James the Red Engine is chosen to pick up animals and deliver them to the new zoo! Along the way he gets lost, and his friends come to the rescue. Help him get all the animals to the zoo for Opening Day in this adventure from Brighter Minds Media.
Pros
- Very little computer skill required
- No reading required
Cons
- Lack of variability; no “free play” feature
Playing the Game
Special Delivery consists primarily of watching a Thomas & Friends animated story featuring James, Thomas and Harold (to those fans of Percy, Gordon and the others…you’re out of luck). Periodically the story pauses so that players can do a game or perform some other action. These pauses are timed pretty well; just as you’re losing interest, there’s something to do. But there is definitely more watching than playing involved.
Getting through the entire story, plus doing the games, takes about one hour. Like a DVD, the story is broken into chapters, so if you stop partway through and come back later, you can jump in close to where you left off without having to start all over. But there’s no jumping ahead the first time…you can only select from chapters you’ve completed. Once you’ve gotten through the whole story, you can then select any chapter or game to start with in future sessions.
The “games” which appear throughout the story are really more of a task-completion than an actual game. Most involve visual matching: completing a puzzle to build the animals’ cages, filling in gaps in the track, and putting toys in the correct-shaped box. There is also one in which players must listen to directions in order to navigate a map, one number identification, and one counting.
Two Levels of Play
There are two levels of play, easy and hard. Games are the same on either level, though some on the harder level require slightly more advanced visual discrimination skills. For example, puzzles may consist of about eight smaller pieces, as opposed to four larger pieces on the easy level. When filling in gaps on the track on the hard level, shadows are not provided; players must judge for themselves which shape of track would connect two sides. When giving auditory directions to navigate a map, the harder level uses terms like “left”, “right” and “straight”, whereas the easy level relies on more visual cues like “over a bridge” or “between two rocks.”
Little Ones Can Do This
This software is geared towards young children with basic computer skills. All of the games can be played simply by moving a mouse and clicking; no dragging is required. When completing puzzles, precision is not important; pieces will be accepted as correct if they are close enough to where they should be. Definitely a plus to those still-developing fine motor skills. On the other hand, if your little one still hasn't mastered point-and-click, they'll need some help.
Play It Once, You’ve Seen It All
I was disappointed in the lack of variability. There is only one story, and it runs exactly the same way every time. Granted, once you’ve played through, you can jump around and do just the games, but there’s no room for creativity here. My little one had been hoping it included some kind of fun, independent activity, like a design-your-own-track kind of thing; doing the same tasks exactly the same way each time got boring.
Bottom Line
For a young child just beginning on computer games, this is a good buy. It makes a great first game for the very young, being sort of a segue between watching a cartoon and playing a computer game; they get some experience moving a mouse, but with lots of breaks to just enjoy the story.
Manufacturer Specs
- Requires Windows XP or Vista, and DirectX 9 compatible video card
- ESRB Rating: E for Everyone
- Retails for $19.95
- Recommended for ages 3-5
