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Tiny Fireman: Offering Collaborative Gameplay For Parents And Children

Posted by Jennifer Allen on April 24th, 2012

Tiny Firemen is an adorable game that encourages kids to collaborate with their parents, thus encouraging sociable behavior.

This wouldn't be much fun if it were implemented in an obvious and unexciting way. Fortunately, Tiny Firemen makes teamwork great fun. Players take the role of a fireman team of Cat & Dog with one player controlling the firetruck while the other sprays the water, making for an enjoyable collaborative effort.

12 different animals require saving in Can Town but Tiny Firemen promises to be a frustration-free experience keeping young children happy throughout. As the screenshots show, it's a cute game to look at, reminiscent of kids' picture books, and there's a great classical piano based musical score.

Tiny Firemen is out now priced at $2.99 for an Universal build. There's also a free version for trying the game out with the option to unlock the full game via an in-app purchase.

NomNom Combo Review

iPhone App - Designed for iPhone, compatible with iPad
By Jason Wadsworth on February 27th, 2012
Our rating: starstarstarhalfstarblankstar :: PREDATOR AND PREY
Match cute predators with their even cuter prey and play out the cycle of life in this matching puzzle game.
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Dojo Madness Review

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
By Jason Wadsworth on February 15th, 2012
Our rating: starstarstarstarblankstar :: FURRY FIST OF FURY
This ninja raccoon has to stay on his toes if he wants to survive the 360 degree onslaught of enemies.
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Raise A Cuddly Bear & Make New Friends With Bumping Bears

Posted by Jennifer Allen on January 23rd, 2012
+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad

Plenty of people love playing social games and similar numbers enjoy caring for a virtual pet. How about combining the two? That's what LoadComplete decided to do with Bumping Bears and they've even added a real life socializing element.

Bumping Bears gives players the chance to adopt bears to play and raise on their own donut planet located in the wider bear galaxy. Players can care for up to 3 bears at once, encouraging them towards one of over 70 bear professions while dressing them from a choice of over 100,000 unique outfit combinations.

The player can then partake in quests, missions and minigames to help their bear improve in their chosen profession.

For the social gamer, players can find other like minded souls using geolocation, then bump their phones together to make their bears date and mate. It's all very cute and lovable but not essential to progression.

Bumping Bears is out now and it's an Universal app.

Maintain A Zoo With Dream Zoo

Posted by Jennifer Allen on November 28th, 2011
+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad

Wait for one new Zynga game and two come bouncing along, just like a cuddly animal would. Note the tenuous link? Yup, Zynga's new title is all about taking care of exotic and zany animals in a zoo.

Dream Zoo is another first for Zynga. Their first zoo themed game to be exact, presumably ensuring that casual gamers with all types of interests will be hooked by at least one Zynga game at some time. Interestingly, it's also the first Zynga title to offer bonuses and in-game rewards based upon playing in multiple different locations.

Players are given the opportunity to breed and collect thousands of different animal varieties in a way that's bound to hook 'gotta catch em all' style addicts. A selection of mini-games give the player the chance to pet and tend to their animals with feeding and washing games simple yet fun to play.

All manners of animals are catered for from aardvarks to zebras. Going on safari enables players to discover these different species while also having plenty of fun along the way! Players can even breed different animals together to create all new and unique types of creatures. Along the way, players can also collect up other items on safari, thus boosting their zoo's looks or finances. Once everything is arranged just how the player wants it, they can take photos of their animals to show off to others.

We all know and love what Zynga has to offer the freemium gaming world and it looks like the magic has transferred to the world of zoo keeping in Dream Zoo. Like other Zynga titles, it's a free app with plenty of in-app purchase based options. Fortunately, it's not essential to progression, it just speeds things up a little.

For those looking for a new free to play fix, Dream Zoo is out now.

IncrediBlox Review

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
By Jason Wadsworth on November 9th, 2011
Our rating: starstarstarblankstarblankstar :: MORE MATCHING
A fairly predictable block matching game with some unique visual flair.
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Big Buck Safari Review

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
By Jason Wadsworth on October 12th, 2011
Our rating: starstarstarhalfstarblankstar :: POINT AND SHOOT
This pocket version of the popular arcade shooter gets players right into the action of hunting big game.
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Visit The Zoo From The Sofa With Pocket Zoo HD

Posted by Jennifer Allen on July 28th, 2011
iPad App - Designed for iPad

I never get to visit zoos as often as I like as my nearest zoo is over an hour's drive away. Throw in the expense of visiting and it's just not as frequent as I'd like.

