Barbie Groom and Glam Pups lets players choose a pup from one of six breeds, then groom it, train it, and dress it up. Finally, players show off their glam pup in a dance sequence, runway show and photo shoot. Throughout the game, Barbie serves as a mentor, providing instruction and tips to the player.

The game is not a million miles away in design from Dora the Explorer: Dora Puppy. In fact I'd go as far as to say it's practically the same game, but just aimed at a slightly more mature audience... oh and the fact that it's not quite as much fun as the Dora offering.

With Dora, you could at least have a little fun with the title. The training and playing with the dog were like mini games (bad mini game, granted, but they were still better than what's on offer here). If you want to train your dog with Barbie it's simply a case of moving the controller as you're shown on screen. You don't have to remember the trick, and the dog doesn't really learn it - it simply gains that trick for it's routines later in the game. When you come to perform it at a show you have to quickly repeat what you're shown on the screen. This becomes very old very quickly.

To get ready for the dog shows you must groom your dog by simply pressing "A" and moving the controller in the direction indicated on screen, get a good collection of tricks and dress your pooch.

Another issue is the fact that the loading time between the different areas in the game is a little slow, and as you'll be moving between them a lot this can become a little annoying rather quickly.

Overall this is a bit of a disappointment and certainly not a game I'd think worthy of the mighty Barbie brand. For the very young girl who loves dogs... then this may provide a momentary distraction. For everyone else this will be a huge disappointment.

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Nick Smithson