My Little Pony: The Runaway Rainbow

I have a baby sister who is about three years old, whereas I am about twenty, but I'm a huge fan of My Little Ponies. Not too long ago, we had the opportunity to play the GBA rom of this to completion and she loved it. Even though we own all the other pony movies, we don't have Runaway Rainbow yet, and the story was completely new to her. (I played it on the GBA but she watched and sometimes pushed the buttons for the simple minigames).

When I found out that it was coming out for PC, I went out and got a copy. They've made some cosmetic changes from the GBA ... now all the ponies voice-act their lines (with the option of text dialogs) and they're all 3D models instead of the little 2D sprites from before. They've also enhanced the environments. The great thing is now that everything is controlled with the mouse, she can do it herself and get a feeling of accomplishment. Rarity is (by far) her favorite pony. :)

The downside? Personally, I feel like the 3D models are uglier than before ... but the really bad thing for the PC is the loading times and no loading screen! Your screen just goes pink for about five seconds and you can't move the cursor even though you can move the mouse. There's no loading screen or loading bar or eyecatch or anything to tell you what just happened-- and it happens EVERY time you move into a new area, even if you've been there before.

To a three-year old, this is absolute torture. I would actually recommend the GBA one over the PC version, if they are old enough to own a GBA and treat it correctly. Nothing like that happens on the GBA. This is a brand new PC with Windows XP and can run Black and White 2 without a slowdown. There's no excuse for poor management of the available system resources on the part of the programmers.

Just be warned that this game is basically lots and lots of fetchquest scenarios and minigames, but there is story advancement. There's even a little gallery for them to go to let them access any earlier-played chapter or minigame for before. The story is engaging and sweet if you haven't seen the movie. If you have, it's more of the same.

Pros:
-Graphics are brightly colored and completely suitable for young children.
-Gameplay is simple, and not complicated. Hints and arrows pointing where to go next pop up if nothing happens for a while.
-Scenery is eye-catching, and the music is soothing.
-Minigames are different and engaging (although I long for a good dress-up one that is open-ended and not timed)
-Cute story.

Cons:
-Long loading times that may frustrate young kids.
-Not being able to find the next item to advance the story, and having to go back to every place you've been again.
-Kids may need help or advice from older siblings or parents on the more complicated minigames (not necessarily a bad thing ...)

Overall, I'd say get it if you're a huge My Little Pony fan or love the miniature ponies called the "Breezies" or the Unicorns, but pass it by if you're not ... there's nothing here for you.

I had read another review that was mediocre. I agree that the 3-D ponies are not as good visually as the 2-D. But my daughters (5 and 7) still love playing the game and feeling as if they are a star in the Runaway Rainbow movie. I am thrilled that it works with an older computer since we have not upgraded our game computer yet. We have XP Home with 1 GB RAM, an attached CD-Rom through a USB port, and no special graphics cards installed and it works fine. We did not have any problems with pink screens while waiting for screens to install (as a previous reviewer had). The game can be a little slow at parts while loading the video/visuals but it is not noticeably different from other games we have purchased.

› Go to Amazon U.S. to see both reviews  4.0 out of 5 stars