Barbie Reviews

Barbie Fashion Fever Guess-The-Look Game seemed like the perfect choice for my six-year-old daughter. I got mine at K-Mart, and even though I did have a second's pause at the $14.99 price tag, (as opposed to the even more ridiculous price of $16.99 as listed by Amazon), I whisked it off the shelf anyway, since the day before my daughter had a horrible trip-and-fall accident (very badly split lip, 25 stitches, four middle-of-the-night hours in the ER) and I wasn't exactly in a mood to skimp; and she could play it while "quietly" recuperating. I also had high hopes for the game since it appeared to be a cool Barbie Fashion-version of the "Guess Who?" game, which we have owned and enjoyed for a few years. If you are not familiar with the "Guess Who?" game, (and its newest counterpart, the "Guess Where?" game - cute but not as fun as the original), the premise is to ask yes or no questions to the opposing player to try and figure out which person they have (out of a possible 25 or so), and they, in turn, try and guess which person the other player has, using the classic "Battleship" setup of "plastic briefcases" that open and shield the other player's view. (Questions such as "Is it a man?" "Are they wearing a hat?" "Do they have blonde hair" etc.)

I think the most fun part may have been when we first opened up the game and had to pull the pieces off their initial backing (the material is the same thin, clingy, plastic as those window-cling decorations that are out for every holiday) and place them in their matching location in the fashion folder. There were hair selections in varying colors and styles, hats, eyes, mouths, earrings, necklaces. Once all the pieces are put into place, you pick a card and the opposing player picks a card, and you try to guess which Fashion Barbie each other has picked. After asking yes or no questions, you take the appropriate clingy piece and put it on a blank mannequin-type drawing of a head in a picture frame, eventually getting hair, eyes, mouth, earrings or necklaces if applicable, etc.

Sounds fun, but there is such a limited selection of gals to choose from, and the entire repertoire is displayed within each folder, that within a few turns it becomes obvious who each other has. And the pieces tend to fall off the upright picture frame, or they end up too stuck on and when you try to remove them, you end up scratching the color off the piece. After one round with my six-year-old daughter and one round with my seven-year-old daughter, interest was beginning to wane, the color had been scratched off of one set of lips (making them look cut and scarred, ironically enough, considering what my daughter had just gone through), and the brown eyes were lost from one set (both folders contain exactly the same pieces). The girls then had some fun (as did I) just making up different girls on the picture frame, without even using the cards or playing the game, but that only lasted a few minutes more.

The verdict? A $15.00 game that was fun and entertaining for less than a half-hour, and is now destined for the closet (or more likely, back to K-mart). And only one set of pieces for each folder (and remember, there are only two folders to begin with) with no back-up pieces included. Couldn't they have included some duplicate pieces? After all, you can buy an entire, huge sheet of those holiday window cling-ons for a buck!!! How cheap can you get? You probably have to send away to Mattell for another set of pieces, which probably cost $7.99 - not including $3.99 for shipping and handling!!

My advice is: Don't waste your money. This game is listed at $16.99? In my opinion, it's worth maybe six or seven bucks, not a penny more. But even at that amount, the entertainment value may wear thin before you get your money's worth. Buy the original "Guess Who?" game instead.

For some reason Mattel is incapable of making a doll with curly hair. It looks like they crimp hair in a few sections, thin they decide to light it on fire. Well, that's what they did to this poor doll. Although, with some simple washing and conditioning, the hair looks fine. My other problem with this doll is that they, for some unknown reason put gold glitter underneath her eyes!!! I can't figure it out. It looks they slipped wile applying it they put it in the dolls eyes. But, that's another thing that can easily be fixed. Over all I am very happy with this purchase. She has a beautiful skin tone and eye colors. After I rubbed down her under eye glitter and washed her hair, she looks beautiful.

I purchased this for my 3 year old because it was similar to my own piano (minus the pink coloring). The sound was aweful, non piano like, and the keys were really loose. So bad that you could slide them from left to right. Definatly NOT worth the money. Its cute, when not being played. Its not in tune and sounds aweful. If you don't care about what it sounds like, the this piano's for you. If you want it to sound like a genuine piano, look elsewhere.

This is supposed to have a real piano sound but it doesn't. I don't see anywhere where it says that this piano is a chime piano. But that's what I got. I bought it for my 3yr old and it is horribly annoying and the keys(chimes) sound sooooooo out of tune. And the sound is NOT like sweet wind chimes tinkling in the wind. It's a loud pounding metallic sound. Maybe that's because you have to hit the keys so hard to even make a sound. Why are those other reviews so good? How educational can a piano be if all the notes (I should say chimes) sound off key? And the bench it comes with is almost useless. This toy is a loud piece of junk. I'd send it back if it wasn't so big that I'd hurt myself trying to get it to the post office. All of the other reviews are good but I guarantee that if you listen to your toddler bang on this piano for more than half an hour you will feel like you are losing your mind. So if you want to know what it's like to be a crazy person then buy this toy.

We have this piano in the living room and we put on music and she plays it so well. My 11 month old also plays with it and it is a great deal of enjoyment.

No assembly required, love that!! Heavy duty and sturdy enough for my 11 month old to grab to get up without any problems.

Recommend this doll to everyone. She is very elegant, has adorable freckles, green eyes and long red hair. Drew looks similar to Gillian but her hair is a dark true Red to Gillians Brownish Red. A must have for every Barbie fan!