Customer Reviews

Mia's Science Adventure: Romaine's New Hat

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

 

 

If one is looking for an educational program to help a child learn there are much better programs on the market than Mia.

Unfortunately we bought this as a package of Mia and all suffer from the same issues. First, it takes 2 CDs and a game cannot be completed without switching to the 2d CD. That compounds the problem that Mia cannot be loaded on the hard drive so the game cannot be played unless the CD is loaded. Having programs that require the loading of CDs to play them is a pain in the neck because children do not handle CDs properly and an adult must change the CDs. Most programs have only one CD but this one requires two.

Mia programs are more like video games than educational software. They are comparable to video games like Spiderman and Sponge Bob which are puzzles to be solved. That is the problem with the Mia programs. The child spends an inordinate amount of time manuevering between the educational activities so that most of the time is spent manuevering and little time is spent on education. And it can be frustrating for the child, even a child that is very adept at video games. Yet because Mia is more of a video game than an educational resource, children who are video game geeks like Mia.

Mia's science is better than Mia's Math and Reading because at least a written scenario is provided which helps out. But like all the Mia programs, the program hangs at times so that the child cannot complete the game. Worse yet because the program is always active, the hibernation and suspend operations on the computer do not function so the program must be shut down should the child leave the computer.

Another problem that all the Mia programs suffer from is that the video only occupies a small part of the monitor screen so that the effects are dimished. Other educational software fill the full screen although to Mia's credit, when the user exits the program it restores the screen to its original resolution, something not all educational softwere does.

The Mia programs do have humor in them which is enertaining to children and what educational material there is, is somewhat useful.

The game is very lengthy. It takes hours to complete a mission. The oral instructions do not always match the written ones which are the correct ones, and are confusing to children. As the game progresses, lag time increases between segments.

July 27, 2005
Why haven't I heard about the Mia characters before? I bought this for my god daughters 6th birthday without knowing anything about the game. We opened it together and I was BLOWN AWAY with the 3D animation-the same quality as Pixar. Everyone at the party was glued to the computer screen in this adventure land game. Best of all, its educational but because it was so entertaininng, my god-daughter has not stopped playing it. Well worth your money! I'm going to buy the rest of the Mia series.

My 8 year old daughter likes the activities/games a lot. But neither of us like the extensive video sequences. She finds them incredibly annoying!

I have to imagine that this game is great for any kid who would otherwise be playing video games, but not so great for a kid who has never played them.

I am really disappointed. Spent much more than I usually would to get this and the math version of Mia. My daughter much prefers the "standard" math games on the old cd we picked up at a yard sale!! The graphics are not as fancy, but it is much more fun (and better for fun learning, too)

My daughter is 7 and really enjoyed the adventure. We have a mac and it played well. There were a few delays when loading/reading from the disk, but she enjoyed discovering all the elements and jewels throughout. there are age appropriate levels of difficulty. I would not buy it for someone any younger unless they are very precocious.

My kids have really enjoyed this game! The game teaches many scientific details about the world around us. They pick up these concepts easily and are able to use them daily! They have so much fun with Mia that they don't realize they are busy learning!

I was very excited to get this software for my grand-daughter. All seemed to go well until I went to start the game. I got the spider guy and then after I clicked "Start" I got a picture of a house and then nothing else, my brand new computer totally locked up. I have loaded many other programs onto this computer in the last few days (and yes I have plenty of memory left). Funny thing is that I contacted the company for assistance and was told to check the permissions on the PC..........that maybe I didn't have permission to load the software........seriously? too bad I can't return it because I opened the package

Had high hopes for this game, but it disappoints to no end.
My daughter, is constantly frustrated after spending countless minutes pointing the mouse around, to navigate the slow walking Mia back and forth and back and forth and back and forth over and over the same scene to try to figure out what exactly one should do next. Even clicking on Mia to get hint, wasn't much use.
There are a few learning activities, but the amount of time spend in pointless navigation and actual learning activities is about 20% activities 80% annoying navigation.
I sat there with her going over the game, trying to keep her attention on the computer. At the end, both of us gives up, it's not worth the hours spent in front of the computer, learning almost nothing, except how bad games are designed.
I actually bought all the Mia adventures, and they all behave the same. My daughter refuses to spend any more time on any of the Mia games.
I wonder if they have done any user studies before releasing this title.
So, it's in the shredder it goes.
Oh, the one star is for the nice looking rendering, this is a typical all style and no substance production.

This is the fourth Mia's Adventure software I purchased for my 5-year-old granddaughter. She loves these educational software. In fact, if she misbehaves her mother punishes her by not letting her do her math homework. The Mia Adventure series is simply the best educational software I have seen and I recommend it to everyone with a small child.