![]() Players spend a lot of time landing on squares that are already captured and thus nothing happens. The second problem with this puzzle is that it seems to be truly random how the dice rolls come up. The child can easily become frustrated because the board keeps on winning and not giving any guidance to the player as to what they are doing wrong. This is actually a problem with several of the puzzles in Mia, but is really highlighted in this puzzle due to the interface of the game. First, when a child gets an answer wrong the proper response is not shown. The puzzle involves a Monopoly-like board game where players have to match pictures of words to their actual words while playing against the artificial intelligence of the board itself, represented as a cute face in the center of the game. While most of the puzzles in the game are well done and emphasize learning in the areas of reading, sentence construction and rhyming, there is one puzzle that I think is fundamentally flawed in the game. But I suppose Kutoka wanted to err on the side of caution in this area. In tests, this tended to produces puzzles a bit lower than the age of the child. There is also the option of simply typing in a child’s age and having the game automatically configure puzzles based on what a child of that age should know. On level four, they won’t stump adults, but do begin to get out of reach for the targeted kindergarten to second grade age group. There is a fairly detailed level system in the game so children won’t run into puzzles that are too difficult. Children get unlimited tries on this game until it is complete. In one of the first puzzles you find, children are given the first letter of a word and challenged to drag and drop the proper second half of the word into place. Most of the puzzles in the game are vocabulary oriented. Here is where the learning comes to play. To compensate, Mia must explore her home and take a series of challenges from the various residents of her enchanted world. Mia emerges from the mugging unharmed, but without any sparkles. This aspect of the game is a bit violent, though it is hardly more disturbing than the average cartoon. ![]() On route to the store, Mia is ambushed by a rat who mugs her and takes all her sparkles. ![]() Sparkles are apparently the currency of the land Mia lives in, which is a house that is large enough for a tiny mouse and all her friends to remain unnoticed from the human occupants. Players take on the role of over-stuffed mouse Mia as she attempts to collect enough valuable "sparkles" to buy medicine for her ailing grandmother. ![]() Mia: The Search for Grandma’s Remedy has all the elements that can capture a child’s attention: a lovable heroine, an interesting plot and lots of visual effects. Canadian company Kutoka Interactive’s foray into the children’s computer entertainment and educational market is a good one. ![]()
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