Updated after child played it:
+++ my child woke up this morning asking to play this game.
+++ after an hour of playing last night, my child (who had not demonstrated any real understanding or ability for spelling, only for letter recognition) was understanding and spelling "MAP" on her own (while not playing the game). In other words, whenever I asked her to spell a word before playing the game, she responded with random letters ("A-O-O-I-N-X!") and last night she confidently spelled map as "M-A-P".
+++ animal inclusion and placement within the zoo appears to be random, so you don't get the same animals in the same place every time. This adds a layer of excitement (for a 4-year-old) to discover what animals they get today.
- the "negative" to add to my review is animal visibility: animals spend a lot of time hiding behind the many, big trees, and the enclosure size vs screen size results in animals spending a lot of time off screen. You feed an animal or make it poop, and nothing happens because the animal was hidden by a tree or off-screen. Finding and unlocking the animals is good, but trying to view or interact with it afterwards is pretty bad/frustrating.
- and to the point I made in the original review, my child now thinks "GRASS" is spelled "F-E-E-D" because there is not a voice reinforcing the words as they are typed.
<<< original review below >>>
Cute for what it is, with a few key things missing. I suspect this was someone's final graduation project for a game design class, but that is pure speculation - it just has that kind of unpolished feel to it. (full screen still shows title bar, no mouse point and click support, arrow keys to move, ESC enters menu, but no instructions for that, ENTER changes menu options... all just very clunky and lacks user friendliness which could really hurt a game aimed at 4 year olds learning to read). The game itself would benefit for 1) a voice actor speaking the letters as they are types, and 2) saying the word once it is completed. For example, my child will think "hat" is spelled "SAFARI HAT" because she doesn't know the word "SAFARI", she just sees a hat on the screen and types the letters as prompted. Without any verbal reinforcement of the word, I'm not sure how much of this will stick. I dont suspect this game will actually help my child learn to spell any real words, but it might help her make the connection from just recognizing letter to actually organizing letters into words.
Actually, there is one word I do expect this game will teach my child: POOP. Because of this game, the first word my child will learn to spell and read will be "POOP". So, the question you need to ask yourself is: Is $5 a good price to pay for my child learning their first word, given that the word is "poop". I would say yes. It is also nice to not have to worry about constant ads or accidental click-purchases that go along with most children's games. I do not feel as though I could "plop" my child in front of this game and get a moment of peace, because without the verbal reinforcement of the letters and words, I do not expect it to keep my child engaged for any length of time. You'd have to supplement the child's playtime with someone with them reading the words back to them. All in all though, I'm optimistic I can work this into my child's learning activities.
