Review: Diary Girl (DS)

Score: 82

Now this, this, is the perfect title for my daughter. Konami have sat down, thought to themselves "Now, what could we do that ties directly into the mind of an 8 to 12 year old girl?" Of course, the results of their deliberations won't appeal one jot to anyone else, but that's missing the point. Run, don't walk to the nearest place that stocks (or in this case imports) Diary Girl for the DS.

As you'll probably have guessed, this isn't a game as such, it effectively turns your daughter's Nintendo DS into a combined PDA and Voice-over-IP phone. Which makes it incredible value. But is it any good?

Actually, yes, it's not bad, with certain caveats. Other than you'd better like pink! The PDA-like functions include a password to gain access and a full Calendar (that remembers your entries, although each is limited to the length of a couple of SMS, we're not talking Diary of Anne Frank here).

At every turn, there's the chance to customise and bling everything out, plus animated smileys and the other enhancements that make the target audience go 'ooh'. There's ever a built in painting program, complete with stampers:

You get to store details of all your BFF (Best Friends Forever, come on, keep up at the back) and chat to them using voice, either locally (within range of the DS's Wi-Fi, or across the Internet (using Nintendo's official Wi-Fi connection), making this a limited but workable VoIP solution for the DS! Voice quality isn't perfect, but then VoIP isn't known for high quality on any platform - and this way, your daughter gets to 'own' the communications medium - a bit like her borrowing your walkie talkies or phone, but without the battery or voice bills.

In addition, there are quizzes, mini-games, horoscopes and all the other factors that make up girls magazines.

A terrific package for any female between 8 and 12 or 13. Recommended, although you'll have to do a bit of research to find this in the UK yet. I'll put a link in here when it's officially released in UK stores.