Before I decided to purchase this item for my children, I did what I always do: jump on Amazon.com to check out the reviews. To my surprise, there weren't any. So, I hopped over to Leapfrog.com to view the synopsis. Leapfrog doesn't even list this game as an available title on their site. Next, I did a Google search to try and find a review on this title and I was directed to the Sega website. I clicked on the link for the Sonic X game and was directed, suprisingly enough, back to the Leapfrog website, where no results were found. Talk about hitting a brick wall...
So, I took and chance and I bought it for my 4 1/2 year-old son to add to his ever-growing collection of Leapster titles. It's a hit. Both he and my daughter love it. They actually played the Sonic X game last night instead of the Wii which they have been playing daily since Christmas. We actually had to pry the Leapster out of my son's hands just to get him into bed.
As for the game, I had my reservations since this game seems to have been produced by Sega as opposed to Leapfrog; so I wasn't sure if it would have the same educational themes as most Leapfrog games do. While the theme of this game is much more video game based than most of the LeapFrog games, it is also very educational. Not having played any of the Sonic game titles that seem to be so popular, I can only compare it to games I am familiar with. The graphics remind me a little bit of Super Mario Brothers, and some of the challenges seem to follow similar themes. Also, the game is set up into different zones, which each have a different activity.
For example, one of the activities in the game teaches addition by having you add blocks at the top of the screen. Once you think you have the answer, you have to find it on the board while taking care to avoid the wrong answers. Another of the activities teaches your child how to count backward by following the sequence on the top of the screen, then racing to find the next number. All the while, you have to collect little gold rings from each stage of the game which are added at the top of the screen. Some of the stages are timed, so you can't take too long to figure out the answer. There are also activities that teach number sequencing and subtraction. Each activity has three different skill levels to choose from.
The target age for this product is listed as Kindergarten to 1st grade. I bought it for my 4 1/2 year-old and he is doing very well with it, but he is much stronger with math than reading and writing. I think this is a great game for preschool and kindergarten aged children to help reinforce number recognition, counting and simple math concepts in a very fun way.
For frame of reference, my son also enjoys the following Leapster titles: Counting on Zero, Mr. Pencil, Learning with Leap, Letters on the Loose, Mole's Huge Nose, Cars, Letter Factory, Kindergarten, Spongebob and Cars. If your child has similar interests, he or she will most likely enjoy this game. If you are looking to reinforce your child's mathematical concepts, I recommend this game or Counting on Zero.
Update: LeapFrog has updated their website in the past few days to at least show this title, although it is listed as "coming soon".
Hope this helps.
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We got this game along with two others and this is by far the favorite of the whole family!! My sister, Dad and I are willing to play this game. It plays more like a real video game then the others did, with the math and learning included. This was the only game I was willing to play on the leapster. I remember playing Sonic on the Sega handheld thing a few years ago and it was still fun now.
The game is about counting and numbers. Through each place on the map there are three levels to play. Each level you can get 99 rings to get a jewel. You don't get anything special if you do though like I thought, no secret game to unlock, just the satisfaction of getting them all. Through each level it ask you to find the correct number that comes after what ever number they give you, like 123... what comes next? you have to find the 4. If you touch the wrong number it will make the right number glow. So if your child doesn't know the right answer, they aren't running to you to tell them. Then there are robots that catch you and you have to do some special math game, every place on the map has a different game. Most are adding and subracting and you can't move on till you get it right. This might be the hardest part, even I had trouble with this because on one game you had to circle some robots to add them to your bucket but they moved so it was hard to draw a cirlce around something that's moving.
Overall this game is a must!!!! This is the game that will get your kid to use the leapster for sure and maybe even the dad or other kids.
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My boys have about 6 leapster games overall, and this on is my 6 year olds favorite. We got it just before a trip to the beach, and out of the box of stuff I got him, this is all he needed. My 3 year old watched him play it for a few hours too! He played it the whole way up, every time we got into the car for any length of time, and the whole way back! I know its educational, so I wasnt worried about it. Guess what, he STILL plays it all the time! It went through the washer and dryer in the pocket of his pants, and still works. Any kid who is a game junkie, this is the one that will keep their attention.
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I got this for my 5 year old grandson and he loves it. He wishes he were Sonic X. His parents have to limit his playing time to get him off the couch and outside to play. Otherwise he would be at it all day.
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I hope that other parents do not make the mistake I almost made by overlooking this game when deciding on new titles to buy for the Leapster. I steered away from this not being sure it could do justice to Sonic as I know and love him and as my son thinks of him due to his very limited experience with Sonic for Wii. Boy was I wrong! My 4-year old son begged to buy this game with his birthday money, so I let him. It turns out that this was exactly what I had in mind when I got the Leapster for him in the first place, "big boy" feeling video games that teach something! It immediately catapaulted to his #1 favorite position, even ahead of Spongebob, Star Wars, and Batman, all of which are a little too difficult yet I think. I wish I had bought this sooner and waited on those others. It's a great transition game after some of the really young titles. It really reminds me of the platform Sonic games and yet he is learning from it! Leapster nailed it with this one, now...if they only come out with Mario!
