Sesame Street: Cookie's Counting Carnival

$40, Wii, Nintendo DS, Windows

Teaches: counting, logic

CTR Rating: 14%

CTR Review

This is a collection of early math (counting, sorting and patterns) activities, introduced by Cookie Monster and Big Bird in a carnival setting. While your kids will like the narration and find the Sesame Street characters to be "as seen on TV", this title is so overly scripted that any joy is removed from the games. This is one of two titles in a series. The other is Elmo's A-to-Z Adventure.After a paragraph of instructions that can't be skipped, children are asked complete multiple-choice style problems, with narration surrounding each problem. The Wii version comes with a fabric Wii Controller cover, designed to hide the buttons. This is a bad idea -- hiding buttons only makes them ore interesting. The DS version includes a Sesame Street-themed stylus. At any point, parents can review games their child has played along with relevant curriculum for each. Using this option, parents can customize up to four profiles, turn down the background music (thankfully) and set the difficulty level and game time limits. The Wii version includes a �drop-in� feature which allows use of the second Wii Remote to assist the child through the game, without taking away the child�s remote. Despite the appealing characters, the interactive style used in this title removes opportunities for play or learning. Bag it. Developed by Black Lantern Studios for Warner Bros. Interactive.