Disney Princess (GBA) (2003)
Developer: Art

Review by Faididi and Co.

It's technically six Disney Princesses here

Story: Average

Disney's classic animated movies may be well-known, but this game features reimagined stories that place the spotlight strictly on the princesses involved: Snow White (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs), Cinderella (Cinderella), Aurora (Sleeping Beauty), Ariel (The Little Mermaid), Belle (Beauty and the Beast) and Jasmine (Aladdin). These new tales are still simple and easy to follow for all.

Gameplay: Average

Art's Disney Princess is an action game whose 18 chapters play differently from one another, even within the stories for each of the 6 heroines. If the princesses get hit too many times, they'll have to restart the current chapter, but their progress (including the optional collectible items they find) can be recorded via passwords.

Snow White's scenes are about exploration and evading enemies in a maze-like forest and mine. Her only weapon being her voice, her songs serve beautifully as a context-sensitive action, such as lulling certain monsters to sleep, drawing out cuddly animal friends, and calling on her dwarven allies for their assistance.

Cinderella's scenes are the most unconventional of all. Her first chapter is a compact graphic adventure, where she freely moves among the rooms of her home while tackling ongoing tasks, including wiping away the paw marks left by the cat and fetching items requested by Lady Tremaine. Then, her second chapter is a dance rhythm challenge that proves to be the most difficult part of the game.

Aurora's scenes involve exploration in another maze-like forest and castle, but they eliminate the need for jumping while focusing heavily on combat. She wields a fairy wand like a blaster that has infinite ammunition, easily mowing down enemies.

Ariel's scenes push combat to even crazier extents. Somehow getting her hands on King Triton's trident, she can literally vaporize enemies with unlimited super bullets as she swims and aims in the eight cardinal directions. There's still some exploration to do, but the ability to swim anywhere means that platforming isn't an issue here.

Belle's scenes feature exploration and platforming with additional challenges. In her first chapter, if she exhausts her supply of snowballs, she must take the time to scoop up more snow before she can attack again. In her second chapter, she must search for keys and free her trapped friends in a maze-like castle within a time limit.

Jasmine's scenes offer a nicely contrasting mix. She first flies on Carpet through a huge cavern while avoiding traps, and then she runs and leaps across a city while dodging enemies or using her sword to stun them (non-lethally).

The boss scenes at the end of the majority of the stories are extremely simple, because the heroines can usually win by rushing up to and pounding away at the villains. After the princesses' own tales are finished, the secret final chapter becomes available. Here, you play as the entire sextet in a rudimentary challenge that's meant more as a formal conclusion.

Disney Princess certainly doesn't lack in gameplay variety, but its obsession with mixing up things also means it doesn't focus enough on its best parts. Running around blasting bad guys to hell with Aurora and Ariel may be funny for a couple of minutes, but the game honestly would've been more interesting had it attempted something truly ambitious. There's no reason why more of the stories can't be played as a graphic adventure in the style of Cinderella's first chapter. Things would be even better if the heroines had directly worked together in an actual crossover.

Controls: Above Average

The controls are responsive, except during Cinderella's dancing chapter. The button inputs' margin of error is too narrow there, and the button prompts' blocky, imprecise appearance doesn't help.

Graphics: Above Average

Disney Princess shows off very pretty graphics. Aside from the stiff-looking upper body for Belle's walking motions, the heroines are fluidly animated, and the backgrounds are nicely textured.

Audio: Average

The sound effects are fine, but the generic music is clearly not based on the movies' scores. The tunes aren't memorable at all, and the one for Aurora's castle chapter sounds more like something taken from a horror show. The vocal effects are limited to Snow White's brief singing and an unnecessary moan that the princesses make whenever they suck up a hit.

Overall: Average

Although Disney Princess deserves mention for featuring chapters that play differently from one another, it would've done better to focus on the graphic adventure portion and other more interesting bits, instead of sending its heroines through a bunch of brief, simplistic scenes. Fans of Disney's movies may enjoy the attractive visuals here, but others will probably want to stick with a more tightly focused action game.