Well, I bought this game for my 12 year old daughter about a week ago and after being forced to endure some other extremely irritating games that featured another doll that starts with a "B" (relax Barbie, I'm not gonna call out names) I was pretty much expecting the worst out of Bratz. Add to that my own biased MALE point of view and quite honestly I figured since I bought the game on eBay for half the retail prace then maybe I would only be half as mad at having spent my hard-earned money on it.
But on to the actual review now. I was actually quite plesantly surprised.

Presentation
 The graphics were fully rendered 3-D really cutesy and colorful, very smooth. Often times I couldn't help thinking of The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron. I personally thought the animations were that smooth. The little city mall where you spend most of your time and money shopping is full of different stores where you can buy clothing, jewelry, shoes, you name it. And yes the "designer clothes" brands are taken directly from actual lines of toys your kids may have seen at the stores such as the Stut It, Midnight Dance and campfire Series.
I personally thought some of the outfits were rather "inappropriate" such as the Pirate "treasurez" line but more on that later.

The audio was also extremely well done. the game includes sounds by artists  girls will probably recognize like Aly n AJ. tia Mowry from sister sister even plays the voice of Sasha. The Bratz also "perform" their own songs some of which are actually kind of catchy. But unless you purchase new music at the CD store, the same few tracks will eventually begin to get on your nerves. There is also A LOT of voice acting with optional subtitles in case the voices start getting annoying. that said, the girls are not nearly as obnoxious as I had expected. There was very little of that "ommigod, like whatever" Valley girl Talk. even more refreshing was the presentation of the Boy Bratz who unlike Barbie's Ken are not portarayed as the girl Bratz' personal smoothie-whipped boy toyZ. I especially liked dylan who always has something smart to say which reminds me. As you run around (or skate once you buy roller blades) the mall you'll constantly run into the same characters so their comments do get a bit reptitive.

As far as gameplay value goes the main story line is pretty linear although in between there is a lot for girls to do namely collect money around the mall that magically appears out of nowhere and then SHOP SHOP SHOP!!! Hats, tops, Pants, skirts, boots, high hells, bracelets..the stores have everything. there's even a hair and make-up shop. As you travel "abroad" later in the game you'll discover new shops with new styles of hair and fashion.
In fact the British and French locals will make morale-dropping comments about your fashion taste until you run into on of THEIR shops and wear what THEY think is hip. Back in Bratz america the mall does expand with new stores halfway through the game and you get to go into Foot Locker and Claire's and other girlie faves.
As far as plot goes, there is very little complications involved except towards the very end. I would have liked to see a bit more of that drama unfold. All I can say is that there iS actually a story but I won't go into that.

Well that was the POSITIVES of the game.
As far as flaws go there aren't too many objective ones I can mention.
My daughter thought that at about 10 hours, the game was not long enough. I persdonally thought it was long enough. In fact after she completed the misisons for her FIRST magazine the game would be over but no it kept going.
And in the parts where you travel, she thought they could have put in a cut scene of the girls in a plane or something instead of just stepping through a door. she said it reminded her of going to Narnia!
Oh the single main problem she brought up is this" That when you go buying outfits you can't mix and match from different "labels", the game simply won't allow it. So say you see a cute Campfire top, you gotta wear a Campfire skirt and not say a Strut It brand pants with Dynamo shoes.

As with most reviews I've read before the main issue to be raised will be among the grown-ups as to what kind of "moral message" young girls get out of the game. As a dad, I say "let it go". It's just a game, a well made one at that. Juat because your girl wants to dress her Bratz in skimpy outfits (I still think the pirate-inspired outfits were a bit hoochie what with tiny ruppied skirts and striped knee highs) doesn't mean she'll want to imitate that in real life. In fact you can encourage your kid to pick more tasteful outfits if it really bothers you. Or just because other characters don't always like your outfit choices and actually voice it , you can teach your girl to "not give in to peer pressure" and follow her own style.
Bottom line, I don't believe playing Bratz is any more detrimental to girls than blowing the guts out of aliens in most other games is to boys. And as a 24 year old guy I'll have to admit that I did end up liking the game a lot more than I had expected to so the game was well worth the $14.95 I paid. :-D