Parents' Guide to Adventure Academy

Quality learning content covers a lot of ground, but it can easily get overshadowed by all the gaming extras and consumer elements. Adventure Academy offers beautiful graphics and an impressive breadth of academic topics in a variety of engaging formats. The environment itself is very impressive, with a setting that mimics a real campus. Kids can watch funny videos, play games, read books, and more. It's clear a lot of thought went in to creating the learning material. But, there's no feedback, little help when kids struggle, and no indication of how far along kids are in each individual game (e.g., how many rounds they need to complete). Parents choose from three difficulty levels when they create each kid's avatar, but content doesn't adapt according to how kids actually perform. Some kids may find it quite a challenge to navigate through the game. Particularly for those not used to gaming, moving the avatar around doesn't always feel natural or responsive, and there's a lot of literal distance to cover between learning experiences. It's not always clear how to engage with the activities, and there's so much learning material, it's easy to get lost. The social aspect is a nice touch for kids this age, and there are reasonable measures in place to help keep the space safe, including the option to turn off chat completely. However, all the game features, as well as the large virtual world and massive database of learning material can be incredibly overwhelming. Not only that, but kids can easily spend their whole time in the game without once engaging with the learning content. So while there are alot of fun and impressive elements, a bit more focus on the educational content -- and fewer distractions -- would make it even better.