Adventure Games Reviews

I love Leap Pad, but there is a catch. We've bought 3 pads (the first one broke almost immediately), and we've owned about 10 different books. Of those 10, only 3 still work. One got wet. Several were placed in toy boxes or kicked under beds. Once these books have been dropped a few times, or buried under toys, they cease to work correctly (if at all). They ARE only cardboard, after all.

The children who will get the most benefit and fun from these toys are young - say kindergarten through 3rd grade. Older kids are going to be less satisfied with the format, and will probably be happier working on an actual computer. Leap pad is particularly great for long car trips, but make sure the little game cartridges don't go missing. Also, the wire connecting the stylus to the pad can become caught when the pad is shut - and once that wire is ruined the pad is ruined too.

As I said, I think leap pad items are great. They can help a child with reading, spelling, basic math - all in a fun and stress-free venue. But these books are easily ruined by little ones. Your best bet may be to keep the leap pad books and pad out of reach of the kids when you can't be there to supervise, so that you can oversee the care and handling of the books and pad.

Leap pad is a good value, but only if you can make it last a while.

After buying my daughter (will be 3 in one month) the Care Bears game and found that it was EXTREMELY difficult even for my 5 year old son (before he attended kindergarten), I decided to look for something with a character that is generally aimed at the 3ish age group. This game is excellent in that the 4 colored buttons are generally used instead of the joystick. The numbers sections are excellent and my daughter does really well with them. The only problem with the shapes section of the learning zone is that it really is about patterns, and not about shapes at all. The biggest problem I found is that for the letters section, Elmo assumes that your child already knows his or her letters. How many 3 year olds can actually differentiate between or identify a "b" and a "p" or a "c" and "g", etc. At this age, it's not going to help a kid to sit them down and walk away, an adult or older child needs to sit with them to help them out with the game until they have really mastered it. Overall, I definitely like this Elmo game compared to some of the other games we have. I have also heard the Barney game is similar in that the 4 colored buttons are the main controllers.

My daughter got this game when she was 2 1/2. She loves it! She can actually play it all on her own. We found that the Dora game was a little too hard for her because of all of the joystick use. A lot of the Elmo game can be played by simply using the jump button to move and the colored buttons for the small games. There are also harder levels that would be appropriate for her to grow into or for an older child. I think this game is much better suited for a child aged 2-3 than the game that comes with the Vsmile. She gets too frustrated with that one. I would have given it 5 stars, but the only flaw I see is that Elmo is very hard to understand. A lot of the times she can figure out what he is saying but no always. That's just Elmo though. He's always been a little hard to understand.

This is a good game for a 4 year old. not too easy, but not too challenging. but boy is elmo hard to understand!!! I love the music in this game, but the elmo narration could be better. i know my son doesn't understand half of what elmo is saying and he just figures out what he's supposed to do by trial and error. I love the animation - elmo runs into something and he bounces back and giggles. my son loves it and runs elmo into things on purpose just to see that. really cute. It did not get 5 stars just because the narration could and should be more clear for the little ones to understand. we love having to find the animals and then the letters.

Barney and friends is better then some others but not as much fun as Winnie the Pooh.

We just got my son a VSmile for Christmas. He just turned three and to be honest I thought it would be more of a toy he would "grow into". Along with the game the unit comes with he received the Wiggles, Barney, and Bob the Builder. I had actually read reveiws and had told people to get Dora and Winnie the Pooh but they were unable to find them so they he got these games instead. The Wiggles and Bob the Builder games both lived up to their horrible reviews. Too hard for a three year old and they won't be interesting for an older child. However, the Barney game was a different story. My three year old loves this game. Yes the fundamental learning skill are very basic- counting, colors, letter recognition, etc- but the activities are really geared toward three year olds. There are actually some parts of the game that my son can play all by himself. We are very happy that he has this game to learn on without getting frustrated.

Like most every game for this system (thus far), the age printed on the box for the would be buyer is not always honest, until now. "Barney: The Land Of Make Believe" (3-5 years) is the lone exception. Also like most the other vsmile games, Barney has excellent character similarities as to the TV show. The Graphics are fine. The music is also similar to the TV show. For easy & immediate play, choose the Learning Zone, all of which are the easiest to play + win, unlike past games & the game play is quite excellent, no boring & pasty short games, the replay value on the Learning Zone is a 10 out of 10, it's done perfectly. The Learning Adventure on the other hand has some unnecessary + boring selections like the 1st (numbers) & last (directions). Yes the game is not perfect, but it has more then enough of fun activates that will not get boring, until your child turns 6. ENJOY!

