I can't say that I'm a personal fan of "pink" games. They're intended to be "games for girls" but far too often they pander to an ideal of what a certain type of girl would like. In the process, they become very shallow and poorly designed games. At the same time, I acknowledge that this ideal exists because, like all stereotypes, there's a kernel of truth in it. Me? I was never a "pink" girl. (It's a good thing I had boys!) Bratz Ponyz is designed to appeal to this demographic and I think it does so, but with mixed results.

Using the Ponyz license, the game positions itself for young children, not only girls but primarily girls around the age of 6. Bratz indicates we're going to do lots of preening and primping and taking care of ourselves. These are well-established play mechanics for girls of this age and using ponies should work well.

The game has no story: it is a playground where you take the Pony of your choice – Bonita, Pursia, Sashay or Celeste – and visit the townspeople to participate in activities. These include washing your hair (which later becomes drying and combing), making tattoos, make-up (cleaning your face, applying eye shadow, etc), or beading necklaces. Each time you successfully complete a level you move up to the next. The problem is you must complete the level you are on for all activities you are performing before you can move on. You earn stars for doing them so you don't have to complete them well, but without a certain number of stars moving forward can be difficult. And, should you have enjoyed a previous activity but moved on to the next, you can't go back. If you like drying hair (it's interesting, you have to balance drying the hair with burning out the hair dryer) you can't go back once you complete it because your only choice is to begin hair brushing.

You do all of this while moving between houses with the stylus. This I found to be frustrating: the movement was very slow. I have a younger son who loves ponies and doesn't have hang-ups about the color pink and he played the game for a while but found the slow movement frustrating as well. For him, this occurred when the islands opened.

Part of the game involves collecting (as any good children's game should – kids are the best packrats!). You find beads, glitter, flowers, feathers and marbles throughout the world. Eventually, you'll need to travel to islands to look for them. But, some of the islands serve no purpose but to hold 2-3 items for collection. Visiting these then returning really slows the game down.

There are some very enjoyable mini-games that only require one cart to play, but they have to be unlocked. Designers, if you are reading this: DO NOT REQUIRE CHILDREN TO UNLOCK THE FUN PARTS OF THE GAME. No child should ever have to WORK to have fun. No adult should either -- but we're used to it. And children like to play with their parents and their siblings. When the mini-games are multi-player, never keep them locked!

Finally, the game requires reading. It's not a lot of reading but it is beyond the ability of the target age of this game. Expect to have to sit with your child for a good 30 minutes until they understand all of the portions of the basic levels and then expect them to come back to you every 20 minutes or so as they unlock new activities. Designers, again, I know that voice is expensive in terms of resources, especially on a DS. But consider if contextual clues might not work better? Never assume a child can read before the age of 8 or 9.

I do recommend Bratz Ponyz but with a caveat and reservations. I recommend it to older girls of at least age 7, and honestly, more like 8. My reservations are that by that age, unless they are die-hard fans of the franchise they may find the game too slow. But, if you are the type of parent who sits with their child through their entire play experience and are willing to work with and read to your child, encouraging them through the slower parts of the game, then it does work for the younger crowd. It's just one of those almost there games.