When it comes to reviewing games that are obviously intended for a younger audience, it’s absolutely important to take that into account in order to be fair. In general, that means that the intensity will typically be toned down, the controls will be less complicated or at least more forgiving, and when it’s based on a license you can expect a fair amount of flexing that fact. Unsurprisingly then, Winx Club, based on the animated series, checks pretty well all of those boxes, allowing you to play solo or with a partner, exploring, solving puzzles, engaging in some battle, and allowing you to move between all 6 members at will.

The good news is that this is pretty light and approachable fare. For the most part what you need to do is pretty clear, and the combat isn’t without any challenges at all, but the game tends to be forgiving. Once you understand the need to cycle between members to solve puzzles using their different powers, you’ll generally be well on your way to success, and the adventure will take you through a number of locales to keep things as fresh as possible.

The problem though is that the controls simply aren’t very responsive, and even though you’ll still generally survive combat, and get through some puzzles, they can still be aggravating. In particular you’ll notice the very sluggish response of the controller buttons when trying to complete small timing-based mini games. More often than not you’ll need to anticipate the button press in order to make it work, and with such a relatively simple game in general, this feels like a major unforced error that will hopefully get patched up. While perhaps you won’t be able to convince anyone who loves this franchise to play something else, there’s simply better-made family-friendly fare out there than this.