We got this for our Toddlers (2 & 3 year old) and they just love it. This is very educational and I can see such excitement when they play this! Worth the money!

I was happy to finally find a v-smile game that was a little more challenging than the 3-5 years games. My 4 year old who is at about a second grade level for reading and math really needed a game that was a little more challenging, but still content appropriate. This was the answer. I also recommend the Aladdin v-smile game as well for the same reason.

Very great product my kid enjoys the game and I like that it challenges her.

My 3 year old son has a speech delay. His speech therapist suggested getting him a game that would help him develop eye-hand coordination, learning his colors, letters, etc...I was afraid that the joystick controls would be too advanced for him, and unfortunately I was right. First of all, I couldn't get him to quit turning it on and off (they need to make the buttons less accessable). Then when we did manage to get him to leave it on, he quickly got frustrated with the all the buttons and joystick. I've read the positive reviews, and I wish that I could be positive as well, but.....if your child has a delay this game will be far too advanced. I returned the system the following day.

I bought this for my son, who was at the time [...]. He wasn't much interested in it at that time. Like many others, though, within a few months of having it, the system won't turn on most of the time, and if it does turn on, it'll turn off with the slightest "wrong" move (not yet sure what that is). I know the system may have been "bumped" (and by that I mean lightly) by him a few times, but that was it. My son is now [...] and has shown more interest in wanting to play it, but we not only have difficulty getting it on, the games will no longer show up on the screen (they're all scrambled). We've taken good care of this system and it almost seems as though it's failure is inevitable. I came on this site to see if anyone else was having the same trouble I was, and not to my surprise, they were. My sister-in-law had also bought one the same time we did, and there's was broken even before ours. In my opinion, this is a system that should be $5! Please don't waste your money on this. While the games are nice, it's not worth buying if it's not going to work for long!

My daughter is 9, and has cerebral palsy. She has NEVER in her life been able to play a game of any sort by herself... until V-Smile! She asked for this for Christmas and I was not going to waste the money on something else she couldn't do, but then someone sent me money to buy her a gift from them. I bought the V-Smile, and she spent 11 straight hours Christmas day playing this game BY HERSELF! She was ecstatic! The next day was the same. Her hands can operate the controls, and I put double-sided Velcro on the bottom to stick it to a special table she uses so it doesn't slip. She has played with this consistently since December and still loves it, especially because she can do it on her own. Recently I bought another one for her classroom and she has gotten a blast out of teaching it to the other kids. Now she is working on earning another cartridge (by certain behaviors) - she has already earned one - it's the best prize for her! I just found out that you can add another joystick so 2 people can play and each have their own, so I'm buying it. Never had any trouble with malfunction, and I have to say.... V-smile makes ME smile!

I watched and waited for this item since Christmas and it was worth it. As soon as we opened the boxes, my 9-year-old twin boys were hooked. They have been playing with the Touch Tablet for hours non-stop. There is so much to do. They don't realize that they are learning as they play. I recommend this item. A bit expensive to buy 2 like I did, but worth every penny.

I purchased 3 units this past Christmas. The idea was to help bring up my nephew's grades, but I couldn't just buy 1. With 3 school age kids, sharing is non-existent! The kids were very impressed, and so was I. The mere weight of them is astonishing. The computer is in fact a 'REAL' kids computer! My daughter told her teacher about it, and the request was made for her to bring it to school. My daughter is now using this 'COMPUTER' in class! The teacher is so impressed with it, that she is getting them for her grandchildren. At the end of the school year, I have a surprise for her...I am donating one to her class!!!

I love this product.

My nephew has gone from D's and F's, to B's and C's.

Thank You, Thank YOU, THANK YOU! VTech for such a wonderful product!!!

I hunted for this product for my oldest grandson for Christmas; I could not locate it anywhere. One morning I was on www.vtech.com; which I visited frequently trying to see if this item was back in stock. I got lucky and your corporation had it that one morning. I am giving this product to my grandson for his 8th birthday which is not until the end of March. I am just grateful to have been one of the lucky ones to get my hands on something that he wants so bad, and is so hard to locate. Thank you

My daughter loves this game as any mention of a princess will win her over.

