Smart Girl's Party Game
© 2008 UFO Interactive Games
While not as well designed as the previous "Smart Girl's" title, this collection of 18 games puts a lot at a young child's finger tips, and makes it easy to get in or out of each activity, increasing the chances that they'll land on something they can play. Weaknesses include an overuse of over-sampled classical music that plays frenetically in the background, and a strangely worded menu system with printed icons that seem backwards (they appear on the right side of the screen). Wrong answers result in a rather harsh sound that sounds like a truck horn -- sometimes immediately following a gushy statement, such as "you are good." Overall though, this game is very easy to use and play. From the main menu, a child is presented with 18 mini-games, each represented by a labeled puzzle piece. By touching one of the game titles, they can quickly jump to an activity. Unfortunately, some of the activities are poorly designed, which could cause some frustration. In Face Matching, you're supposed to mix and match three parts of a face to make a complete picture. But the parts scroll too quickly, and you can't undo incorrect answers. Likewise, the dot-to-dot puzzles require a level of fine motor coordination that few preschoolers (or 50-year-old adults) have. The better games include drawing and the xylophone, which lets you record any song. Finally, the background music, which consists of a frenetic presentation of classical piano concertos, can't be adjusted. Bag it or borrow it. Created by Star*Fish, published by UFO Interactive.
$20, Nintendo DS
Teaches: music, logic, counting, classification, drawing
CTR Rating: 80%