About.com Rating
As the go-to-guy in my newsroom for princess apps — and a fan of Ron Burgundy’s salon-quality hair — it only makes sense for me to review Disney Princess Royal Salon. After all, what better way to take my mind off every guy’s mortal fear, male-pattern baldness, than to witness the gorgeous flowing locks (grrr) of various Disney princesses. I guess this is karma’s way of punishing guys because we never have to experience the pain of childbirth.
Anywho, the game starts out by asking you to pick from one of four ladies to style: Cinderella, Belle, Ariel and, of course, Rapunzel. Decisions, decisions… As a dead ringer for Prince Charming, I decided to go with Cinderella. Hey, my mom would never lie. Once I settled on my Disney damsel of choice, I was faced with invitations to one of four royal shindigs: the Royal Ball, a Masquerade Party, Holiday Celebration and a Special event. The “Special” event changes depending on the princess. For Cinderella, for example, the event is a palace garden picnic. For Belle, meanwhile, it’s an enchanted tea party. Yep, just the kind of events I was born to grace my presence with, baby. Pick your event of choice and it’s time to get stylin’.
The styling starts with your princess’ hair, which is done by swiping the locks. Swipe it up, for example, and you can style the hair into a bun. Swipe it down and your princess will wear her hair down. For folks who don’t want to do their styling manually, clicking on the magic wand icon and tapping anywhere on the screen will let you cycle between different hairstyles.
After having way more fun styling Cinderella’s hair than I’d care to admit to my guy friends, I decided on my royal ‘do and swiped on the lower part of the screen to move on to the wardrobe selection screen. You get your pick of four dresses, which include a classic gown for you character plus a few extra designs. One positive about this app is that the wardrobe choices are incredibly customizable. I’m talking enough trims, colors and patterns to make Elton John ecstatic. Heck, I only wish Call of Duty and all other games had this same level of customization. Just to be clear, I’m talking about soldier gear not gowns, OK? In addition to the gown styles, you can change each gown’s color with a palette slider. You can also pick from several patterns such as flowers, lines and even — gasp — gemstones. Be still your beating heart. The only downside is that you can’t combine the color customization tool with the pattern tool. Yeah, I’m making a serious observation (if I’m gonna review something, I’m gonna be professional, darn it).
Besides wardrobe, you also have accessories like hair bands, masks, necklaces and — this is especially a stroke of genius — purses. As a dude, one of the things I’ve learned is to never underestimate the importance of purses to girls. Well played, Disney, well played. Sadly (well, not for me but for the little ladies using this app) you can’t change the colors of the purses, too. I also wish there was a magnification option for this step of the app. I say that because unless you’ve got hands the size of Jiminy Cricket’s, swiping stuff like earrings on the iPhone screen can be tough. Once you’ve nailed your style, all you need is to pick whether you want sparkles or not and it’s go time. The final part involves having your princess stand in front of a background based on the event you chose. I was able to save a photo of my creation, which, hopefully, the boss doesn’t see in my company phone. You can also take a picture of yourself in princess gear but that’s where I drew the line.
Overall, this app hits all the right buttons for its target audience, which I’m certain does not include me. Objectively speaking, though, I can see younger girls going for this app. If your little one likes Disney apps such as Brave or Sofia the First then chances are she will love this one, too.
- Final rating: 4 stars out of 5
- Cost: $4.99
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Disclosure: A review copy was provided by the publisher. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.