WildGames.com

Slow-to-use PC games stay relatively harmless.

Entertainment Value: Medium Graphics: Decent cartoons and arcarde-like Playability: Easy to medium Reading Level: Heavy Website: http://www.wildgames.com

Common Sense Note

Parents need to know that although one of the featured categories of games on this site is called Blow Things Up, most of the most popular games aren't violent at all. The site says it won't allow users under 13, but it's easy to lie about your age to download games (users only need to enter an email address and select a year of birth). Also, one major advertiser is a company soliciting users to test products and take online surveys and also doesn't have any checks in place to confirm users' ages. However, parents can download the site's game console, which automatically gives users several hundred games -- and gives parents special access to limit which ones kids can open. The games don't work on a Mac.

Families can talk about downloading games. How do you know what's a trusted source to download from? What is a computer virus, and what can it do to your computer? How can you safeguard yourself against accidentally downloading or opening a virus?

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Common Sense Review

Reviewed By: Erin Brereton

There's no shortage of games at WILDGAMES.COM, and with categories like IQ games, Food, and Kids featuring Dora the Explorer and other favorites, there's plenty of variety, too. The site does feature some light violence -- there's a section of games about blowing stuff up -- but most games involve somewhat cartoonish characters, like aliens and pirates. Games also frequently feature family-friendly goals like finding clues (which are crossed off on a list on the screen as they're discovered) to solve a mystery.

Users need one key thing to enjoy WildGames.com: a lot of time. Some games take 10 minutes or more to download. And it's good to note that Mac users are out of luck as the games are .exe files and only work on PCs. Users click "play" and must download each individual game -- slowly -- to their desktop to use them.

Kids may also enjoy the games at SuperSmartGames.com and AmorGames.com.

Reviewed: 02/25/2008

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Content		CS	adults	kids
Content
Sexual Content
Violence Despite the section of games titled Blow Things Up,the majority of the games aren't violent at all. Those that are, don't involve any gory images.
Language
Message
	Social Behavior Like all game sites, it's easy for kids to get sucked into to playing around.
	Commercialism Banner ads appear for fast food chains, surveys, sweepstakes, TV shows, and more.
	Drug/Alcohol/Tobacco
	Educational Value Many of the games -- such as those in the IQ Games section -- require using some brain power.