Customer Reviews

Ni Hao, Kai-Lan: New Year's Celebration

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

 

 

Before I go into the game, this is nearly identical to the Backyardigans game for DS that came out just a little over a week before it by the same developer. If you already got the Backyardigans game for your child and they loved it, and they happen to like Kai-Lan too, then this is equally recommended, though they might get bored with it since they've already done a lot of this.

But regardless, this is still a nice game to play for children. My daughter was a little over 2 when she discovered the DS and started playing Wario Ware and New Super Mario Bros. Needless to say, this isn't as advanced as those, but she still enjoys playing and is clearly learning a few new things too.

There are two main modes to the game- Story and Free Play. The Story mode is basically an episode of the show but in game form. It follows the title's theme: New Year's Celebration, as Kai-Lan and her friends get ready for the Chinese New Year and all the activities that go along with it. You start out by cleaning Kai-Lan's room (yeah, not the most exciting way to start a game for kids), and go about getting new outfits for everyone, making dumplings, playing musical instruments, coloring, making lanterns and other decorations and marching with a dragon. Free play just has you select which activities you want to do without sitting through the semi-cutscenes. A lot of the modes are great for kids and the characters actually tell you what to do, rather than having text pop up that they wouldn't be able to read.

This is an ideal game for kids between 2 and 4, maybe 5. By that age, they should've moved on to other titles, as this is some fairly basic stuff, but it all depends on the child. All the Kai-Lan favorites are here and have good voice quality. Aside from this being too similar to the Backyardigans game, I don't have any complaints. If only more kids games were like this.

I bought this for my 4-yr old to play on her brother's DS and she was able to play it immediately. It involves matching colors and shapes and is quite easy. There is no reading involved so she can play it with no assistance at all. She was able to play all the way through it right away but she enjoys going back and playing it again.

I bought this for my 3 year year old, she is just starting out learning how to play the DS. This is great it has all the skills she needs to learn and they learn how to follow directions!! Helps the hand eye cordination also.

My daughter loves this game. She would play it all day if we would let her. She likes the cooking and drawing part of the game.

My four year old really enjoys this game. I would say it's easy enough for him to enjoy and not be frustrated, but challenging enough to keep him interested for more than a couple days. Perfect! I'm glad I bought it. He enjoys other games, but typically isn't really playing them the way they are meant to be played. With this game, he has to follow the instrucations. I appreciate that.

As a parent I am very please with this game. My son is 15 months and is able to play a few of the activities within this game. My brother watches my son during the day and is a huge gamer (I'm not pleased he plays games around my son beings he's so little) but my son loves the DS because my brother plays it so much. That said this game is so educational and teaches more then just shapes, colors, emotions, numbers and cooking skills, it teaches respect and that children should clean up their own messes, be resonsible, organization, to do dishes and keep their rooms clean. I also like the encouragement the game gives you when you can't quite get something right, it just says, "that's not it, keep trying" instead of no you're wrong. My son doesn't play that often but when he does I can see his understanding of directions and motor coordination improving. I don't plan on letting my son play many video games growning up but this one is definately a keeper!! It's a great quality game that's educational and entertaining. I would highly recommend this to a friend!

My 2 year old can play this game with complete understanding and since there are story mode and quick game modes she never gets bored. She love it and plays over and over, great game!

This is a great game for someone that is getting started on the DS, even better of course, for a KaiLan fan. It features all of the main characters on the show and has some fun educational mini-games. You can go through all of them in Story-mode. It is relatively short, an very similar to other 2K Kid Tested games (see cover label). Kids around 4 should enjoy it.

My 5 year old loves this game. It is her first DS game (other than stealing her sister's games) and it is perfect for her level. I was concerned it would be too young for her, but it is right on target.

I bought this as a gift for a 5 year old who is not very familiar with playing games, but generally enjoys the DS. She was able to complete most of the tasks in the game by herself with only a few questions on clarifying directions. Her only complaint, as well as mine, is that the game is relatively short (especially considering the price.)