The Sewing Mom

I was recently given a dvd-rom and asked by Kutoka Interactive to have my 5 and 9 year old nieces test it out. They did and I am here to report on their findings and how much fun they had while playing Mia’s Big Adventure - The Bugaboo Bugs. Mia’s Big Adventure is a collection of six that mix adventure and interactive games with learning.

In this sixth dvd-rom in the series, Mia and her family, a family of mice, find that their home has been invaded by the Bugaboo Bugs. It’s important that the mice find a way to get rid of these nasty, stinky, noisy bugs before the humans discover the bugs and bring in an exterminator. An exterminator would mean that Mia and her family would have to find a new home.The first thing we did upon receiving the software was to download it on our computer. It seemed to load very slowly, even though we’re using Windows XP. We did go do other activities while waiting. Once it was finished downloading, we discovered excellent 3-D graphics and colorful displays. The girls enjoyed the interaction between Mia and her family members and guiding Mia through the old Victorian house.There are two game styles included, Adventure Mode and Activities Mode. My nieces played in Adventure Mode to discover more about Mia and her family. There are four difficulty levels to match with different learning levels and all are appropriate for ages 5-9. My nieces used the computer mouse and arrow keys to guide Mia through the house discovering inventions and passageways. Throughout the adventure, Mia is looking for jewels which can be used as a form of money at The General Store. While my girls never managed to get that far, they did collect a couple of jewels and played a few of the activities.

The learning activities cover associating images to words, adverbs, phonics, rhymes, spelling, sentence structure, vocabulary, reading comprehension, and word recognition. The games have different levels of difficulty and are clearly explained before each game begins. There are even helpful hints so that players don’t get frustrated.

While each game that was played was enjoyed and a great learning tool, the girls found that most of the time in Adventure Mode was spent having Mia walk from room to room through the house. The slow pace made it a bit difficult for them to stay focused, particularly the younger one. This age group might enjoy the Activity Mode more than the Adventure Mode.

Mia’s Big Adventure - The Bugaboo Bugs is available on DVD-rom and requires Windows XP or VISTA. It will also work with Macintosh OS X.

Note: This is a non-paid review.

Tags: Kutoka Interactive, kutoka.com, Mia's Big Adventure, The Bugaboo Bugs