Disney Junior Games Online Review

I'm sure it's evident at this point that I am not a child. I am a Disney kid at heart, but I'm nearing thirty years old. However, the purpose of this blog is to review and preview all Disney games and gaming gear. That includes the stuff designed specifically for the under ten years old demographic. I do have an Epic Mickey review in the works but while I'm replaying it for a refresher I thought I'd take a look at the Disney Junior website.

Disney Junior is a block of child friendly programs found on the Disney channel designed with children aged from toddler to pre-teen in mind. It plays on the Disney network every morning from six in the morning to two in the afternoon. Those wanting more of the kid friendly programs can switch their televisions over to the Disney Junior channel and watch things like the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Doc McStuffins and Chuggington all day long. Advertisements during the Disney Junior block, or on the Disney Junior channel, make mention of the various games that can be found online at the website and for download at the App Store for iPads and Kindles.

So what sorts of games are available at the Disney Junior Games website? Due to the age range of the intended audience, none of these games are particularly difficult. Players will find a multitude of educational games, teaching math and colors, as well as numerous puzzles, memory matchers and music makers. I decided to play around with an action game and a math game.

Action - Pooh Sticks - How anyone can call Pooh Sticks an "action game" is beyond me. For those unfamiliar with the game, the premise is to drop a stick in a river and watch it move from where it was dropped to a specified spot in the river that serves as a finish line. This is generally played with a number of people; the winner is the one with the stick that gets to the finish line first. The online version requires moving the stick, the cursor, up and down the screen to avoid obstacles such as rocks, logs and lilypads. There are no power ups, no prizes, just a timer and it really doesn't matter how fast or slow you play. Piglet will always hope you will play again.

The graphics are bright and well drawn, the music is annoying but the animation runs smoothly. Pooh Sticks is visually appealing but that's all it has going for it.

Without a second player, this is an incredibly boring "action" game.

Math - Manny's Pinata Birthday Bash - Handy Manny is an engineer with a toolbox full of sentient tools, most of which speak Spanish. The purpose of this game is to create a pinata for Manny's birthday party. There is a mix and match aspect where the player can customize their pinata using three different shapes, three patterns and two different colors. After the pinata is constructed, it needs to be filled with toys which  involves a short memory game, if you can call it that. A list is provided, featuring three different objects that must be selected to continue. The list provides both the English terms for the items and the Spanish terms. Getting passed that, we finally get to the math part of the game, where players must solve very basic math problems (all addition from my few playthroughs) to hit and break open the pinata.

For some reason a score is kept yet I have no idea how the points are figured out or even what the purpose of scoring is. There isn't a different ending, no consequences, so it seems pointless to keep score.

As expected, neither game offered any sort of challenge, though both were brightly colored with cheery repetitive music. I suppose if a parent or babysitter had no qualms about letting their tiny tots play with the internet for a while, the games on the Disney Junior website could entertain.

Rating: 
Demographic: 2 - 5 year olds, boys and girls.
System(s): PC
Players: 1

Where's My Water Review

Unlike a lot of people these days, I do not live on my cellphone. Like any other normal adult, I live on my computer. That can make finding and playing certain games difficult, particularly when they're released exclusively for handheld devices like iPhones, Blackberries and Android phones. Thankfully Disney made sure to release a free version, though far shorter, of their surprisingly popular Where's My Water? title for desktop web browsers as well.

Released in 2011, Where's My Water? is a simple puzzle game featuring cartoon alligators. One particular gator, Swampy, lives in a rather dirty sewer city and wants nothing more than a bath. Unfortunately for him, he has neighbors that prefer chewing on the water pipes to more hygienic activities, which prevents our soiled hero from getting clean. Our job is to redirect water from either pools of standing water or from leaking pipes to Swampy's broken shower pipe so that he may bathe. The trick is that we don't actually get to touch the water, we can only clear a path by touching dirt obstructing the way. Sound easy? It would be if it weren't for those pesky laws of physics the game developers remembered. Water won't always flow in the direction the player might want, so figuring out how to bounce it off walls or movable platforms will be necessary. Points are awarded for speed, collecting rubber ducks and for providing more than the minimum amount of water needed for Swampy to get clean.

I don't see how washing with stagnant water is going to make Swampy feel clean, but this is about an alligator with an obsessive need to bathe. Realism isn't that important.

Though this game appears to be directed towards young kids, the graphics and very repetitive soundtrack are a sure sign this was meant for someone easily entertained, I have to admit that the puzzles aren't entirely easy. The first few levels aren't a problem at all, as it goes with most games, but then a few curve balls get thrown in for good measure. Eventually we have to deal with bombs in the sewers, which can be used to the player's advantage if detonated at the right time or place. For those young achievement hunters out there, accomplishing certain tasks during the levels also unlocks achievements, which can unlock special prizes like bonus stages and extra points.

The game I played wasn't the paid version of the game, and it's obvious that online players uninterested in paying get a much shorter gaming experience. The full game offers chapters to play through, each chapter offering twenty stages of increasingly difficult levels of gameplay. Online players choosing to try the free game only get ten stages of the first chapter, though if you collect enough rubber duckies you can unlock a bonus eleventh stage.

Play Now: Where's My Water?

Rating: 
Demographic: 8+ years, boys and girls.
System(s): iOS, Blackberry, Android and PC.
Players: 1