Mary-Kate and Ashley: Sweet 16 - Licensed to Drive

Fun is one of the hardest concepts to describe, and there are no clear cut boundaries of what can be defined as fun. I believe that fun has little to do with an actual action, and everything to do with the people you are with. A mundane activity can be fun if done with the people you are close to, while an exciting action gets old and boring fast if done alone. As Spongebob once said, “F is for friends who do stuff together. U is for you and me. N is for anywhere and anytime at all down here in the deep blue sea.” You often see rich people with everything they could ever need and then some, but who find it all useless without someone to share their possessions with, e.g. Jay Gatsby. On the flip side, you’ll find poor people who are perfectly content because of their strong relationships with friends and family. I’ve found that some of the best times I’ve ever had were endeavors that I never expected to be enjoyable, but were so because of the people I was with.

I pop the disc into my dusty Playstation 2, and patiently await the one-of-a-kind experience that is before me and my friends. We are not playing Call of Duty, Battlefield, Grand Theft Auto, or any other video game you’d expect four teenage boys to be playing. Instead, we are playing Mary-Kate and Ashley: Sweet 16 – Licensed to Drive. Before you start judging us, it’s important to know that I didn’t purchase this hot commodity. The guilty party in this case was my older sister. Nevertheless, I must admit that my friends and I chose this ridiculous game over others we could play.

As the game starts, a loading screen flashes the message “real games for real girls”. If my friends weren’t iffy about playing this in the first place, they are now. The journey begins with picking our characters, a tough choice between the two title characters, and the fictional Claire and Tiffany. None of us want to end up with Claire considering she is as cold-hearted as they come. None of us have ever figured out which twin is which because the only difference between their in-game characters is the color of their shirt. We are then placed into the game, which looks a whole lot like another video game series called Mario Party. There is a giant board that you move along, with the goal of picking up as many friends as possible along the way. After the four players have taken their turns, a mini-game starts where the players put their reputation on the line and compete for ultimate supremacy. These mini games can range from racing ATV’s to chasing clothing that’s flying through the air due to an ill- placed giant fan. By the end of the game, players will have gone through several dozen mini-games, as it takes a long time to travel along the board. Along the way, we are treated with early-2000’s pop songs, featuring deep lyrics such as “Sixteen, sixteen. That’s not as young as I used to be.” There is also compelling dialogue between the characters including “I hope you like coming in second.” It doesn’t take long to become absorbed into the flow of the game and completely forget about what you’re actually playing.

While I’d never be caught dead playing this game by myself, it’s a tradition that whoever comes over to my house must play Mary-Kate and Ashley: Sweet 16 – Licensed to Drive. My friends are usually skeptical, but quickly understand the awesome power that this video game possesses. Nobody comes out on the other end the same after playing this masterpiece. All jokes aside, the game kind of sucks when taking a critical look at it. The gameplay is repetitive and unimaginative. Despite its flaws, it never fails to be very entertaining for those lucky enough to experience it. The key to making it entertaining, however, is playing it with the right people. Just like everything else in life, sharing this experience with the right people make all the difference, and is the most significant distinction between what’s fun and what isn’t.