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| The Entertainment Review |
| Genre: Edutainment Developer: Big Blue Bubble Publisher: Activision |
Many have heard of the genre called Edutainment, though it is kind of a joke in the gaming industry. It is a good idea in theory. Since
are playing constantly. Some of these companies are trying to take books and create video games out of them, and that is how “I Spy:
Fun House,” a classic book by Scholastic Books, came to be. This game is an educational Nintendo DS game that had a great idea,
but it turns out to be a completely unnecessary game because of the fact that the books are a lot cheaper than the game and they are a
lot more fun to look through.
For anyone that was in elementary school in the 90s will be very familiar with the I Spy series because of the popularity at that time. For
the very young and the very old, I Spy is a book series of picture riddles. Readers are offered a large and artistic picture that is
accompanies by two line riddles that name objects to find in the picture. “I Spy: Fun House” takes that original premise and puts it into
a video game, and throws in a couple of mini games for players to try to work through.
The fun house offers players with six different illustrations; each of them is accompanied by three riddles, giving players a total of 18
different puzzles to solve in the game. The pictures are obviously a lot smaller than the ones that can be found in the books, so
everything that needs to be found it pretty close together, making the task of finding objects a lot easier than some would probably want.
However, they are big enough to require players to scroll using either the touch screen or D-Pad eventually. Players tap on the touch
screen to highlight the item that they are looking for, and that is it. The puzzles don’t have the same appeal that the books do, and the
game does offer an experience that is slightly similar to that of the book series, but there is something missing from the game. Also,
those who have used the books in the past will notice that the illustrations are not from the original artist, Walter Wick, who created
images that were simply fun to look at even if readers weren’t looking for a particular object.
Since there are three riddles per illustration, players will become very familiar with the pictures. The biggest problem with the puzzles is
that the picture is so small and cramped that players will see everything in it the first time they look through it. This makes the second
and third rounds very easy to work through because nothing changes between rounds. A couple of the puzzles have a little bit of a twist.
One level allows players to turn on an X-Ray in order to reveal hidden items. Oddly enough this turns out to be the easiest puzzles in the
game.
There are four other games in the fun house including a carnival themed version of Simon, Pop & Drop, Hoop Shot and Prize Popper.
There is a pretty basic theme of matching objects linking most of the games together. Even for a kids game this seems to be very
basic. However, most of the games have dozens of rounds that make it more complicated. Still, unless the player is in the age range of
a single digit, matching green objects from round objects is not going to be a very difficult task.
The game is won when players are able to collect ten tickets, earning their way out of the fun house. Since each puzzle gives a ticket
and every ten rounds of the simple mini games do too, earning 10 tickets take around an hour. After leaving the fun house, players are
thrown back into the fun house again and are told to earn ten more tickets. The second time around it takes a little more time since the
mini games stay on the round they were left at. However, the actual I Spy puzzles are still the same and they aren’t any more fun the
second time around.
The largest issue comes from the fact that the I Spy book series can be purchased from roughly $10 each. For the same price as this
game someone would be able to buy three books that would be roughly 40 puzzles. Each of the puzzles from the book would take just
as long, if not longer, than playing each of the puzzles in the video game three times. Anyone who is a fan of the original book series
will be extremely underwhelmed and will quickly get bored by this game.
For some reason people think that everything has to be put into an electronic form, even if it worked well int eh original format.
Scholastic Books has to reach out to a new batch of elementary aged children and tried to do so with a game on the Nintendo DS. It
was a great effort, but there just enough game to play that would justify purchasing the game in the first place. If there were more
puzzles in the game or if they were more difficult to solve it would have been a lot better game. The fact of the matter is that this game is
made to be played by children that are much to young to know anything about the original series, which is possibly what the developers
were banking on.
are playing constantly. Some of these companies are trying to take books and create video games out of them, and that is how “I Spy:
Fun House,” a classic book by Scholastic Books, came to be. This game is an educational Nintendo DS game that had a great idea,
but it turns out to be a completely unnecessary game because of the fact that the books are a lot cheaper than the game and they are a
lot more fun to look through.
For anyone that was in elementary school in the 90s will be very familiar with the I Spy series because of the popularity at that time. For
the very young and the very old, I Spy is a book series of picture riddles. Readers are offered a large and artistic picture that is
accompanies by two line riddles that name objects to find in the picture. “I Spy: Fun House” takes that original premise and puts it into
a video game, and throws in a couple of mini games for players to try to work through.
The fun house offers players with six different illustrations; each of them is accompanied by three riddles, giving players a total of 18
different puzzles to solve in the game. The pictures are obviously a lot smaller than the ones that can be found in the books, so
everything that needs to be found it pretty close together, making the task of finding objects a lot easier than some would probably want.
However, they are big enough to require players to scroll using either the touch screen or D-Pad eventually. Players tap on the touch
screen to highlight the item that they are looking for, and that is it. The puzzles don’t have the same appeal that the books do, and the
game does offer an experience that is slightly similar to that of the book series, but there is something missing from the game. Also,
those who have used the books in the past will notice that the illustrations are not from the original artist, Walter Wick, who created
images that were simply fun to look at even if readers weren’t looking for a particular object.
Since there are three riddles per illustration, players will become very familiar with the pictures. The biggest problem with the puzzles is
that the picture is so small and cramped that players will see everything in it the first time they look through it. This makes the second
and third rounds very easy to work through because nothing changes between rounds. A couple of the puzzles have a little bit of a twist.
One level allows players to turn on an X-Ray in order to reveal hidden items. Oddly enough this turns out to be the easiest puzzles in the
game.
There are four other games in the fun house including a carnival themed version of Simon, Pop & Drop, Hoop Shot and Prize Popper.
There is a pretty basic theme of matching objects linking most of the games together. Even for a kids game this seems to be very
basic. However, most of the games have dozens of rounds that make it more complicated. Still, unless the player is in the age range of
a single digit, matching green objects from round objects is not going to be a very difficult task.
The game is won when players are able to collect ten tickets, earning their way out of the fun house. Since each puzzle gives a ticket
and every ten rounds of the simple mini games do too, earning 10 tickets take around an hour. After leaving the fun house, players are
thrown back into the fun house again and are told to earn ten more tickets. The second time around it takes a little more time since the
mini games stay on the round they were left at. However, the actual I Spy puzzles are still the same and they aren’t any more fun the
second time around.
The largest issue comes from the fact that the I Spy book series can be purchased from roughly $10 each. For the same price as this
game someone would be able to buy three books that would be roughly 40 puzzles. Each of the puzzles from the book would take just
as long, if not longer, than playing each of the puzzles in the video game three times. Anyone who is a fan of the original book series
will be extremely underwhelmed and will quickly get bored by this game.
For some reason people think that everything has to be put into an electronic form, even if it worked well int eh original format.
Scholastic Books has to reach out to a new batch of elementary aged children and tried to do so with a game on the Nintendo DS. It
was a great effort, but there just enough game to play that would justify purchasing the game in the first place. If there were more
puzzles in the game or if they were more difficult to solve it would have been a lot better game. The fact of the matter is that this game is
made to be played by children that are much to young to know anything about the original series, which is possibly what the developers
were banking on.
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