 | ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids. |
 | OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | NOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age. |
JumpStart Pet Rescue
- Nintendo Wii
- Price: $39.99
- Genre: Educational
Common Sense Media says
Educational game best for kindergartners, not preschoolers.
Parents say
QUALITY
Kids say
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that this is an educational gaming title on the Wii. Unfortunately, it has difficult controls for the youngest of the targeted audience of 3-to 6-year-olds, making it a better fit for kids ages 5 and 6. The educational games are solid and the adventures within the game are fun, but the game doesn't take much advantage of the Wii's motion-sensing controls.
What's it about?
JUMPSTART PET RESCUE is an educational gaming title for kindergartners on the Wii. Kids create their own avatar to explore five different interconnected neighborhoods while searching for some missing pets. In the Story Mode, kids go on missions and complete tasks as directed by animal residents of this world. Many of the missions involve going to the Learning House to play educational games. These games cover the preschool and kindergarten skills of learning the alphabet, numbers, colors, shapes, following directions, sorting, matching, and differentiating attributes. Other learning games can be found sprinkled throughout the neighborhoods including fishing for fish that are a specific color, and finding gold stars by listening to music. Kids can adopt a pet, design a house, and choose what their avatar looks like.
Is it any good?
The educational activities are excellent. Unfortunately, the controls aren't. This is a game targeted at kids ages 3-6, but the method of interacting with the screen is not intuitive to preschoolers. Instead of simply tilting the Wii to make your avatar move as was done in Go Diego Go: Safari Rescue, here kids have to point, press the "A" button, and then wait for their avatar to move where they pointed. Kids ages 5 and 6 should be able to navigate the game, but even so, the game doesn't make good use of the Wii remote's motion-sensing abilities. Plus, at times your avatar blocks your ability to see where to go.
For kids ages 5 and 6, there is a lot of explore. JumpStart Pet Rescue presents a magical 3D world full of sparkling ponds in which to swim, rivers to race down, zipwire rides to experience, and lots of charming animal characters with which to interact. For kids who need direction, the Story Mode provides great motivation to play the educational games. The Explore Mode is more open-ended and lets kids to wander to find all the delightful surprises this world offers.
What families can talk about
Families can talk about whether it is more fun to play in the Story Mode where the Jumpstart animal friends join you on your adventure, or in the Explore Mode where you can wander and discover surprises in this vast virtual world?
Do you like changing the look of your avatar? Did you feel like it looked like you?
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AGE
Great idea, but difficult for preschoolers to navigate
This game was even difficult and frustrating for me, a mom, to navigate. Diego Dinosaur Rescue and Dora Saves the Crystal Kingdom are much better for preschoolers.
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AGE
Not worth the money
runs very slow very hard to find items and the games are very basic
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AGE
JumpStart game on the Wii, educational and fun
My kids love this game on the Wii. My youngest got the controls pretty quickly and it is the first game she really loves and plays on the Wii. Same JumpStart characters she knows and gets to play like her older siblings on the Wii.
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| Platforms: | Nintendo Wii |
| Available online? | Not available online |
| Genre: | Educational |
| Developer: | Knowledge Adventure |
| Release date: | August 1, 2009 |
| Price: | $39.99 |
| ESRB rating: | EC for (No Descriptors) |
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