Common Sense Media Review
By Christopher Healy
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Imaginative sci-fi RPG entertains as it builds vocabulary.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 8+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Play
Videos and Photos
Cosmos Chaos
What's It About?
The story that frames Cosmos Chaos follows a young hero (you can choose to be a boy or a girl) who loses her dog after seeing a UFO. As she hunts through desert towns, talking to odd and interesting characters to get clues, she learns of a dastardly alien robot invasion plot by the evil Dr. Z. With the help of a good robot friend, she not only continues the search for her pet, but acts to stop the bad guys as well. The exploration and interview portion of the game is played out by the hero choosing how to properly answer questions posed by the other characters -- questions that use advanced vocabulary. If kids don't know the words, they can explore the setting, checking the descriptions of items around them, and see the words used in context to figure out their meanings. There are also turn-based robot battles that occur throughout, adding an element of action.
Is It Any Good?
Cosmos Chaos presents a truly original and thoroughly entertaining way for kids to expand their vocabularies. The game has a fun, whimsical, very amusing storyline that kids will enjoy regardless of any educational content -- and the addition of Pokemon-style battles shows that the developers know their audience. The real genius of Cosmo Chaos, though, is in the way it uses vocabulary-building techniques, presenting them as a pivotal part of the gameplay, and doing so in an enjoyable format that kids will actually want to partake in. Through point-and-click exploration, kids will pick up loads of new words, buried in the cleverly-written descriptions of the virtual world around them (and they'll store these collected words, like prizes, in their inventory). Then when they speak with other characters in order to pick up clues or earn missions, they'll need to show that they learned how to properly use those new words they've collected. It's fun, and it works.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the fighting aspect of the game. Does violence have any place in an educational game? Is the impact of the violence here lessened by the game's cartooniness, or the fact that the combatants are robots?
Ask kids if they enjoy learning though video games. If education comes to kids via a video game, are they more or less likely to retain what the learn?
Game Details
- Platforms : Nintendo DS , Nintendo DSi
- Subjects : Language & Reading : reading comprehension , using supporting evidence , vocabulary
- Skills : Thinking & Reasoning : analyzing evidence , applying information , collecting data
- Pricing structure :
- Available online? : Not available online
- Publisher : Mentor Interactive
- Release date : October 12, 2010
- Genre : Edutainment
- ESRB rating :
- Last updated : February 15, 2023
Did we miss something on diversity?
Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by
Suggest an Update
Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.
See how we rate