There’s a new kid on the block who's really cool! That’s New Kid Co., and they’re coming in with a bang with new video games for young children – even preschoolers – featuring big name characters.
Elmo’s Letter Adventure was much anticipated, and it has finally arrived! We snatched it up right away, and have fiddled around with the game enough to be able to share our experiences.
Firstly, I have to mention that my just-turned 5 year old daughter has been watching her older brother play video games for some time, but she has always been somewhat intimidated by the whole Playstation thing. Elmo's Letter Adventure has changed all of that. In fact, she now considers the PlayStation as her toy as well. Before she began to play, she asked me "Are there any bad guys in this game?" She was quite relieved when I said "no".
My 2 year old has also adopted the PlayStation, and she too enjoys playing Elmo! She has caught on easily to the controls and she happily (and proudly) maneuvers Elmo through the 3 different worlds, collecting letters along the way.
The colors are vivid and striking, and all the Sesame Street characters and environments are rendered in 3D. At the outset, kids choose a difficulty level (from easy, medium, and hard) then lead Elmo along Sesame Street where he can meet up with 5 different characters: Cookie Monster, Ernie, The Count, Grover, and Big Bird. Three of them lead to activities: Grover hosts the outer space world, Ernie transports Elmo to an underwater adventure, and Big Bird hosts the farm "world". Children in need of some guidance can get a little tutorial from Elmo in Elmo's Playhouse, where they go on a guided mini-adventure.
The controls are designed to be very easy to use. When I first started to play I was totally shocked at how hard it was to control, but then my 5 and 2 year olds started to play (with no real prior experience) and had an exceptionally easy time with it. After that, I realized that it has been designed so that kids can maneuver easily, and if you try going left, right, etc., it can become quite difficult to control. Push the forward arrow quite consistently, however, and you get where you want to go. Kids don't really need to fine-tune their motions.
When Elmo gets close to the letter he has to collect, kids need only press on any of the action buttons to collect the letter. Occasionally they pass a bonus gem that "counts" as a letter, and is slightly trickier to collect (it's usually not exactly on the path). When they collect enough letters, they earn a bonus round in which they must find the correct letter to finish a simple word. On the easy level, they are told the beginning letter they need to find (example, Elmo says "We need to spell the word 'fan'. Let's look for the letter F"). On the medium and hard levels, there are 4-letter words with the beginning letter missing, and kids aren't told what letter is needed.
Throughout the game, instructions are verbal and often have a visual reinforcement. For example, when a child is told how to continue a game or go back to Sesame Street, a picture of the controller (found at the bottom left of the screen) shows the button they need to press highlighted. This is wonderful for young children, and helps to make navigation extremely easy.
Each of the 3 "worlds" are hosted by a popular Sesame Street character, and each contains 2 different environments.
- Big Bird hosts the farm world. In the Alphabet Orchard, Big Bird invites Elmo to go letter-picking for a specific letter of the alphabet. Elmo follows a path surrounded with trees containing different letters, hopping on a pogo stick. When he comes across the required letter, kids need only click any of the 4 action buttons on the controller to collect that letter. Kids pass by an occasional cute chicken along the richly colored pathway. In the second environment, Big Bird's Alphabet Soup is missing a letter of the alphabet, and Elmo must follow a path through crops of corn, sunflowers, and more, as he passes by beehives and butterflies fluttering about.
- Grover is the guide in outer space, and he might say "Follow the starry path and I know you'll find the letter 'U'". Kids follow the curvy path, passing by beautiful 3D planets, satellites, and stars that have a tie-dyed look to them -- it's mesmerizing! In the second half of this level, kids maneuver Elmo along the planet's surface in a moon mobile.
- Ernie takes Elmo on an underwater letter adventure first at the Aquashoot, and Elmo swims through the path with his scuba gear. The second half of the level is similar, except that it is called Mermaid's Manor. Elmo passes by friendly mermaids through scenery that is slightly different than the first half.
The 3 difficulty levels involve the same levels with variations in the quantity of letters needed to collect, and the number of chances given (or "lives"). Additionally, the bonus levels vary in difficulty as noted above.
- On the Easy level, kids must collect 12 letters altogether, with 6 lives. The letters are all uppercase. Bonus level words are 3 letters long, and Elmo tells kids the first letter of the word they need to collect.
- On the Medium setting, there are 16 letters to collect with 4 chances. Letters can be uppercase and lowercase. Bonus level words can be 4 letters long, and kids are given the picture and the partial word, and must collect the letter that correctly begins that word. (Example: _ork, and Elmo asks kids to find the letter that begins the word "fork").
- The Hard level requires 20 letters and gives 2 lives, with letters appearing in both upper- and lowercase, but the targeted letter is always the opposite "case". Again, bonus level words can be 4 letters long and kids are not told the beginning letter they need to find to complete the word.
Everything seems to be designed to make things easy for preschoolers. There is a clear visual display of the number of letters that have already been collected and how many are still required. The picture of the controller appears on the lower left screen to help with verbal directions. If a wrong letter is chosen, it simply falls on its side and kids continue their adventure (provided they still have "lives" left). The Sesame Street hosts are very encouraging and say things like "Keep searching -- you are doing a terrific job!" and "I saw the letter 'N' nearby -- I'm sure you'll find it!" In between screens, push an action button repeatedly to see random letters of the alphabet appear onscreen, or push the directional arrows to see them disappear one by one. Some dialogue can be skipped simply by clicking an action button.
The music is fun, repetitive, and relaxing, and each world has its own appropriate soundtrack. There are also cute sound effects (like rocket ships taking off, and the sound of bees buzzing around their hive).
The instructions and encouragement are plentiful without being intrusive or annoying. We found gameplay to be very relaxing. In stark contrast to most video games, Elmo's Letter Adventure doesn't pressure or intimidate a child.
