American Girl: Mia Goes for Great

© 2008 THQ, Inc.
$20, Windows with DirectX 9.0 (installation takes 488 MB)
Teaches: problem solving, maps, spatial relations, classical music standards, sports, figure skating, reading
CTR Rating: 88%
Editor's Choice

CTR Review

Combining a smooth interface with an American Girl story, this scavenger hunt adventure is full of clues that are easy to find, keeping a young child's frustration level low. In addition, all the text is narrated, so younger children -- as young as five -- can use this program independently (note that the stated age range is 8-up). The story and characters remind you of Little House on the Prairie combined with a bit of Nancy Drew. Your mission is to help a 10- year-old girl, Mia St. Clair (one of the American Girl dolls), prepare for an figure-skating contest by exploring 12 or so locations in her upstate New York village. To move, you click on the screen, and she follows your cursor. Mia finds the classical music she needs in the town's library (with a spinster librarian that follows every stereotype, right down to the 'shhh'), and borrows tools from her father who is fixing the furnace. Her mother sews the dress together. One can't help but note the well-sanded stereotypes -- the boys work as mechanics, the girls worry about skating outfits, and mom manages a skating shop. As you explore, you learn a bit about the basics of figure skating, either by exploring books in the library or by constructing a figure-skating routine. There's also a nice introduction to about eight classical music standards, which Mia must burn onto her MP3 player for her show; a nice touch. There are three casual games, such as a mind-numbing bejeweled snowflake sorting activity. If you don't mind all the stereotypes, this is a well-designed scavenger hunt with a bit of learning, that will keep children engaged for the weekend. Games can be saved at any point, although children will need to be reminded to do so. This is an easy game to recommend. The program loaded with no problems on our Vista computer. Created for THQ by Imagineengine.