WinX Club: Quest for the Codex (TimeMage)
Format: Advance
Genre: Puzzle
Developer: Powerhead Games
Publisher: Konami

Review
An odd game, based off a cartoon I think? This is a girly girls game, but interestingly enough, it doesn't fully suck like all the other "girl games". The main action of this title is built around some sort of plot revolving around what appears to be high school girls that are also fairies(?) and have magical powers that give them wings, super skills in what they're interested in, and reallllllly short skirts. Additionally one of the girls looks like an oompa loompa when she transforms. The prospect of this game's plot is that you play about 6 girls who are fairies that may or may not have boyfriends and are all super popular magical fairies. As such, all of your problems are solved through your 1 magical fairy skill, whether it be music, video games, fashion, or.. erm.. flying through the air and shooting fireballs. yeahhh... one of these things just doesn't fit. Anyways, since there are 6 girls, that means there are exactly 6 minigames in this game. As the story progresses, each girl steps up to solve whatever problem there is with the minigame she is good at. Girl1 is apparently a dragon and flies through the air to solve her problem. Girl2 matches 3 flowers in a row to solve her problems. Girl3 dances to DDR inputs to solve her problems. Girl4, also known as best girl, solves her problems by playing arkanoid. Girl5 solves her problems by playing a match-card game with fashion items. Girl6 solves her problem by drawing squares to highlight objects while avoiding the bouncing ball. Yes, that last one is also a retro video game, but I can't remember the title name. These are the 6 minigames, which aren't all that bad of a choice. I've played other games like this where they are simply mini-games with rough plot(like barbie island princess) and comparatively, the fact that they have arkanoid in this alone simply makes it a better game. There unfortunately is A LOT of repetition in this game, and the DDR minigames take far more focus and time than the others. The plot is whatever, and the gameplay gets progressively more difficult towards the end of the game. What really shocked me was after I beat the game, I went to check the minigames section and found out that there are 125 arkanoid puzzles in the game. That's a pretty huge number. I'm willing to bet the other minigames also had impressive numbers. Another thing I think I can safely say is that the DDR minigame was done fairly well in this. It wasn't horrible or forced to time on the beat like other DDR attempts I've seen on the GBA, this one actually felt like I was playing DDR or Stepmania. The lesser minigames were still manageable and handled fairly well. This would probably be one of the better games if you were giving a game to your daughter. It teaches the most valuable lesson a girl could ever learn.. Don't fall asleep on the couch of someone lighting scented candles.

All in All, This game earned a 7.0 for it's inclusion of arkanoid. Gameplay was rather tedious. Artwise it could have been better. Overall a B-Tier game feel.

TimeMage's verdict: