Okay, let me get this straight, I recently reviewed WALL-E video games for Sony’s PSP and PS3 gaming platforms and both versions bested me, and now you want me to review WALL-E for LeapFrog's Leapster2?  Wait, geared towards children ages 4 to 7… Gee I may actually have a chance.

WALL-E, for those of you who don’t know, though I can’t think of many people who don’t know, is the recent Pixar movie about a small robot named WALL-E, assigned to clean up the Earth while the human species takes an extended vacation… A really extended vacation.  Anyway, WALL-E’s can-do attitude eventually helps him to save his girlfriend EVE, other robots, the human race, and the Earth.  So, it only make sense that LeapFrog would design a game around WALL-E for their Leapster2 Learning Game System.  And helping me to put the game through its paces is my 4-year-old son, Caleb.

Space Is Like, Vast

WALL-E is like most games designed for Leapster Systems in that it mixes entertainment with education, however, WALL-E is the first game that I’ve encountered from LeapFrog that helps a child to look past their own backyard by looking at global pollution, recycling, and out into space and beyond… Oh yeah, and it educates too.

Game play for WALL-E is divided into 5 different games.  Some of the games have varying levels, however, like other Leapster2 games, WALL-E takes cues from the child’s playing achievements to advance the challenge of the game as the child advances.  The different games are as follows:

In Axiom Action, the child helps WALL-E’s girlfriend, EVE, rescue WALL-E by defeating the Axiom’s robot stewards with EVE’s laser gun, however, there is a twist. The child has to first shoot the steward displaying the letter named by the Leapster2 before he can shoot the other stewards.  This game teaches letter recognition, capital versus lower case letter recognition, and spelling.  I can see why this game appeals to kids because you get to blast things, however, I did find that when it asked us to spell words it was difficult to understand the word being said.  It reminded me a lot of the old Speak ‘n Spell.

In Sorting and Recycling, the child helps WALL-E clean up by clicking on adjacent colored block representing different types of garbage: paper, plastic, and glass, before the time runs out.  Look out for sandstorms, which shuffles up the garbage.  At the end of each level, the Leapster2 dispenses facts on recycling and cleanup.

In Star Gazing, WALL-E teaches the child a little astronomy by cleverly using number recognition and mathematics to point out the constellations.  What I appreciated about this game was that it pointed out both Northern and Southern constellations… Yes, Virginia, there is no Small Dipper for Australia. 

In Rocket Ride, the child helps WALL-E find the Axiom by piloting a rocket to tour our solar system and learning about the planets.  Two things about this one caught my attention: 1) As far and LeapFrog is concerned, Pluto is NOT a planet, i.e., our solar system only has eight planets, 2) The depiction of the Planet Earth follows the WALL-E storyline in that it is not its usual blue-green color, but rather a smoggy-brownish color.  I thought that was a nice touch.

In Creative Cube Stacking, the child helps WALL-E stack cubes by mirroring on the right side of the screen a pattern that is depicted on the left side of the screen.  I think this game is suppose to teach a child spatial acuity, but I wouldn’t know because we didn’t spend too long playing this game.

As the child moves through the games, he helps WALL-E spot and collect items for WALL-E’s Treasure Shelf.  The child can then go at anytime to view the items collected by clicking on WALL-E’s Treasure Shelf.  This allows the game to play a short humorous cartoon of WALL-E interacting with the item, which is always a nice break for kids.

WALL-E, like most Leapster games, is designed to advance in difficulty as the child advances in game play, so that the child is always being challenged.  The game also takes advantage of the Leapster2’s ability to connect with a PC or Mac through a USB connection to allow the child to collect Rewards for game advancements.  As an example, children can print out the constellations identified in the Star Gazing game.  WALL-E also uses LeapFrog’s Learning Path Program to keep the parents abreast of the child’s development through game play. Finally, you can play this game on any of the other Leapster Learning Game Systems; however, you will need a Leapster2 to take full advantage of the extended features.

Overall Impression

Leapfrog got it right when they suggested this one for 4- to 7-year-olds.  There is a wide range of game play to make it simple enough for the 4-year-old to use, and engaging enough for the 7-year-old.  Besides which, space and space exploration is so cool.  Therefore, Caleb had no problem giving it 10 stars out of a possible 10.  As for me, I’m giving it 7 Dancing Elephants out of 8, only because it was really hard to understand the words it was asking us to spell.

Parting Thoughts

Okay, I understand the justification for taking away Pluto’s planetary status, however, what are we now supposed to do with the Planetary Mnemonic “My Very Experienced Mother Just Served Us Nine Pies”?