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Peppa Pig: Fun and Games (DS)
by karalouk
I was looking for a Nintendo DS game that would be suitable for my 3 year old when I came across a game called Peppa Pig: Fun and Games. The age recommendation was 3+ years and my daughter loved Peppa Pig so I figured it would make the perfect game.
* Setting up *
The game is relatively easy for little ones to set ... up and isn't full of menus. You just need to create an initial Player Profile (by typing your name in). You can then select the same Player Profile each time you play the game. This enables you to save all of your fun and games. You can save up to 3 Player Profiles.
There are 3 areas of the game to explore - front garden, back garden and Peppa's house. They can be accessed by the main menu. Inside each area are 3 or 4 games each - the game has 10 games in total. There is also a seperate Dressing Up game which can be accessed by the main menu. None of the games need to be unlocked so you can choose to play whatever game you want, whenever you want.
* Games *
The Dressing Up Game - This is an activity where you can dress up Peppa. You can change her head gear, outfit and shoes. When you are satisfied, you can take a photo of her. Your selection of different looks can be viewed in a seperate photo album. This is a fun, simple and creative game.
Feeding Ducks - The idea of this game is to help Peppa feed the ducks. Peppa and George stand next to a duck pond and you have to rip bits of bread off and throw it into the pond. If you don't feed the ducks enough bread they will fly away. You also have to give George bits of bread to throw or he roars like a dinosaur and scares the ducks away.The bread is unlimited and the game lasts for as long as you want it to. My daughter enjoys this game but she never spends too much time playing it - maybe it would have benefited more if a challenge was set? The educational benefits include counting.
Picking Apples - Peppa and George move across the bottom of the screen with a basket and a bucket. The aim of the game to collect juicy red apples in the basket and worm infested green apples in the bucket. It's quite simple and enjoyable, but my daughter does get a little frustrated when the apples start dropping off the trees too fast and when the wrong apple falls into the wrong basket/bucket! The educational benefits include counting, hand eye coordination and colours.
Watering Flowers - In this game there is a strip of mud which you have to water with a watering can to make flowers grow. Bees help the flowers grow but snails eat the plants so you have to stop them with the watering can. My daughter loves this game and gets very excited when her flowers sprout up from the ground.
Making Pictures - As you may have guessed from the name, this is a game in which you can create your own pictures. There are all sorts of shapes, objects and pictures that can be dragged on to a blank green and blue (grass and sky) canvas. You can create a number of different pictures and they automatically save. This is a very fun and creative activity that my daughter has spent a lot of time on.
Bursting Balloons - This game is set in Peppa's living room. Peppa or George walk on screen with lots of different shaped and coloured balloons. The aim of the game is to pop them all (by tapping them on the screen). This is a fun and satisfying game (plus good for hand eye coordination and concentration) - much like popping bubble wrap!
Cupcakes - This game is quite similar to the 'Making Pictures' game. You are given a huge number of plain cupcakes and it's your job to make them look more exciting by adding all sorts of toppings including flowers, stars, clouds, rocket ships and Peppa Pig characters! Cakes are automatically saved. Again this is a fun and creative game that my daughter has spent a lot of time on.
Birthday Cake - There are two ways to play this game. Either tap the candles on the birthday cake to put them out or blow on the screen to blow them out. Blowing them is the easiest option as tapping them takes longer and often results in the candles relighting! The game ends when the candles go out. You can probably guess which option my daughter goes for...
Daddy Pig's Bubbles - This game is quite similar to the 'Bursting Balloons' game. Daddy Pig blows bubbles in the garden, whilst Peppa and George watch on. You must tap the bubbles on screen to burst them. Some bubbles have butterflies and wasps inside - if you tap them, you release them from the bubble. It's a fun game but quite short lived in my opinion and you have to end the game for yourself (or poor Daddy Pig will be blowing bubbles for hours!).
George's Rocket - This game makes use of both screens as you steer a rocket through space to reach the moon. Watch out for spaceships and meteors! There is no time limit and the game ends when you reach the moon. The rocket is easy to manoeuvre but the objects can be awkward to avoid - this is good for quick thinking and problem solving.
Cleaning Bicycles - My daughter loves this game, but I find it highly frustrating! The aim of the game is to wash a muddy bike with a sponge until it froths up, then rinse it with the hose, then pop the bubbles to make sure it's all clean. Peppa and George also regularly walk across the bottom of the screen covered in mud and you must clean them too. This is probably the most challenging game because every time you think the bike is clean, another blob of mud appears out of nowhere! As I already mentioned, my daughter thinks it's great - highly amusing. However it drives me mad! The game ends when you decide.
* Overall *
The graphics are very good for a childrens game - bright, simple and everything looks just like it does on television. The sounds, voices and music are also recognisable from the programme. I like the fact that all of the games are narrated too. There is no reading required which makes it perfectly suitable for preschoolers (each game has drawn instructions at the beginning, rather than written instructions). Quite often Nintendo DS games are rated as 3+ years but then have lots of writing which makes it impossible for young children to play.
All of the games are fun, fairly simple and educational. My daughter really enjoyed this game as a 3 year old, she could play most of the games with ease but a couple of the games were slightly more challenging. She is now 4 (approaching 5) and still plays and enjoys her Peppa Pig game from time to time (all of the games are extremely easy for her now), although she plays it a lot less than her other Nintendo DS games.
I would best recommend this game to 3 and 4 year olds. Possibly even older 2 year olds. I do not recommend this game for children older than 5 as it will be far too easy and probably quite boring.
I've already listed most of the pros and cons of each game/activity, but overall I say that the pros far outway the cons and I recommend this game to all young Peppa fans.
Peppa Pig: Fun and Games is widely available at places such as Amazon, HMV, Game and most supermarkets. It generally retails at about £15.00.
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Horrid Henry (DS)
by juliassg71
Much to my dismay my son loves Horrid Henry so he spent some of his last birthday money on this DS game.
Henry wants to go to the Killer Boy Rats concert and he needs his parents to think he can be good in order to get them (but he doesn't plan to be) and Moody Margaret also wants the tickets so he has her to battle with too ... along with some other obstacles. Henry has to complete many missions to achieve his goal armed with a range of special skills and equipment. Just like on the TV show and in the books he has at his disposal a double drencher, gross goo, spiders and stink bombs!
There are 40 levels in total and each level has it's own individual mission to complete. You also have to keep a look out for Henry's bear Mr Kill (lovely!) as this will enable you to unlock the bonus level that comes with each set of levels which also has to be completed!
The game is quite easy to navigate and the controls to get henry to run, jump, hide etc. are quite straight forward. You have an energy bar that goes up and down and there are many ways to boost your energy so don't worry. You get rewards (yucky ones) for doing well of course.
Along with Henry and Margaret there are other favourite characters such as Pefect Peter, Mum, Dad and Miss Battle-Axe so if your child is a fan of the show, they are bound to be a fan of this game.
The levels are also timed and you can obtain gold, silver or bronze Gizmos depending on how fast you are! After each level your progress is saved automatically. The downside is that you can quit in the middle of a level as your progress won't be saved, unless you don't mind having to start the level again. Personally I prefer games where they save regularly or you get a choice to save where you want to.
The graphics and music are bright and jaunty and my son tells me that some of the levels are pretty easy whilst some are quite challenging so it has quite good longevity in that they can't race it through it in a day! It has multiple difficulty settings so this can lengthen the game play too depending on what setting you have it. This is also good for younger players who can opt for an easier setting.
This is a three plus game but I think 6-9 is a more appropriate age range. We bought our copy from game for
Naughty fun for mischievious children!
Thanks for reading. x
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