Hands on with Disney Fairies: Tinker Bell on iPhone

We already know that Disney's cast of cartoon all-stars can't play a game of cards to save their drawn lives. A little pixie dust may turn their fortunes, however, and Disney Fairies: Tinker Bell should do just that, bringing Peter Pan's silent sidekick to iPhone in an adventure that parallels her new film out later this month.

The game casts you in the role of Tinker Bell in the years before joining forces with Peter Pan. The fleeting little fairy is only one of six playable characters, however. Each of the other fairies is intimately tied to the natural world, responsible for serious work such as placing dew drops on petals and the like.

The high-flying adventure involves tilting your iPhone to guide each fairy through a series of two-dimensional stages. Playing as tiny Tink, for instance, we led her through an early jungle stage to avoid obstacles and collect trinkets along the way. Safety pins, thimbles, and other knick-knacks can be gathered for points. Of course, they're placed right next to dangerous obstacles, which often makes it tricky to pick them up.

Each fairy behaves differently, a factor of their ability in four areas: Fast, Nimble, Tough, and Dust. Fast relates to the speed at which a fairy flies, whereas Nimble correlates to their agility and ease of navigation. Tough is similar to endurance, which essentially determines how much damage a fairy can withstand. A health bar on the upper left corner of the screen whittles away with each bump into an obstacle. Drain this gauge and you lose the level.

Lastly, Dust affects how much pixie dust is gained by finding globules during play. Glowing yellow clouds of dust contribute to your pixie dust meter that goes toward unlocking bonus content. It's worth noting that you don't have immediate access to all six fairies; rather, you have to gather enough dust to unlock all six for play. You'll also have the option of unlocking bonus material in Disney's upcoming Pixie Hollow online PC game by inputting codes gained here.

While the gameplay is obviously basic, the pleasant music and colourful graphics help to make it entertaining. Most of the music has been pulled from the upcoming Tinker Bell animated film, which ties the two together nicely. We're interested in seeing a few more levels to gauge whether there's some variety to be had or if each level involves routine item collection. Good music makes repetition a little easier to swallow, but it's repetition nonetheless. With a release planned within the next month, we'll let you know.