. That said, I think the music (while very charming and incredibly befitting of a sweet little fairy game) can get a bit repetitive, and some of the sound design choices tend to get irritating. The sound that plays when there's an item to collect is very loud and sharp, and it repeats every few seconds until you either collect the item or leave the area you're in. While all of the sound design choices make perfect sense and are very pleasant to an extent, it has room for improvement.

Gameplay: 10
Oh my goooooooood. So, full disclosure, this game is pretty exclusively fetch quests and subsequent mini-games that you do for all of the different fairies around pixie hollow. If that doesn't sound appealing to you (probably since you're not a little kid) you might not enjoy it very much. I really feel the need to emphasize that if you're not a fan of the mid-2000s Tinkerbell movies, this game most likely isn't gonna be for you.
That being said, it hits the wish fulfillment itch in JUST the right way. All of the fetch quests involve you, Tinkerbell, being a pretty little fairy flying all around pixie hollow and making friends with all of the characters. You, Tinkerbell, get to fix up tools for your fairy friends and help the ministers prepare for the changing of the seasons. You get to make little bracelets and hair clips out of flowers and gems and silkworm thread that you helped collect yourself. You get to dress Tinkerbell in pretty dresses made of flowers. If one of the accessories you made gets popular enough *the queen herself* will start wearing it. What more could you possibly need out of a game where you get to be Tinkerbell?

Overall: 10
Overall everything lends itself to an incredibly fun gameplay loop that (if you're like me) you can easily get swept up in for a few hours at a time. Sure, it might not be the deepest game out there, but I think especially for a movie tie-in game on the Nintendo DS, it's got too much love put into it for me not to absolutely gush about it to all my friends - and the strangers on whichever forum this review is headed to :P I think if you have a little kid around that deserves some solid fun, or you're an adult like me with a lot of whimsy, you should absolutely give this game a shot.

Something genuinely unfortunate about the game is that it has some tie-in bonuses that were meant to go to the pixie hollow MMO. It made me so sad man. I miss the old internet so much. I wanna get the silly bonus items that come from these codes :(