Customer Reviews

Didi and Ditto: First Grade: The Wolf King Win/Mac

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This game is excellent. I am a first grade teacher so was sceptical when I saw software claiming to teach the same subjects I cover in my classes through traditional means. I wanted to be open-minded so bought it and tried it with my students on our classroom's computer during the lunch hour. I must say i am dissappointed for having not tried this sooner. My students were glued to the screen the entire time and even after the lunch break they all wanted to continue playing. There are 16 activities covering reading, math, science and creativity and 3 diffifulty levels which allows the children to learn at their own pace and level. I especially like teachers mode which gives direct access to the activities and monitors the childrens progress. It also saves their games so other students can go on and play. The graphics are also astounding and I'm guessing this is what helps keep their attention so they end up playing longer and thus learning more. I would definitely recommend this to other teachers and parents who want to reinforce classroom materials at home.

There are very few games that work on Apple's Leopard 10.5.x as classic mode is no longer supported. So trying to find games for your child is a quest. There are only 2 reviews on Amazon prior to me purchasing this game so I took a chance.

One must note that even if you choose the option to install the entire game on your Mac you still need to have the disc mounted in order to play it. So those that run without optical drives (MacBook Air) or don't want to carry around a disc for your kids to scratch up please look elsewhere. If you do decide that you can live with this old style of piracy control the game does not render in full screen.

So even if you have a large screen iMac you'll get this dinky game in the center of your screen. On my screen everything is shoved to the left so I have a large black bar on the right. I can live with that, but why couldn't the developer program this game in full screen and take advantage of core animation and all the other great framework built into Leopard to make this game something better than what it currently is?

Aside from that, every now and then the mouse will freeze. You can always Command+Tab to switch apps and your mouse will work. But the moment you go back into the game the mouse will still be stuck requiring you to force quit the app loosing your kids progress and having them start from the last time they saved the game.

Trust me you kids will grow frustrated over this. I had to explain to my child that sometimes games stop working and we have to restart it (which is true... but come on this is a kids game, it's not something that actually taxes your system, it's just poorly written code simple as that.)

If you can put up with always keeping the disc in and the occasional mouse freeze the game is quite good for a 1st grade level. The game has some problem solving, matching and other types of activities that will help your child develop some critical thinking skills.... till it locks up.

Honestly, I want to return this game but shipping back will cost $8 dollars. I purchased it here with Amazon Prime for $17.99. At that point it makes it not worth it. So I'm hoping those that are thinking about buying this game read my review and think for a moment if the pros (what little it has) outweigh the cons.

I also emailed the developer about these issues. If they respond with solutions that will get the game up and running then I will certainly edit my review.

My recommendation is to pass on this title.

My 1st grader really enjoys this game. It has a variety of language, math and problem solving exercises and presents them in a fun and engaging manner. You can also adjust the level of difficulty within the game to keep things interesting. I highly recommend. Would have given 5 stars, but there are a few items within the navigation/interface that could stand a little improvement, but nothing major.