Eco-Rangers: Animal Kingdom DVD Game (Plug and Play TV games)

In ECO-RANGERS: ANIMAL KINGDOM DVD GAME, kids ages 6 to 9 use the DVD remote control as a game controller and help five heroic characters complete environmental rescue missions to save wild animals. Players head into one of five wildlife regions: the savanna plains, the ocean, the woodlands, the tropical rainforest, or the Artic Circle. To rescue each ecosystem, kids must answer questions correctly about animals that live in the different habitats. Kids are shown video clips from the BBC, National Geographic, and the Discovery Channel before they are quizzed.

Correctly answering an animal question earns a player a gem. If a child earns three gems in one wildlife region, he or she completes the mission. The game permits some wrong answers; but answer incorrectly too many in a row, and the game sends the player back to the Eco Rangers' base to restart the mission. Kids earn an onscreen Eco Ranger Medallion if they finish all five missions.

Eco Rangers: Animal Kingdom is fun to play, especially because the five Eco Rangers are so dynamic. The three women and two men are racially diverse, very contemporary in their look and speech, and clearly excited about saving animal habitats. The high-quality videos feature more than 250 animals and are fascinating to watch.

While there is no two-player option, friends can join in to answer the questions and play the missions. And kids weren't put off by failing a mission; they simply tried again. Eco Rangers: Animal Kingdom DVD Game, turns passive TV-watching into a thought-provoking, active experience.