Jacabee Code: The Adventures of Josh
© 2009 Jacabee, Inc.
Custom book publishing meets platform video game, in this beautifully illustrated, free online adventure game. After you design your detailed avatar and put in a series of preferences (easy), you start a series of adventures in an attempt to collect "glyphs." In the first level, I played a game of concentration, shot water buckets to put out a fire, solved a jigsaw puzzle, and flew around collecting items and avoiding bad guys. Some of the puzzles are fun, but some can be frustrating, and the 'help' could be more helpful. In addition, it is not clear how you save your game, so if you get stuck, you are sent back to the beginning of the level, where you have to replay the entire level. That's a dealbreaker for a lot of kids (and this reviewer). So what's the catch? You get to incorporate your glyphs (like stickers) and collected trophies into your own $10 storybook/journal, which you can have printed and sent to you. We did not see any social features. Visit http://www.jacabeecode.com for more information.
$10, Windows, Mac OSX, Internet Site (Flash-based, no installation)
Teaches: memory, logic, timing, strategy, spatial relations, some creativity
CTR Rating: 80%