It's a similar problem for the likes of my young cousins who don't get to see animals anywhere often enough other than through the internet or books. Pocket Zoo HD won't whisk anyone physically to a zoo but it does the next best thing by offering over 30+ live animal cams so that users can see creatures from all over the world.

Animals available to view include amongst others the cuddly penguin, the majestic tiger, the quirky meerkat and the fearsome killer whale. Pocket Zoo isn't just about live cameras either with over 200 wildlife videos included as well as a virtual zoo with series of original animal illustrations. A string of facts are also included to educate young animal fans as well as real animal sounds.

Pocket Zoo HD looks like an ideal app to while away some time alongside younger relatives. It's out now for the iPad, priced at $3.99.

Farm It! Seasons Review

iPhone App - Designed for iPhone, compatible with iPad
By Monica Stevens on July 19th, 2011
Our rating: starstarstarstarblankstar :: FUN FOR ALL SEASONS
Which came first? The chicken jumping rope. . .or the egg?
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abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz Review

Posted by Nick Papageorge on June 22nd, 2011
+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad

Yes, the name of the app I'm reviewing today is the entire alphabet. From this point on, I'll refer to it as abcdefg for the sake of my fingers.

I stumbled across this app thanks to the title, it initially seemed like a unique way to learn the alphabet and practice word sounds, but I soon found it was that plus a lot more and it turned into a favorite of mine and my daughters very quickly.

Upon opening abcdefg and hitting play, you're presented with a simple and easy to access play field. The alphabet is split into 2 halves, one on each side, running lengthwise on your device. At the top 4 different words: "Gravity", "Crickets", "Vehicles" and "Birds". At the bottom are 5 buttons, "Recycle", "Arrow", "Bomb", "Camera" and "Info". Honestly, this is all that you need to know to get started.

Simply take a letter from either side and drag it into the middle of the screen. When you let go, the letter will go off on its merry way. When my daughters first grabbed it, they dragged a few letters and nothing happened. Once the letters hit the edge of the screen, everything changed.

With gravity (the option selected by default), the letters simply move with your device. Each time the letters hit an edge, the "sound" of the letter is played.

Vehicles zip around the screen, making sounds as they move. Crickets skitter and make sounds when they group up together. Birds is the most diverse, with varied sound, tempo and pitch depending on where/how it's placed.

As each letter moves, it leaves a unique trail behind it, making a visual representation of the soundscape you, I mean your kids, are creating and it's easy to stop a single letter, group of letters, erase the whole picture or take a snapshot of the insanity using the buttons below.

People might dismiss abcdefg, but if you look closer at what the app actually provides, I think you'll find that it's an invaluable tool for kids. In the app, you're a conductor of sound, and you learn concepts like pitch and tempo. You also get a quick into to physics, seeing how the different letters move and interact with each other, things you don't often see in "kid" apps these days.

While abcdefg is no replacement for music lessons, it allows children to draw outside the lines of music and just perform these strange experimental mini-concerts with letters. Some of the things I've heard my daughters create simply blow my mind. They have to experiment in combining sounds together, finding ones that match in tone, pitch, whatever to create an appealing and melodic sound. They also end up with these crazy pictures of letters strewn everywhere. They get to interact with art in a way that I've never really seen, at least not in this medium.

I can honestly say that I think any kid would benefit from putting their hands on abcdefg, even if it's just to increase familiarity with the alphabet and word sounds. Beyond that, it's an introduction to physics and a way for kids to create experimental soundscapes, by simply placing letters on a screen, turning that into honest to goodness music.

For the price and for the features offered, abcdefg is much more than a simple novelty. It's an app that I recommend for kids and adults of any age. It's never too early (or too late!) to make crazy music and pictures. I look back in regret, wishing that I'd have had something even close to this as a kid, it might have gotten me that much more interested in creating and experimenting with music and sound.

Moo, Baa, La, La, La Book Review

Posted by Nick Papageorge on June 9th, 2011
+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad

I'm going to come right out and say this. I love Sandra Boynton. To me, she is the most prolific children's story writers to come out in this generation, specifically for younger children. I put her alongside Dr. Seuss and Robert Munsch, and that's high praise.

