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Review: Flips: Enid Blyton’s Adventure Series (DS)

Words by

Jennifer Allen

Posted on May 24, 2010

Review: Flips: Enid Blyton’s Adventure Series (DS)

I loved Enid Blyton’s tales as a child. I absorbed everything about them from the Famous Five, Secret Seven and even Malory Towers despite not being an overly girly child. Somehow I don’t remember ever reading the Adventure Series though but Flips: Enid Blyton’s Adventure Series was the perfect opportunity for me to catch up.

The entire Adventure series is here, all 8 books in one handy DS cartridge. The titles feature Jack, Philip, Dinah and Lucy-Ann who, along with their pet parrot Kiki, manage to always get caught up in various adventures. Whether it be inadvertently getting onto the wrong plane or having to search for lost treasure, there’s always something afoot to make their life more thrilling.

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Review: Flips: Mr. Gum (DS)

Words by

Jennifer Allen

Posted on May 12, 2010

You probably haven’t heard of Mr Gum but your kids, nieces/nephews and cousins will have. The Mr Gum series of books are aimed at younger readers, namely the 8-10 age group. They’re a fun series of books about the grumpy Mr Gum and his town of Lamonic Bibber. Each story offers plenty of jokes and laughs to keep kids entertained. They’re the sort of thing that I’d have loved as a kid who was obsessed with the Ha Ha Bonk joke book. Mr Gum is also the star of one of the latest Flips interactive books and deservedly so.

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Review: Pokémon HeartGold/SoulSilver (DS)

Words by

Jennifer Allen

Posted on March 25, 2010

Review: Pokémon HeartGold/SoulSilver (DS)

Back when I was much younger I was a Pokémon addict. Not the cartoon series or anything like that, no, instead I was hooked on Pokémon Blue and Gold on my Gameboy. They were amazing at the time. Being able to collect hundreds of Pokémon (creatures basically) was just too compelling for my young mind. Somehow future instalments never hooked me in the same way. I guess it was all down to timing. Pearl and Diamond came along when I was already busy with other things. However now with the arrival of Pokémon HeartGold/SoulSilver I’m addicted all over again. Even if I am of an age where it’s a little embarrassing to pause in the middle of Asda to check how my Pokémon is doing on my Pokewalker. It doesn’t stop Pokémon HeartGold/SoulSilver being unmissable though. This really is an essential purchase for DS owners.

Pokémon HeartGold/SoulSilver at their heart are enhanced remakes of Pokémon Gold and Silver. They’re more than that though with some fundamental additions. Sure the storyline is the same. You start out in New Bark Town and must travel across seven cities and three towns in order to beat eight gym leaders and eventually the Elite Four. It’s all extremely familiar stuff but it’s a warm sort of familiarity. The type that you get when you return to an old childhood love funnily enough.

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Review: Tinkerbell And The Lost Treasure (DS)

Words by

Daniel Lipscombe

Posted on March 19, 2010

Review: Tinkerbell And The Lost Treasure (DS)

Tinkerbell and the Lost Treasure is without a doubt a kid’s title. This isn’t a game that, in adult hands, can still be entertaining or a challenge. Based on the recent Tinkerbell movie, you are tasked with guiding the popular Disney fairy around her world of Pixie Hollow and playing out the moments in the film. Finding a genre to place this game in is the most difficult task, much of it plays similarly to a puzzle game, but there are some platforming elements thrown in too.

It’s not a tough game by any stretch of the imagination and even kids won’t have many problems. The issues they will find are linked more to the touch screen interface on later platforming sections. Starting off, players have to do no more than guide Tinkerbell around her home by dragging her on the touch screen and a quick tap will interact with other characters. Later in the game there are sections that will require a defter hand.

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Review: Flips: Artemis Fowl (DS)

Words by

Jennifer Allen

Posted on February 11, 2010

In a similar vein to Flips: Too Ghoul for School, Flips: Artemis Fowl is another series of interactive books. This time round however, the game is aimed at older children who might want a more focused reading experience than Too Ghoul For School offers with its many distractions.

Artemis Fowl is a series of books about the teenage criminal mastermind of the same name. It’s a darker affair compared to the likes of Too Ghoul for School, and rightly so considering these books are aimed at the ‘tweenie’ age group, 10-13. Despite being a child, Artemis Fowl is quite ruthless as is shown in the first book where he kidnaps a member of the reconnaissance unit of the fairy police force. Think of Artemis Fowl as an anti hero of sorts with some of the moral quandaries later in the series blurring the lines between right and wrong. No surprise then that kids love their sense of adventure and moral ambiguity.

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