Postknight 2

While leveled-up skills and other items add some variety, the gameplay in this app primarily involves conversing with characters and fighting. Postknight 2 requires kids to pass a training session before they can officially begin to make deliveries. After that, they'll move back and forth between battling obstacles on their delivery routes to infusing potions, eating, and performing other tasks to prepare for future battles. The app features some well-planned design aspects, such as the ability to quickly zoom to the next battle by selecting the arrow sign in the menu and clicking twice to avoid having to walk slowly across the length of the screen to get there. The actions kids perform outside of fighting can feel a bit lackluster: Some conversations are repetitive, and the process involved in certain motions seems unnecessarily drawn out.

To infuse a potion, kids will need to approach the alchemist, who asks the same question every time. Then they tap the Potions button and are taken to a separate screen, where they have to press and hold an herb symbol as the color red gradually fills in a circle. If the herb runs out, kids have to manually select another one and start over. The entire process isn't quick, and this doesn't add to the overall experience. Luckily, the route-based battles are faster, and there are a number of items and abilities kids can earn as they advance that will offer them new fighting options, so that portion of the game doesn't feel as routine. Unlike some role-playing games (RPGs) that feature a dizzying number of characters, skills, and other elements, this one has an easier-to-follow storyline and structure -- and doesn't try to rapidly drain your lives to force you to buy something or wait until a timer resets to be able to keep playing. Kids may not be so engrossed in Postknight 2 that they can't put it down -- but it might deliver enough of a challenge to keep them interested for a little while.