Games

Go, Diego, Go! 2-Game Set

Nick Jr.’s cartoon superstar Diego headlines this two-game collection, which includes Great Dinosaur Rescue and Safari Rescue. Kids will love helping Diego save wild animals in distress. In Great Dinosaur Rescue, Diego and Baby Jaguar hunt for dino eggs, while minigames teach kids about dinosaurs and reinforce skills like counting, shape recognition, and language.

The shorter Safari Rescue has Diego and Baby Jaguar join their friend Juma in the Serengeti. A magician has turned the elephants to stone, and the trio must find a magic drum to transform them back. Similar skill reinforcements are put to work in Safari Rescue’s minigames, but both titles are polished, and Diego is such a heartthrob with the under-6 set that they won’t mind the games’ glaring similarities.

Diego and dinosaurs go together like PB and J.

Go Diego, Go! 2-Game Set
COMPANY: Nova Development
CONTACT: novadevelopment.com
PRICE: $19.99
REQUIREMENTS: Mac OS 10.4 or later

Characters many preschoolers will be familiar with. Dinos and safari animals.

Similar skill reinforcements in both games. Safari Rescue has less content.

Captain Bumper

This side-scrolling arcade game evokes our childhoods--the days when Duran Duran was on the radio and games cost a quarter at the local arcade. In it, you play as Captain Bumper, a lantern-jawed hero who pilots his ship from an open cockpit, blasting bug-eyed aliens and collecting power ups and bonus multipliers. The violence level is cartoonish--explosions consist of animated dust clouds, and aliens get “zapped” but there’s no blood. It’s definitely family friendly.

The simple controls require just the arrow keys, space bar, and Control key, while the smooth graphics shine even on low-end machines--in fact, Captain Bumper even runs on pre-OS X Macs. We saw some graphical glitches on a Snow Leopard–equipped MacBook, however. And the $25 price is out of line for what amounts to some simple casual gaming.

Cute graphics and low system requirements make Captain Bumper fun for everyone.

Captain Bumper
COMPANY: MacRun Games
CONTACT: macrun.com
PRICE: $25
REQUIREMENTS: Any Mac running Mac OS 8.6 or later

Very low system requirements. Simple to master game mechanics.

Glitchy graphics.

FusionFall

FusionFall, Cartoon Network’s ambitious massively multiplayer online game (MMO) runs in a web browser, but don’t dismiss it as some simple Flash affair. Using the Unity plug-in, kids can get a compelling 3D online gaming experience with familiar TV characters. FusionFall emphasizes running, jumping, and climbing, but mixes in puzzle solving and combat. And since it’s an MMO for kids, interaction with other players is monitored to make sure nothing inappropriate goes on.

Conventional MMOs involve a lot of “grinding,” or rewarding players who spend hours gaining experience. FusionFall is designed for the more casual player who may only have 10 or 15 minutes to spend at a time. What’s more, you can play through the first four levels for free. The browser plug-in installation could be more graceful--it drops a webplayer-i386.dmg file onto your Mac that newbies may not know what to do with--but the download and installation are quick.

Before they're ready for World of Warcraft, FusionFall introduces kids to MMOs.

FusionFall
COMPANY: Cartoon Network
CONTACT: fusionfall.com
PRICE: Free for the first four levels, subscriptions start at $5.95 per month
REQUIREMENTS: Intel Mac with Mac OS 10.4 or later, Firefox 3 or later or Safari

Filtered chat to keep younger players away from inappropriate content.

Wonky plug-in installer.

Spore

Spore lets you guide the evolution of a life form--a heady mix that’s been enormously popular with kids and adults alike since its release. The game is most appealing to children during the creature-creation phase--in fact, EA spun that part off as the standalone Spore Creature Creator, available for $10.

The full game involves guiding your creature from its origins in a tidal pool all the way up to colonizing space. But for kids, the early stages are too easy, the later stages are too hard, and the whole fun but flawed experience becomes frustrating. We recommend parents try the less-expensive Spore Creature Creator to give their kids the best and most creative part of this game without bogging them down in the details.

Create whatever freaks of nature you can dream up.

Spore
COMPANY: Electronic Arts
CONTACT: gametreeonline.com
PRICE: $39.99
REQUIREMENTS: Intel processor, Mac OS 10.5.3 or later

Fun to create creatures and evolve them through stages of life.

Creating creatures doesn't affect game outcome.

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