 | 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. |
Rooms: The Main Building
- Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS
- Price: $29.99
- Genre: Puzzle
Common Sense Media says
Sliding puzzles combined with a mystery for brainy fun.
Parents say
Kids say
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that Rooms: The Main Building can be both addicting in that you don't want to stop solving the puzzles, and frustrating when you find a puzzle that's difficult to solve. However, Rooms is as stimulating to the mind as any of the Brain Games that Nintendo released a few years ago. It keeps you thinking, and you think about it even when you're away from the game. There is some mild violence if you enter a room with explosives unprepared. You simply fall over and have to restart the puzzle.
What's it about?
Rooms: The Main Building riffs on the theme of those plastic slider puzzles that you probably played as a kid. You take on the role of the mysterious Mr. X, a cloaked character who moves dutifully through each room, ever trying to find the keys to his eventual freedom. You collect things in one room to use later in others. The other character involved is a kind of book that's almost a grimoire because it sometimes gives you cryptic hints on how move forward in the game. Because the game is light on narrative, you'll find yourself making up your own stories about Mr. X, the crazy, sometimes claustrophobic rooms, and that very strange tome.
Is it any good?
Rooms: The Main Building began as an award-winning Flash game in 2007. Now a DS and Wii game, the DS version shines for its portability. You don't have to stop playing if you're not near a computer. What's intriguing about the long series of rooms and their moody, dark designs is the inventiveness you need to progress from one to the other. Not only are you required to slide the pieces around to make your escape. You also collect mysterious treasures from creaky old chests you find in the rooms (which help you with the puzzles ahead). The rooms come in all shapes and sizes and sometimes extend to the subway or an antique shop. At one point, you have to wake a sleeping treasure chest by using an item you've found called the Stinky Wood Chip, an odd but hilarious name for an inventory item.
After you've finished the 100 levels, you can try again by ramping up the difficult and using a timed mode, or by restricting the number of panel movements. The replayability doesn't end there. With the level editor, you can make your own puzzles, too. It's a game full of hours of fun - in addition to the occasional frustration of being unable to solve a puzzle.
What families can talk about
Families can talk about which puzzles are the most difficult to solve?
What would you do if you were trapped in a mansion with many rooms?
What do you think of the talking book? Is it cool or creepy? Why?
Do you like the music? Or do you feel it's too repetitive?
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| Platforms: | Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS |
| Available online? | Not available online |
| Genre: | Puzzle |
| Developer: | Hudson Entertainment |
| Release date: | March 23, 2010 |
| Price: | $29.99 |
| ESRB rating: | E for Mild Violence |
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