After all of that, the kid(s) can actually play the game. The first thing they get to see is a smoothly animated 3D movie where the many characters sing and dance. It was a great little animated sequence with catchy music to get a child's attention.
From there, the child can choose who is playing (from the list of kids you added earlier) and then customize an avatar to represent them in the game's 3D world. Customizing an avatar is nothing new or different in the world of computer games, but I have to say this is the first time I've seen it done for children. And my girls loved it! Think of it like a virtual paper doll that the kids can change hair, eyes, mouth, and clothes on whenever they want to. I think my three-year-old got more of a kick out of changing her avatar than some other parts of the game itself.
Once the avatar is done, they are launched into the 3D world to explore. The hardest thing seemed to be learning how to navigate with the mouse. My three-year-old was having a tough time getting the hang of moving and clicking the mouse on the mouse pad to get it to do what she wanted on screen. This is just a hand-eye coordination skill that she will have to learn eventually, but it was tough to see her struggle with it.
That said, the child is able to follow paths of colorful letters to the different parts of the world to do different things. They start at the movie house, and move from there to customize their own house, and from there go to the school house, the library, and finally to the music machine. All along the way, they have to point and click at the various letters, objects, and characters. It seemed very easy to miss a letter with an errant click or moving the mouse too far. But again, I think this is a skill that will be learned over time.
In the school house, they can play a variety of different games, including matching letters, putting puzzles together, and so on. For each game they complete, they earn a "prize" that shows up in the mailbox at their house. So they can then leave the school house, go to the house, open the mailbox, and see what to do with the prize. One prize we saw was an apple, which you can leave in various places to decorate the world. Another prize was a CD you could take to the music station and play.
Article comments
1 - paul
Thanks for the comments. In addition to the PC games that are available at retail locations, JumpStart just launched an online version of our adventure-based learning games. We invite everyone to go to www.jumpstart.com and experience the first immersive 3D virtual world for kids. We also have created Fan Clubs on Facebook and MySpace to help parents connect with others and share their thoughts and experiences about their children's success at school and at play.