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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program I admit, neither my 4-year-old nor I have played any LeapFrog games before this one. I played plenty of video games in my youth, and spend perhaps too much time playing games on my phone these days, so i at least am not naive to the world of gaming.
A good game teaches you how to play, building up the pieces one at a time, then sets you loose. This game teaches you how to play, but builds up the pieces far too quickly.
There are a couple different components of this game. There's a collect-the-widgets part, where the characters are lead through very simple mazes to collect all of the pennants. This is a pretty simple concept, but builds slowly into greater complexity you have to avoid being seen by the bad guys, you can find bonus prizes, and so on. There are also locked doors, and to get the key you have to play a card game, like a memory game (matching cards in pairs) or a rule-out games (rule out cards based on features, like number of eyes or color of fur).
Here's the problem, though: the concept of lead-the-character-through-the-maze has only just been introduced when the match-the-cards-to-get-the-key part comes in. Especially for younger children, this is too much, too fast. If the game taught the maze part, then had a few simple mazes to practice, THEN brought in the memory game, it might work. This design, with all the game modes piled on top of each other, is just confusing. In addition, new functions are taught in the middle of the game. When spitballs are introduced to blow out candles, there's not a mini-tutorial before the game. No, instead the player will be halfway through a maze, land on a spitball, and the game will STOP for an explanation. This game was not designed with any sense of flow.
The flow of the game breaks all the time. If the character finds one of the monster cards, it stops the maze game for a splash screen of the card, reminding the gamer to go look at their card collection some time. Not now, of course, you're in the middle of a maze, so finish the maze, then... yeah.
There's a subgame of building your own monster then testings its ability to scare a child. This has nothing to do with the maze/memory game, except that you need to collect the cards from the mazes to make the scary monsters.
Worst yet, there are bugs in the game. When you come back to a maze from the card games to get a key, sometimes the bad guys are just randomly placed instead of on their little walking tracks. Sometimes the last card from the memory game tutorial stays on the board for the first run through the memory game, making it very confusing for a kid trying to learn it.
Would this be fine with older kids? Possibly. Would this work better for kids who've played a lot of LeapFrog games already? Probably. But i really question the assertion that this game is good for 4-year-olds. It's too busy interrupting itself in the early stages, teaching too many things at once instead of gradually building skills.
It's built on the same premise as a lot of other LeapPad games, that constantly interrupt the child's use of the product, endlessly blurting out instructions or suggestions that distract the child from what they're trying to do play and learn.
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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program My son is 7 yrs old, and will start the third grade in Fall '13, and he was completely addicted to this game within minutes. At first, I thought it would be too easy for him, but as the player progresses through the levels, it does become more challenging, even for older children. My son has always loved mazes and puzzles, so this particular game theme is perfect for him.The only problem I have with the LeapPad 2 games is the constant need to connect to the internet through a computer. Considering the prices of the system and the games, it's frustrating to have to go online to access all the features for something that you've purchased. Now, granted, I received this particular game free through the Vine program, but we've purchased other LeapFrog games, and I can't stand having to go online to get everything that is supposed to be included with the game. (For example, you have to go online to download all of the features for the game LeapFrog I SPY Super Challenger.)
Nevertheless, I am really happy with the positive effect that these games have had on my son's critical thinking skills. He's learning problem solving in a variety of situations, but he thinks he's just having fun. :)
Best Deals for LeapFrog Explorer Disney Pixar Monsters University Learning Game
Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program This Leap Frog Monsters University game is not just a single game, but a collection of several learning games in one. The goal is to learn all your scare skills and graduate from the Monster school. For each game there are several levels of difficulty, letting kids play how they want to, whether it's untimed, without opponents, etc. Once the child gets better at the games (such as memory, where they are flipping card over) they can then play with opponents who make the game more challenging. As your child plays through the mini-games, they collect items for their Monsters University "dorm room" to decorate it with.There's also a monster creator which lets kids create/customize their own monster and even use the LeapPad's built in camera to let kids take a photo of them self and put the photo on the monsters face. When we were playing with it, we thought it would be even cuter to take a photo of grandma's little black dog and use it for the monster's face instead.
While the game is about Monsters, it's not scary at all, just like the movie. It by no means has the smoothness or the graphics of games you'd find for the Nintendo DS, but the age range is perfectly suited for those who might still be a bit young for those games. Perfect for those in Kindergarten to first grade, I'd say. Any older and it probably won't be challenging enough for them. And it's a fun way for kids to play simple games with a education-based design.
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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program We have two of the older LeapFrog Leapster 2 Learning Game System Green and 11 of the various cartridge games. I can honestly say we love each and every one of them. I had high expectations for the Monster's U game on the LeapPad, and unfortunately I am disappointed. The game has two problem areas for me.1) It is extremely repetitive. The main part of the game is a series of easy mazes with obstacles and monsters to avoid and things to collect and use. One particular level might have 3 things to teach you (tools, strategies, etc.) but not only will it make you go through ten extremely similar mazes, and you don't ever HAVE to use any of the strategies or tools AT ALL.
2) It is not educational. The mazes are totally not challenging, even to my 3 year old. You don't need to use any of the strategies or tools the game suggests, so why bother? One of the small side games is a version of the classic game Guess Who. We love guess who and play it all the time. The Monster's U version takes all the thinking out of it. For example, one clue might be that the monster in question is blue. Great, so your kid learns process of elimination by turning over the other colors. Unfortunately the game immediately TELLS YOU to turn over the other monsters. Your kid does not have to turn on their brain and THINK at all. Just follow the instructions like a little robot. It makes me insane.
I was so worried that my kindergartener's Leapster 2 would be soon forgotten when our shiny new LeapPad 2 and Monster's U game arrived, but he finds the Monster's U game so boring that he sticks with his Leapster and it's excellent, fun, and challenging games. It breaks my heart to give a bad review to a Leapfrog product, but it seems like all the effort went into the flashy LeapPad and none of the effort went into the game :(
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Editing to add that we now have two of the LeapPad2 and have found tons of excellent games, challenging, educational, fun for the kids, on the LeapFrog website. The kids especially love the Roly Poly games, Solar Taxi, and Elements on the Loose. As a bonus when you download a game you can load it on up to three compatible LeapFrog devices.
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