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Parents' Guide to

Ivy the Kiwi

By Christopher Healy, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 8+

Fun retro platformer with beautiful storybook graphics.

Game Nintendo DS , Nintendo DSi , Nintendo Wii 2010
Ivy the Kiwi Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this game.

  • Ivy the Kiwi Game: Screenshot #1
  • Ivy the Kiwi Game: Screenshot #2
  • Ivy the Kiwi Game: Screenshot #3

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What’s It About?

IVY THE KIWI is about a strange baby bird who hatches from a polka-dot egg and runs off in search of its missing mommy bird. Ivy will just run willy-nilly into anything in her path, so you need to guide and protect her along the way. You do so by stretching, long springy vines across the screen. With those vines, you can bridge gaps, create barricades, arrange ramps, and even pull back and release to launch Ivy like a missile into lurking enemies, like rats and crows.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say: Not yet rated
Kids say: Not yet rated

In some magical way, Ivy the Kiwi manages to feel both comfortably familiar -- in an old-school platformer game kind of way -- and excitingly new and different at the same time. In some ways, it feels like a strategy game, as every level is really a big maze to be navigated -- but it moves so fast that it also feels like an action game. While playing, you're constantly on your toes, without a moment to breathe until you reach the end of a level. The graphics are gorgeous, but laid out in a retro 2-D format, and while the level structure and point system harken back to the days of the cartridge games, the line-drawing control system is, of course, thoroughly modern. All of these seemingly contradictory elements can be found in Ivy the Kiwi, yet they all work incredibly well together. If we're to have one complaint about the game, it's the very short learning curve -- things get moving awfully fast straight out of the gate, and it is up you to catch up.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about how it feels to be charged with protecting a baby character in the game. Rather than control the protagonist of the story, you need to watch out for her and protect her. How does this make you feel?

  • This is, in many ways, a very old-fashioned type of video game. In it's format and presentation, it's much more akin to an old Super Mario Bros. game than something more modern like Halo. Is there still a place for simpler, 2-D games like this?

Game Details

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