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)
The holidays are coming, and you know what that means. It means packing up half your house and travel umpteen miles with your cherished offspring fighting you every step of the way just to be shown off like a statue at an art museum. However, cut some of that pain by giving the grandparents a list of stuff to get for your dear child, and that should include John Deere: Welcome to Merriweather Farm. Brought to the shelves by Bold Games, this is a game designed for wee ones ages 3 through 6, and it’s a great game to show your kids their way around a computer.
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. Welcome to Merriweather Farm 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 Merriweather Farm.” It’s definitely for 3-year-olds. It’s pretty basic, and involves a simple scene with Johnny Tractor, Allie Gator, and Corey Combine. 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 stack a few tires, but it’s basically a good way for your child to get used to a mouse and the game.
After that, the rest of the games are all for 4- or 5-year-olds. “Apple Harvest” is a coordination game. Basically, your child moves Johnny Tractor (JT) around to catch falling apples. If too many apples are missed, then a mean old raccoon takes the apples away. Following that is “Combine Fun.” It’s basically a farming game. Your child will move Corey Combine around, harvesting corn and depositing it in the collection wagon.
“Corn Maze” is Garrett’s personal favorite. He really likes getting the jeep, Allie Gator, through the maze and getting all of the tools left in the maze. “Chicken Coop Chase” is SOMETHING. “Help J.T. Plow” is a little driving game. Your child steers JT as he drives down a road filled with obstacles and goodies. JT needs to move to the left, right, or middle to avoid obstacles and get fuel to keep on going. After a set distance has been gone, a victory scene appears.
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 JT plow game was a little tricky to get a hang of with the controls. It caused some problems with Garrett getting frustrated with the game for a while. 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 period 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 Welcome to Merriweather Farm for a maximum of about twenty 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. Get the grandparents to get this game, and watch your son or daughter shine on your computer.
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