Customer Reviews

Jumpstart Advanced 2nd Grade

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

I bought this for my daughter this Christmas. She was excited to use it but it brought nothing but frustration. She used the preschool version years ago and loved it so I thought this would be great. Was I Wrong!!! The directions are confusing and unclear. The pets playground doesn't even work. It crashes my computer every time we try it. The fundamentals disc didn't let her pick the character she wanted, it kept defaulting back to another character and maneuvering through the program was extremely confusing and very user UNFRIENDLY!! Not what you want from a childs program. How can a 6 or 7 year old figure this out if her 40 year old mother can't understand it! This product is poorly manufactured, I am extremely disappointed and I won't be buying from this company again.

You should only get this if you have a PC. They advertise that the 4th disk (Pet Playground) is PC only, which is fine. But the 3rd CD (Mystery Club Vol. 1) while saying Windows/Macintosh on it has nothing but PC .exe and .dll files -- nothing I can use on my Mac.

The first CD (Fundamentals) works on my Intel Mac in OS X native mode (OS X 10.5). It crashes on my PPC PowerBook G3. The second CD (Field Trip Adventure) is Classic only. It won't run on my Intel system, but is OK on my PPC.

My reaction to this (without running the programs) is that they are just throwing a bunch of stuff together. Here's a CD we made back in the OS 9 days, here's one we've made recently. Webkinz is really popular so we're tossing in virtual pets as well. Perhaps I'd be more impressed if I could get everything to run, but I'm seriously considering returning this mess.

I purchased this for my daughter. She does not play it very often. It is not something that interests her. This game seems more geared to boys. Another issue is that the instructions are not clear. I had to play and figure out the games first, to explain to my daughter. I tried to let her figure it out on her own but she was getting frustrated. It took me an evening to sit down with trial and error to figure out how to play the games. I would not purchase it again. I would not recommend it to friends, in fact I would suggest against it if they have girls.

If you use a Mac, you should be aware that the fourth disc (Pet Playground) that was added to version 2 does not work on a Mac. You might be able to save money by getting the older version that has just three discs anyway. Jumpstart Advanced 2nd Grade (PC & Mac) Otherwise, the other discs are fine. My daughter has had JS Preschool, Kindergarten and 1st grade also, and loved them. She plays this one some, but does not seem to find it as interesting as she did the others. It could be the content, or perhaps she is just getting burned out on Jump Start.

The content is just OK, and the dragging and dropping in some activities was not working. Also, the instructions for a couple of the activities was not very clear. Also, repeats the same 'jokes' over and over. I expected more - I will likely return it.

This is a subscription-based game. It says so inside the box in very small print. You get 2 levels with the game but you have to unlock anything beyond that. It is about $75 annually or $8 per month.
I missed that part. I thought I got a great deal (Costco $11) for this game and was really pissed off when I realized I have to pay so much more for this game.

One more annoying note - the game includes educational games (level based) and various activities such as drawing, playing with a virtual dog, planting virtual flowers, etc. The problem is that if you want to move to the next level of the educational games, you have to complete a ton of time-wasting activities and earn badges. I don't mind my daughter playing the non-educational parts but she literally has to spend twice as much time on them than on the "real" stuff. Having it a requirement to move up a level seems like a very silly requirement.

Had I known about these issues before I bought the game, I probably wouldn't have purchased it.

We just bought this game (Jump Start Advanced, 2nd Grade Fundamentals) yesterday. My daughter saw a list of about 10 things she could do, with different characters, when she first played. But today, no matter what we click on, we are forced to one game and one character. And I can't find any instructions or explanations ANYWHERE. My daughter, age 6, says Jumpstart
"wants kids to feel stupid" and they are
"forcing me to have the same character and play the same game for the rest of my life" and she is
"never EVER going to play ANY Jumpstart game again EVER EVER EVER!"

And now we are going outside to smash the disc with a rock.

We got this mainly for Pet Playground. It crashed EVERYTIME we played it so we could never get to the next level!!! Uninstalled it, then it wouldn't re-install! And we have a PC! OMG, if you enjoy frustration and being ripped off - this is your product!!!!!!

Poorly made - Cheap graphics, not engaging. Can't say I would recommend this unless you found it at a deep discount

My 6 year old daughter really enjoyed playing this game. It's actually very well made and captivated her attention. She liked all the "fun" activities, decorating her virtual cabin, teaching tricks to her virtual pet cat, planting virtual flowers, sliding down virtual slides, and just walking her character around and looking at the 3D world, as well as the more properly educational activities. I think it's the right mix of fun and challenges. The graphics and sound are great too. My daughter was also quite tickled that the scenery changed depending on the time of the year: halloween, winter, etc...

Where I have a big problem with this company is their marketing strategy. What you're buying in this package is only a DEMO. Your child can do the first 2 levels of the game, gets hooked into collecting badges, and then gets a stern message that her parents must go to Jumpstart's website to buy a membership. It costs $8/month or $75/year. My big complaint is that nowhere on the box does it say that this product is only a DEMO. You don't even realize that the software contains only 2 of the 12 levels until your child completes the second level and begs you to buy the rest. This is deceptive and unethical marketing, and I will not do business with a company that tries to fool people this way. It's too bad because this would be a great educational tool. I suppose this is what we get when "for-profit" motivations take precedence over ethical, educational and pedagogical considerations.

By the way, the other 3 CDs in the box are just scrap, to make it look like you're buying a lot more than you're really getting.