"Moo, Baa, La, La, La" is produced by Loud Crow, the makers of the PopOut! book series (Peter Rabbit, Night Before Christmas, etc). Their books have been showcased by Apple for a reason, they are top notch in quality and production values. Designed to simulate a real "pop-up" type book, they include characters that spring when you touch them, tabs that move various parts of the book, and windows, doors and such that open and close. It really does give the books a tactile feel, and I honestly believe these books have more interactive elements than most on the app store.

It's clear that "Moo, Baa" is a silly book. It starts out normal, with a cow saying "Moo", a sheep saying "Baa", but the next page you lift up a curtain and it's 3 singing pigs saying "La, La, La!".

Like with most books in the app store, you can choose to read it yourself or have "The Big Guy Read it" for you. This book has an especially special narrator, Sandra Boynton's son, Keith (trivia fact, Sandra's middle name is Keith).

Inside, interaction ranges from touching Rinos to hear them Snort and Snuff, pulling back dogs like a slingshot to send them running at 2 cats saying "Meow". As the dogs leap after them, they leave their collars behind to hang in mid-air, a very cute touch.

Like most "board books", it's short, coming it at about 12 pages, but it's no slouch. Each page offers so much to the touch, almost everything you see does something, even if it's as little as a sound. My daughters spent probably twice as long enjoying the pages, the interaction, the art and the humorous sounds as they did of just the story. Hearing them laugh while touching each of the singing pigs at the start never gets old.

Now, the story itself is probably targeted to younger children around the age of 1 - 4, because of its simple language. The sentences are simple and they mostly consist of animal sounds except for the last of the book. It's a magical ending and one that will yield different results for everyone who reads it.

I would like to make it clear that even though the book is designed for younger children, you don't have to be young to enjoy it. My daughters are 6 and it is still one of their favorites. Because they're now fairly advanced readers, they're able to read the entire story easily and without having to struggle. In the path to learn how to read, I find this is far more important than pushing kids to read longer words before they're ready. I figure they'll probably be done with the book in a year, but between the physical book and this, I've gotten an easy 5 years out of it, not a lot of books that have that kind of staying power.

So, is "Moo, Baa, La, La, La" worth your $3? Yes, yes and yes. It's a simple story that's an amazing read for children, especially ones who are very young. It scales to older children who are learning how to read, and allows for easy comprehension. The app design is great, and the interaction is one of the best on the app store. You owe it to yourself, and your kids, to check it out.

The Going to Bed Book Review

Posted by Nick Papageorge on June 7th, 2011
+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad

"The Going to Bed Book" is one of two Sandra Boynton books available on the app store (the other is "Moo, Baa, La, La, La") and like "Moo, Baa" it is a fantastic book with top notch production value that takes a great story and adds some unique and wonderful interactive elements, making it a joy to read both as a parent and for our children.

"The Going to Bed Book" is produced by Loud Crow Interactive, the makers of the PopOut! series (Peter Rabbit, Night Before Christmas, etc). Loud Crow has been featured in the app of the week as well as New And Noteworthy because they're fantastic. They are designed to simulate a real "pop-up" type book, with characters that spring from the page, tabs to move back and forth, windows/doors to open. It really does give the books a tactile feel, and I honestly believe there is more interactivity in their books than almost any on the app store to date.

As with most of Sandra Boynton's books, they are very silly, and "Going to Bed" is no different. It's a story about a boat full of about 10 animals getting ready to go to bed. You get to follow them through quite a few different activities to get them there, starting with scrubbing them clean in the bath to scrubbing their teeth in the sink.

This interaction in the book is similar, in a very good way, to the PopOut! book series. There's not a single page that's left out from interaction. You can tilt your iPad and it'll swing a chain that's hanging, you can touch on an animal and they'll bounce like they're on a spring. Another you touch will squeak, moo or make some other sound. I hate to spoil this, but it's too good not to talk about... At one point in the bathroom, you get to turn on the hot water tap and very slowly and subtly, it starts to fog up the entire iPad screen. It's terrifically realistic and once it's done, you... I mean, your kids, get to use their fingers as a squeegee to clean off the screen. Yes, it's silly, but it's a really nice touch.

The story is about 13 pages long and allows you to either read it yourself or "Have the Big Guy Read It". The narrator is perfect as his voice is deep, warm and inviting, like the perfect grandpa. With the narration off, you can touch on each of the words to hear them spoken aloud, something I find important in the path to learning how to read.

