Alex Builds His Farm

Rating:
Summary: great kids software
Review: Both my boys age 4 and 7 loved this game! They have both spent hours playing with Alex on his farm. They have milked cows, drove tractors, swam in the farm pond and raced the dog on the pony just to name a few things. Excellent graphics and easy to use for the kids.

Rating:
Summary: great kids software
Review: Both my boys age 4 and 7 loved this game! They have both spent hours playing with Alex on his farm. They have milked cows, drove tractors, swam in the farm pond and raced the dog on the pony just to name a few things. Excellent graphics and easy to use for the kids.

Rating:
Summary: Frustrating for kids of all ages!
Review: If you value your sanity avoid this program. The lengthly introductions that begin each time you start up the game cannot be stopped. I was twenty minutes into the "game" before any real action occurred, causing one of the four children present to comment, "There's too much talking!". The four kids present (ages 3 to 8)were bored and frustrated as we tried to actually fulfill the promise of building the farm. I finally illegally shut down my computer as it was impossible to escape any other way. As an avid Playmobil toy buyer I was very disappointed to see the quality of this game. The graphics are initially exciting but the structure of the game is so poor I couldn't recommend it for that reason alone. This game is like a one lane highway that doesn't allow for passing and when you finally exit and hope to travel somewhere else you find that you're right back where you started!

Rating:
Summary: Frustrating for kids of all ages!
Review: If you value your sanity avoid this program. The lengthly introductions that begin each time you start up the game cannot be stopped. I was twenty minutes into the "game" before any real action occurred, causing one of the four children present to comment, "There's too much talking!". The four kids present (ages 3 to 8)were bored and frustrated as we tried to actually fulfill the promise of building the farm. I finally illegally shut down my computer as it was impossible to escape any other way. As an avid Playmobil toy buyer I was very disappointed to see the quality of this game. The graphics are initially exciting but the structure of the game is so poor I couldn't recommend it for that reason alone. This game is like a one lane highway that doesn't allow for passing and when you finally exit and hope to travel somewhere else you find that you're right back where you started!

Rating:
Summary: Alex is intense!
Review: My 6 year old cannot turn this game off. The graphics draw us in; positioning the player as she moves about, as if there were a camera on her back, dazzling you with colors, and paying perfect detail to the Playmobil animals and people which feel so familiar! Great for your Playmobil fan to be "in the scene". Lots of challenge if you want to change levels as you go.

Rating:
Summary: Good Things Worth Waiting For...
Review: While I understand the frustrations of one of the reviewers below, I must give this game the highest rating, because my 4-year old daughter loves it so. It fits her needs to a T. A game may not always be a do-all-understand-all-immediately experience.
Alex Builds His Farm takes some patience to play and to finish all its activities, but the end result, it seems to me, is well worth the wait. First off, let me say that you'll need high-end performance capability to make this game worth the money. If you
don't have a good 3-D graphics card, a lot of RAM, and at least Direct X 8.0, you won't be able to make the game run. My Pentium speed is 500. If you have all that, this game is nothing less than breathtaking to look at! Alex can make a circle-route trip to explore his farm. Besides the farm house, there is a barn, a garden, a hen house, a stable, a cornfield maze, an apple tree, and a lake. A toddler of 3 or 4 (who has mastered the keyboard controls) can take great delight in exploring along with Alex. There are tasks to complete, like putting together the farm buildings, or fetching something Grandma needs in the kitchen. There are also multi-level games to play, like racing Alex's pony
versus his dog, fishing, feeding the cows, finding the crows who are trying to eat all the corn, or saving the hens from a wolf.
Alex also helps his dad to seed, raise, and harvest vegetables in
the garden. The food later appears (in cooked form) in the kitchen, so kids come to understand just how a farm really works.
Alex is also playful and a bit mischievous, which toddlers can relate to. It's true the instructions for games can't be stopped.
I use them to reinforce my daughter's listening skills. But I was
able to pause and/or stop the activities any other time I wanted to, by using the escape key. One other helpful aspect of this game is that anything your child can help Alex "do" is hinted at,
as the items are highlighted in blue. Some items only work in combination with other items, so your child has to use thinking skills to put one-and-one together. My advice to parents who are
cautious about whether your child is ready for this game is: give it a shot! If you don't underestimate what your kid can accomplish with a little sticktoitiveness, you'll likely be pleased with the
results you can achieve with this game. For my little one, Alex's
farm is an absolute joy, like a trip to another world, and she can't wait to enter this world each day. My joy, of course, was seeing her build the farm and learn how to do everything there is
to do there, all by herself!