Common Sense Media Review
By Michael Lafferty
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Some flaws prevent this game from getting top marks.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 8+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Play
Videos and Photos
Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader: Back to School
What's It About?
ARE YOU SMARTER THAN A 5TH GRADER: BACK TO SCHOOL is based off the game show in which contestants selects questions from a board tied to material learned in the curriculum of elementary school. The questions have dollar amounts associated with them and the goal is to answer questions correctly to build up the banked dollars and make it to the final question. During the Home Room competition, players can have a non-playable elementary-school student partner with them and can get limited help from that partner. If a question is answered incorrectly, all banked monies are wiped out and players start from zero again. 5th Grader has five modes of play, including a head-to-head game with another player on the Wii, a game in which four players can battle it out, and a cooperative team competition.
Is It Any Good?
The main problem with 5th Grader: Back to School rears its head when players are in the Pop Quiz mode. These questions are timed and run the gauntlet of the question types; however, the connectivity between the Wii remote and the game screen can hinder answering the questions in a timely manner and create frustrations. Generally, the questions cover a nice range of topics from 1st grade to 5th, and the game presentation is solid. Graphically, the game does not challenge the Wii's abilities, but the audio can feature redundant phrases.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about how knowledge learned in school can be beneficial in a variety of ways.
Families can also discuss setting responsible limits on playing time.
Families can also discuss what happens when some players take competition to unhealthy levels. Why did this game allow for doing underhanded things to win? Was that fun in the video game setting?
Game Details
- Platforms : Nintendo DS , Nintendo DSi , Nintendo Wii
- Pricing structure :
- Available online? : Not available online
- Publisher : THQ
- Release date : November 2, 2010
- Genre : Party
- ESRB rating :
- Last updated : October 17, 2024
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