Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue

$30, Nintendo DS

Teaches: reading, logic, mapping

CTR Rating: 84%

CTR Review

Fairly fun and true to the Tinker Bell theme, this one player DS game lets you create your own fairy avatar and fly into Fairy Camp, where you visit various locations using a map on the top screen. As you fly around and talk to different fairies, you collect seeds and take items to other fairies, lending a scavenger hunt play pattern to the experience. Your goal is to find and grow the rare Rainbow Lily. Content includes six fairies and mini-games that ask children to memorize patterns and find hidden seeds. There's also some reading and mapping. You can customize your fairy avatar with fairy talents, facial features, hair style, outfits and accessories. You will also compete in quests, and time-based minigames that use specific fairy talents for arts & crafts, baking and decorating cookies and more. If you have an online connection, you can download a fairy from PixieHollow.com to the English Countryside on the Nintendo DS, send postcards from Fairy Camp to friends in PixieHollow.com, and upload gatherables from the English Countryside to PixieHollow.com. We found the D Gamer system clunky and hard to use, and eventually gave up trying to connect. But the game itself fun. Testers said: buy it or borrow it.