After you log in using the innovative interface (you see yourself rendered inside the menu, and touch what you want), you choose which of up to eight players will play in the three game modes. To play, you must shape your body to match the shapes you see on the screen. The games include Shape Frenzy (mimic the shape that appears on the screen to earn points based on how well you fill its silhouette); Twist & Fit (avoid the wall and fit your silhouette through cutouts coming at you on a moving wall, scoring points by passing through a wall without touching); Break It Down (work your way through a stack of colored blocks by assuming their form. When a shape is removed, the wall above will begin to crumble); and Spot On (Challenge up to three players or four teams of two) in a game of contortion H-O-R-S-E. Create a shape and see if your friends can match it. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
Toca Kitchen turns your iPad or iPhone into a virtual kitchen. You start by choosing from one of four characters to feed (a boy, girl, goat or cat). You then choose from 12 food items in the fridge by dragging and dropping the items on the plate. To feed your person, you touch the food and drag it near the mouth. They will either eat it, or refuse it. If it is the latter, you can visit the kitchen where you can cut it, blend it, boil it, fry it, or use a microwave. Each item can be made in many different ways. Each of the characters in the app have specific food preferences, and their reactions are dependent on how your prepare the food. They may refuse to eat certain foods, or they may start drooling even if the food is uncooked. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
Two years after the the original Mindflex (CTR Feb 2009), comes Mindflex Duel — with two headsets for two players instead of one, and a higher price. The headset fits tightly onto your head so it can capture information related to your body’s electromagnetic energy, by way of two sensors — one you clip on your ear lobe, and the other that you fit on your forehead. The levels of energy are fed into a computer that controls a small blower that causes a small foam ball to go up or down, Bernoulli Blower style. When in two player mode the game is like a tug-of-war — the idea is to move the ball across the game’s obstacle platform to your opponent’s side. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
This game came from an extremely non-educational company, called Double Fine, best known for games that the ESRB says are not for children. See for example, Brütal Legend. This time, Double Fine has taken on an even harder-to-please audience — preschoolers. After you log into your Xbox account (required in order to bookmark your progress) a storybook is introduced by Elmo and friends, and you are shown how you can turn pages with a slow wave of your arm. To jump into the page to play an activity, you move both arms slowly as if doing a slow breast stroke. Each page features a different activity, including jumping through an obstacle course (jumping, ducking and leaning left or right), growing a garden by tossing seeds and squirting a hose, flying through a maze by flapping your “wings,” dancing, pulling weeds, and calling out your name, to have it recorded by the Kinect microphone. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
This edition follows the same design formula as its two predecessors, as well as many of the other LEGO games. At its heart, it’s really a puzzle game. During each level, you control one of a small party of characters. At any point, you can switch which character you control with the press of a button. Different characters have specific attributes, which are needed to solve each puzzle and progress through the game. For example, you may need a Jedi character in order to move a large block into place. Another interesting thing about the game play is that if a character runs out of health, he or she simply jumps back up. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
Yoomi is a free, specialized app that works with a special $40 iPad peripheral called the Duo that turns your iPad into a “would you rather” quiz game, for 2 or more players. Additional Duo compatible app titles are planned, including a quiz game on the Smithsonian museum. With a look that resembles a vegetable slicer, Duo is actually a simple optical reader connected to a rotating turntable. A small light sensor in the base watches a spot on the iPad’s screen. In order to register an answer, the iPad flashes a signal to the the optical sensor. The reader is powered by two AA batteries (not included), and there’s an auto-power off feature to save batteries. To play the game, you download and install the app from the iTunes store, and then line up the Duo on your iPad screen. The app asks you questions, like “would you rather sit in the window or isle seat?” You select your answer by touching the screen, kept from view of the other players by the Duo’s shield. Once you make your choice, the options are revealed to the other players. They try to read your mind by placing tokens into little cups on top of the Duo. The last step is to press “reveal answer.” The tokens for the right answer fall into the bank, and the player that uses his or her tokens first wins (and theoretically knows you best). Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Club Penguin: Game Day is a collection of 12 multiplayer minigames designed for the Wii that can optionally be integrated with the Club Penguin virtual world. So it is possible to earn coins in the game, that you upload to your online account. In addition, you can download your online penguin’s identity to your Wii Remote and take it to a friends house. You start by creating a penguin (or you can download your penguin from the Club Penguin website), then find some friends. For children with no friends, the computer can fill in. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
Road Trip Bingo turns your iPhone or iPad into a bingo board. Instead of numerals, the 5 x 5 grid contains a random assortment of items you might see passing by your window, ranging from common things — a cloud, tree or exit sign, to the more unusual — a horse, sailboat or a police car (may your sightings be rare). Once you spot an item on the board, you give it a tap to mark it with a virtual marker. Five in a row in any direction wins, an event marked by a chime and a sticker. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Update 2010: Now a thriving social community, (much like Club Penguin) Moshi Monsters (www.moshimonsters.com) is a family of six zany monsters that live in their own virtual home. The site is free to get into, but uses a velvet rope model; showing children content that requires a subscription to access. The cost is $6/month and up. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating, and see why this received our Editor’s Choice Award.
Coming this fall, LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars, the next chapter for the series that was one of the first to bring drop-in, drop-out interactivity to the games.