There is one problem with this game and that is in the High Score area. It will leave the set amount of high scores in memory even if you delete/replace those player names on the intro screen. The problem is that if you have older children playing this game and racking up big scores, you may never give the younger child the chance to see her name on the display. Since this is a goal oriented game, this may mean you will have to buy another cartridge. Leap Frog said this is also on other game cartidges they produce. It seems that they should have a way to delete high scores so that if you want to hand the game down to other children, they will have as much fun getting their name on the scoreboard.

When i bought this game and played it, it was apparent this had been a return because it was already loaded with names and scores. I took my daughters leapster to the store and opened up enough games to find one that had not already been used.

In addition, this game is far less effective in the volume of learning skills than some of the other cartidges (ie. draw & write, Nemo, Dora).

It is a shame that the one cartidge every little girl is going to want, couldn't have been better thought out and with more content.

It gets two stars because my daughter would not let me give it a one.

Woody

My 5yr old got the leapster for Christmas and loves this game. From my perspective it is a little young for her since she already knows all her shapes, letters and numbers but on the other hand she figured out how to play all the games quickly and can do them all by herself. She has several other leapster games that are more educational but she likes this one best because she doesn't need mommys help at all.

My daughter loves this game and all the little games that it has. It teaches how to write letters, which is a real help since she is left-handed.

I bought this for my 5yo daughter. It's actually one of the better Dora games I've seen. Runs very similarly to the television show. Offers a little bit more Spanish than the show does. It's probably a tad on the 'easy' side for its age group though as my daughter didn't find it particularly difficult, but that didn't phase her interest any. It's now become one of her favorites V Smile games!

I just purchased this game for my 3-1/2 year daughter. She is a Dora fan, so she wanted to play it immediately. She sat there and played the entire game in one sitting. Basically, Dora and Boots are on an adventure to help find pieces for Tico's aircraft. Swiper makes his regular appearances as well. I had to help her understand how to do something in a couple of places, but otherwise it was right at her level. She knows her numbers and colors and she was very excited that she was able to progress. The best part about the game, in my opinion, is that your little one will be able to make jumps without any problem. The Pooh game is her other favorite (and another great game), but she needs help in making some of the jumps. In the Dora game, Dora won't fall if you keep walking when you are supposed to jump - she just leans over on his tippie toes like she is going to fall. My daughter was especially proud of the fact that she was able to jump on the swinging vines. I highly recommend this game!!

Just purchased this for my 7 year old son that has cerebral palsey- He only has use of his right hand- this cartridge is perfect- game does not allow mistakes and can play this cartridge with only one hand and not both. Since my son has use of only one hand he has trouble playing the other vsmile games- he's hooked. Is very engaging also where some of the other games fall short.

I just bought the greenhouse for my 2 year old. She has the house and the family. I thought the greenhouse would be fun becasue I spend a lot of time in the flowergarden. THe greenhouse is fun, it says two things: Welcome to my greenhouse & Let's plant some flowers (English/Spanish) It comes with a hat for Dora, it fits Mom as well.

The flowers flip and show a veg garden as well. She loves it, Like that it connects to the dollhouse. I didn't know that before I bought it. Like having an extra dora in overalls.

This is really cute. It doesn't look like alot but it really adds to the whole looke of the dollhouse. It is made to match the dollhouse and it comes with another Dora in a different outfit than the one with the dollhouse. With alot of kids wanting to play with the dollhouse and all the accessories you can never have too many Doras. It also includes a potting bench which has can be flipped so that Dora is planting either vegetables or flowers, a wheelbarrow and a big sun hat for dora to wear. It also makes the noise of birds chirping when you press the mat in front of the door. We are happy we got this.

My two sons love this toy so much that when my oldest got it for his birthday they fought over it. Now I am getting one for my youngest son's birthday. It is a very sturdy well made toy that looks just like the movie character.

My son got this toy for his 5th birthday just a few months ago *I paid full price and it's worth every penny. My son LOVES his batman and takes him everywhere. He is pretty rough on toys so I was worried about the cape surviving but it has done great in the many travels and adventures of a 5 year old. It's a great size for great big fun!

THIS TOY IS THE PIMP OF MY ACTION FIGURES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! its of the heay cuz its poseable and the cape action thing comes off i recomend this toy for 7 and up cuz some times its hard to get the cape to get the wings to go in after you put them out overall this toy is worth the money the price just dropped get it now b4 itz gone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!