Reviewed: November 25, 2005
Reviewed by: Dave & Garrett Larson
Publisher
Bold Games
Developer
Gabriel Entertainment
Released: September 12, 2005
Genre: Edutainment
Players: 1
ESRB: Child (3-6)
8
8
8
9
8.5
Screenshots (Click Image for Gallery)
Are you looking for a game for your child this Christmas? If so, you’re in luck. As a parent, I have hunted for games that meet two simple requirements: holding my boy’s attention for more than five minutes, and one that works. Seems simple, right? Well, I had a tough time, but luckily John Deer and Bold Games have finally come through. Before I get into John Deere: Busy Days in Deerfield Valley though, let me give you a quick bio on the real reviewer.
My son Garrett is 4 years old, and he is of course cuter than your kid. Sorry, but the truth hurts. Cuteness aside, he is a wellspring of never-ending journey that is often hard to control. He’s not one of the millions of over-diagnosed ADD kids, but I am told that he is “all boy.” I’ve never been quite sure what that means, but he has two modes: on and off. “On” pretty much means he is always doing any two of the three activities of running, talking, or eating. He’s proficient on a computer—he logs himself into the Disney website with the bookmark button on Internet Explorer, and can start and play the game beginning with the desktop icon on our cluttered desktop. He can’t really type words, but he can type his name if he bothers. He definitely can focus, but it has to be something he likes. If he doesn’t like something, or is too familiar with hit, any activity has a lifespan of about 3 minutes before something new is started.
The game in and of itself consists of six games, and bonus material that is simply six different scenes to print out for your child to color. Each game is completely separate from the others. You enter and exit them to and from a main menu screen. Also, the games vary among difficulties that correspond to different ages. Busy Days in Deerfield Valley is intended for ages 3-6, but as you see below, the different games are really only appropriate for certain ages.
The first game is “Explore Deerfield Valley.” It’s definitely for 3-year-olds. It’s pretty basic, and involves a simple scene with Danny Dozer, Barney Backhoe, Grady Grader, Eddie Excavator and Luke Loader. You can click on them and the talk a bit and demonstrate what they do. Aside from that, you can click and grab a few items and animals on the screen, but it’s basically a good way for your child to get used to a mouse and the game.
After that, the next three games are all for 4 and maybe some 5-year-olds. “Pipe Works” is a matching game. Basically, your child is laying a pipe, and the options for the new section are colored different colors on the ends. Your child picks the one that matches the color of the old pipe, and after about six or so pieces he or she wins. YAY! Okay, so I’m doing my supportive daddy thing again. Sorry about that. Following that is “Fix the Bridge.” That is similar to the pipe game, but this time your child matches the shape of the pieces instead of the color. “Help Build the Library” is really an exercise in grouping items. There is a little yard, and your child controls a little bulldozer. The goal is to push all of the bricks into the red bin, rocks into the yellow bin, and sticks into the orange bin.
“Sandbox Play Zone” is basically a free-play zone. You can play each of the different tractors and dig holes, move gravel and sand and smooth it all back again. It lacks any sort of victory or completion scene, so it is the least favorite game for my son. And, the last game is “Surprise Delivery”. It by far is the hardest game. It is basically a kids version of the ol’ favorite Pac Man. Your child’s goal is to drive a slow truck around trying to catch these crazy fast-moving plants that remind me of that dratted ghosts from Pac Man. Once you catch them, then the truck goes to the town square and plants them nicely around a beautiful statue. Honestly, the truck is ridiculously slow and younger kids are going to get frustrated.
Overall, the controls are mostly intuitive, which is downright critical as this game will be training kids to use computers. With the exception of entering a name at the beginning of the game, everything is mouse-driven. The buttons to start and exit the game are large and easy to figure out with bright green and yellow arrows. The mouse pointer is consistent in making the various machines or parts move around, and the game doesn’t require absolute precision—it allows for some error with clicking for things to work.
There are a couple of hiccups and problems. The first is that the library game was a little tricky with directions, and required the left mouse button to be held to make the bulldozer move. That’s rather tough for small, kid hands. Garrett figured it out, but had occasional problems being consistent with holding the button down, which led to some frustrations for him. The print-out scenes were also a little too easy for him—there were a couple of times I left him deeply occupied with the game and came back with freshly-printed papers all over the desk and floor. I turned off the printer, but it would be nice if the game had an option to lock that feature.
The other thing that future buyers should be aware is that this game will take some parent training. In theory, most parents will sit down with their kid the first few times just to see and enjoy their kid’s reactions, but it will also take a few demonstrations for your kid to figure out each game. It won’t be long though, before your child is plugging away without your help.
As a kids game, these are definitely of a lower quality than the average video game. That being said, the graphics are well designed for kids. Colors and shapes are clearly defined, and the mouse hand is always visible.
The music is definitely reminiscent of old NES games—fairly monochromatic with simple tunes. To avoid parent madness, headphones for your child are strongly recommended. It’s not as irritating as some games, though, so there is a blessing.
At a MSRP of $19.99, this game is definitely worth the money. It’s a good computer training game for kids, and the blessed half-hour of peace and mind is so worth it. It wouldn’t be a good idea to have your child over-play this game. If there is too much too fast, then your child may never want to play it again, but if you moderate how much playing time per day your child has, this game should have a lengthy life-span for your son our daughter.
This game did a solid job of keeping my son’s attention, and that’s saying something. There are days he’s less interested than others, but that’s only natural. He can play Busy Days in Deerfield Valley for a maximum of about thirty minutes. That’s pretty good, especially for such an active boy. Other, calmer children may well play this for significantly longer time periods. This game has a nice mix of simplicity and active thinking that makes it a great kid’s game. Buy it, and then get that laundry done before you child surfaces again!
About the Game Tester - Garrett Larson
Age: 4 years old
Favorite food: Mac and cheese, chicken nuggets, French fries, and peanut butter on toaster waffles
Favorite Movie: Little Einsteins
Favorite Website: Disney
Favorite Sports: Hide and seek, tackling dogs, waking up daddy at 6 in the morning
Machine: Dell Pentium 4 1.6 GHz processor with 512 ram, 80 GB hard drive, NVIDIA 5900 graphics card, Soundblaster 5.1 sound, Sony headphones, Logitech mouse