On that note, the language in the book is very simple. There is more of a complete story here than you'll find in "Moo, Baa", but the language is still very easy to understand and comprehend. I'd still say the age range for the direct target would be 1 - 4, but I can confidently say that this would be a hit for children as young as 6 months to as old as 6 or 7 years old. My daughters still absolutely love it and I believe they will at 7, a testament to the quality of the story and humor.

It is clear by now that I'm smitten with these books. But it's not that I'm blinded by the author, if the books weren't good I'd be the first to say it. But they are good. No, they're great. They're experiences that shaped my daughter's early years of reading, and I hope that you'll find they do the same for yours, too.

Papa Penguin Review

Posted by Sharon Cohen on May 10th, 2011
+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad

If you are going to get an app called Papa Penguin, of course you have to learn some new facts about penguins. Your children are more than likely going to ask, “Why is Papa penguin feeding the babies?” “Do only fathers feed the babies?” “Where’s the mother?” “Who takes care of the babies?” Did you know that penguin chicks (I had forgotten they were called this) cannot care for themselves, and they can only survive with their parents’ help? The male emperor penguin stays with his one egg while the female gets the food. All the time that the father penguin is protecting the egg, he does not eat anything but ice. If the egg hatches before mom returns, the male can produce a curd-like substance from his esophagus and feed his baby chick. Once the chicks are hatched, the moms and dads both feed the chicks with regurgitated (have fun explaining that!) food. And, among all those baby chicks, the adults can identify their own by its distinctive call. All human mothers and dads know they can do this, too.

Now it’s time to actually play the game along with its nice and mellow music. The chicks are crying because they are hungry. So, it is necessary to send Papa Penguin off to get some fish for their next meal. Your child moves him around in the water, gobbling up the fish and the bubbles of oxygen and then returning him with the fish to the starving chicks within a time deadline. Of course, just as in real life, there are many things to watch out for when catching those fish. There are different levels with varying challenges, such as seals and polar bears. Each new level increases speed and offers new risks. I’m not so keen on Papa dying or the kids starving when the time runs out or after hitting too many obstacles like poisonous jellyfish, but I guess that is nature at its worst.

Admittedly, just like any other game, it does become addictive. It’s important to keep those penguin babies fed and the new ones hatched. And, of course, the chicks are just like human babies and kids: As soon as dad returns with the fish after his dangerous trip into the sea, the chicks immediately eat up the food and demand more.

For younger children, the iPad is much easier for manipulation. On the smaller screens, it can be difficult getting away from the dangers and catching the necessary fish and bubbles for oxygen. Now, there’s another question you’ll need to answer. How long can a penguin go without breathing?

Charles Peattie's Animal Alphabet Review

Posted by Amy Solomon on September 14th, 2010
+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad

“Charles Peattie's Animal Alphabet” is a new app from the mind of British cartoonist Charles Peattie. Beautifully drawn, this app teaches both letters and animals to children and adults of all ages as you tap your way though "A" to "Z" learning about some great animals along the way. You can also choose your favorite animal as well, or try the quiz mode. A song and video are also included. Music and sound effects add to this app's quality and charm.

I really like the interactivity this app has to offer, as well as the comedic timing of the animated clips. My son loves this app’s humor, and I really like that it is witty and fun for adults as well. I like that some unique animals, like “ibex” and “dormouse” have been chosen.

The one thing I am surprised about is that the text in neither the alphabet or the quiz areas are read out loud. I am more than happy to narrate for my pre-reader, but there are times that this is not possible, like when we are out and about in public. For these situations, this app has limited appeal for my 2.5 year old son, because he knows he is missing something.

Having said this, this is an app we love to do together.

Pre-K Safari Review

Posted by Amy Solomon on August 29th, 2010
iPhone App - Designed for iPhone, compatible with iPad

"Pre-K Safari" is an amazing education app, teaching letters, numbers, shapes, and colors. Each activity has a safari theme and is great for kids who love animals. The music has an African beat, the sound quality is high, and I find it relaxing to listen to. Each game is narrated by a friendly hyena who gives praise for the correct answer and lets the player know when the answer is wrong but is always kind and encouraging. You can also track your child’s progress with an achievement screen.

I don't think I ever taught my son how to use this app. All the activities are very intuitive, and he picked it up very quickly on his own. My son knew all his letters, numbers, shapes, and colors by just over 2 years, and I give this app and ones like it credit for helping him learn these things without any struggle whatsoever. As an adult, I find this app enjoyable as well. The colors game is taught by touching different colored butterflies, and I find their flying around quite lovely. There is also a free lite version to try, but this app is worth much more than $.99.