Care Bears: Unlock the Magic is a licensed game based on Care Bears, with the same title as the TV series. It’s a kids show, and it’s a cheap licensed game, so the quality is going to be hit or miss (and most likely a miss). Reinforcing this is that the game is basically full of minigames, and only minigames.
The game has a proper single player mode though and is only single player. It’s called Adventure Mode where you play as Cheer Bear and go along a track. Each section of the track is a minigame level, and each time you clear a minigame, you will gain one star. The aim is to reach the end of the track, and there will be progress blockers on every eight levels which requires a certain number of stars to pass. However, the requirements are very low and given that the minigames are so easy to clear, you shouldn’t have a problem getting through them.
The minigame levels will get harder as you go along the track. There are 104 levels to clear the Adventure Mode, which basically means getting at least 70 stars to help free the land. After this, it unlocks Master Levels, which are harder levels compared to the story, and some of them are legit difficult (even if it is mostly due to random chance rather than a skill issue). There are another 104 of them… but they’re the same minigames you’ve been playing all this time, so it’s very repetitive.
There are eight types of minigames, and most of them are based on well-known games. The first is Conga, which is a copy of Snake from the Nokia phone days. You play a conga line, going around the dance floor to collect more bears to add to the line. Next is Pass the Ball, which is a copy of Pong. You aim to clear the screen of rectangular pieces by having the ball hit it, and you keep the ball in play but not allowing it to fall to the floor. There are power ups such as a wider paddle, adding another ball, or allowing the ball to destroy the pieces in one go rather than in multiple hits.
This third minigame is Care Bubbles, which is basically Puzzle Bobble. This is quite fun, as you need to shoot the bubbles to match three of the same type to make them disappear. At the same time, the ceiling is dropping lower. The harder levels have you start off with more complicated patterns, closer to the ground, which can be annoying. The minigame Cloud Racer has you moving a vehicle up and down trying to collect the hearts along the level.
Cross the Rainbow is another obstacle course, where the Care Bear is on a pogo stick (not that it matters too much) as you cross rivers on platforms, railway tracks, and pass by rocks. Ball to the Hole is like a form of mini golf, where you try to shoot the ball into the hole, but making it difficult is that the angle of the ball constantly changes so you need to wait until it faces the way you’d want it to go.
Lost Whiffle is yet another obstacle course where you control a Care Bear as they reach the end of the course. The Care Bear is walking this time, and will constantly be moving, so you’ll need to avoid the traps on the ground, spinning fans and water barriers. The eighth and last minigame is Bouncy Heart, which is a copy of Flappy Bird. You reach the end of the course while being able to only control the height by pressing a button. If you don’t press anything, the Care Bear will immediately start descending.
A minigame collection as a concept doesn’t mean it’ll be a bad game. If you have variety, then it’s fine. Unfortunately, this game does not have that variety. With only eight types of minigames and requiring you to repeat 13 times in Adventure Mode, it quickly gets repetitive. Another problem is it is very predictable. Every set has one of each of the eight minigames, there are no surprises, and none of these minigames are particularly fun either.
Adventure Mode takes around two to three hours to complete. Free Mode allows you to replay any of those levels, plus the additional 104 Master Levels as mentioned earlier. The game is clearly built for younger players, and you’re rewarded with stickers are you progress. There are no high scores, nor are there any modes that allow you to play with unlimited time until you lose (which seems like an easy way to provide a fun mode).
Overall, Care Bears: Unlock the Magic is every bit the poor licensed game you’d expect it to me. It’s disappointing but not surprising that for a game that has such limited graphical assets (while bright and colorful, looking good, it reuses a lot of things), and only eight types of gameplays, that it sells for such a high price. It’s fun for around half an hour, but after that, you can’t wait until you can put it down and move on to the next game.
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