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Upon reflecting on characters in horror games, Barbie isn't the primary idea that enters your head. Yet individuals who delved into the charmingly eerie 1998 PC game Detective Barbie in the Mystery of the Carnival Caper recognizes that Barbie truly possesses survivor qualities.

The Bizarre Setup

The setup is appropriately absurd: Barbie and her companion Becky have just graduated from their area sleuthing college, as obviously that's an actual institution. A "fall charity carnival" is in town, and Ken is inexplicably the festival head, despite the fact he and Barbie are indicated as teenagers. Yet the nighttime before the carnival starts, tragedy strikes: Ken disappears via a sorcery performance error, and the benefit cash disappears with him! As expected, it's up to Detective Barbie, her friend Becky (who acts as her "support operator"), and the player to crack the case of his disappearance.

Investigator Barbie was speaking player names out loud well before Fallout 4 and Starfield tried the gimmick — and she could articulate virtually all names.

The Strangeness Begins

Things get weird almost right away. After booting up the game, users are prompted to select their name from a list, and Barbie will speak to the player by name throughout the game. I cannot emphasize how extensive and detailed this list of names is. If you're someone who has historically had trouble locating souvenirs with your name on them at gift shops, you might think you're out of luck here, but you're mistaken. There are thousands of names on the list, which seems to list almost all versions of every girl's given name in existence, from very usual to unexpectedly uncommon. Although Barbie says the player's name with a truly unsettling amount of lively energy, it doesn't sound like text-to-speech, which has me questioning how long Barbie actress Chris Anthony Lansdowne spent in the recording booth reciting virtually each female name under the sun.

Investigating the Fair

When gamers provide their name, they assume control over Barbie as she examines the area of the crime. It's after dark, and she's all alone (except for Becky, who sometimes updates via the Crime Computer). Reflecting now, I can't get over how much exploring the game's spooky festival site feels like playing Silent Hill 3. Admittedly, this carnival doesn't feature blood and rust, or plagued by horrifying beings like Lakeside Amusement Park, but the atmosphere is distinctly spooky. It only grows more suspicion-raising when Barbie starts detecting a dark figure lurking in the fair. It appears she's not alone after all.

It's hard to beat a tense chase down a hilariously extended slide to raise your heart rate.

Spooky Games and Hunts

As you guide Barbie through more and more creepy games and exhibits (the Halloween prop storage room still terrifies me), the player will find evidence, which she transmits to Becky to scrutinize. The clues finally direct Barbie to the unknown person's location, and it's her responsibility to find them, chasing Ken's kidnapper through a assortment of amusement park standards including bumper cars, an huge slider with splitting ways, and a poorly illuminated love tunnel. These chases were truly thrilling — the music becomes intense, and one wrong move could lead to the suspect getting away.

Surprising Depth

Detective Barbie in the Mystery of the Carnival Caper had a surprising level of depth, especially for a late '90s point-and-click game designed for female children. Instead of dressing up Barbie, or engaging with her equines, Detective Barbie concentrated on real game mechanics, had a compelling story, and was creepy as hell. It even had certain replayability — every game session switched up the varieties of hints players would discover, and regarding Ken's kidnapper, there were several persons of interest — the identity of the guilty party varied every playthrough you played. When the puzzle was unraveled, players could even produce a young sleuth emblem to show off for ultimate peer respect.

A child's initial fright! The clues in this room squeak noisily or emerge unexpectedly as players investigate them.

Influence and Successors

Certainly, after a couple of repeats, you'd finally encounter everything the game had to offer, but it was incredible for its time, and even spawned two sequels: 1999's Detective Barbie 2: The Vacation Mystery, and 2000's Detective Barbie: The Mystery Cruise. Mattel is still releasing Barbie video games currently — the next one is Barbie Horse Tails (yes, another pony care/styling experience), which releases soon. Although the visuals are a certain upgrade over Detective Barbie, I doubt Barbie Horse Tails contains the same degree of interactive complexity, replay value, or general spookiness as its end-of-century ancestors, which is kind of a shame.

An Introduction to Scares

Irrespective of the company's initial goals for the game, Detective Barbie in the Mystery of the Carnival Caper ended up becoming my introduction to scary media, and I'd enjoy witnessing Detective Barbie feature in another lighthearted-yet-creepy game that goes beyond dress-up and horse-riding. The globe contains plenty of horse girls, but it could absolutely employ more tough young sleuths cracking important fundraising fair mysteries.