28/02/201501/01/2019 by jo

Home : Boov Pop! App Review

If you have been to the cinema lately you may have seen a trailer for the new Dreamworks film. Home. In short, some aliens called Boov come to earth hide from their enemies, to make it their new home. Home : Boov Pop! is based on the animation, and we were given an early preview.

Home : Boov Pop has been developed and published by Behaviour Interactive and is exclusively available in the App Store now. An Android version is set to follow soon.

The game has in-app purchases, something you’re warned about immediately, which I appreciated as they’re often hidden away. I’ve had a play with H, we tried to load it up on her 1st Gen iPad, but it won’t work – so it’s on my mini. The game is free, so you wouldn’t be out of pocket, mind and it doesn’t take up a lot of space.

Each level has coloured balloons you have to pop, and you’re set a target on each level. Combinations of balloons can help improve your score, and you aren’t limited to a grid – if you can make a circle, go for it. You may find obstacles along the way to make it a bit trickier.

I’ve been playing ‘Frozen – Free Fall’ for the last year, which follows a similar path – and the fact I’ve played for so long makes me think that Home : Boov Pop will be one we’ll be using a long time too. There are obstacles in the way, rainbow balloons so you can change colour, and most importantly of all, things which H wants to play (she wasn’t keen on the Frozen game).

The animation ‘Home’ is based on the book ‘The True Meaning of Smekday’ which we don’t own, though reading about it I think it’s around H’s reading level and we’ll be investigating further.

We’ve only had a short preview on Home : Boov Pop, so we’re not very high level-wise, it’s straightforward, fun, colourful and full of praise at the end of each level.

I remember from the Home trailer how they travel around the world, and from pictures I’ve seen the game has elements of this in there – right now I’d say give it a go! It’s free, disable the add-on’s and enjoy!

Home’s Official Website – it’s out in cinemas from March 27th 2015.

We were provided with a code which gave us a one-day preview of the game. All opinions are our own.

25/09/201327/01/2014 by jo

Daddy Pig’s Puddle Jump – An App Review

Daddy Pig’s Puddle Jump is a new app from P2 games, and the latest in the Peppa Pig series.

Daddy Pig’s Puddle Jump is a little bit different to previous games, and in a good way. There are fifteen levels of play, and it is set out in a similar way to games such as Angry Birds, where there are different levels, and depending on how well you clear each level, you get a number of muddy splats – from 1 to 3.

There is an option to play as a one player or two player game, and you get to choose between Peppa Pig, George Pig or Daddy Pig to play. The aim of the game is to get as muddy as possible by the end – and the best jumps are the ones which clear the obstacles in the way.

The biggest bonuses of the game for us :
-It works well with a first generation iPad (all the P2 games do, to be fair!)
-There are no in-app purchases, so you’re not likely to find your child is buying random extras like some games we’ve tried.
-It’s fun – it’s all about fine motor skills, to control your character you tap them to make them jump, so having good reflexes and knowing when to do it is all good learning for H.
-Each level is a little more difficult than the previous one – but not so they’re impossible. It’s very repetitive, but H likes repetition at the moment so that isn’t a problem with us. Bear this in mind with your child if they aren’t into this.

The downsides?
-I think the repetition could put people off, but as H tends to like that kind of thing it isn’t an issue for us.
-If you choose a different character you still play the same game where you’re up to – it isn’t like other Peppa games which have three different games saved in your name.

Daddy Pig’s Puddle Jump is available now at the App Store for £1.49. It is compatible for iPad, iPod Touch and iPhone.

For more fun Peppa Pig activities visit www.peppapig.com or join the Facebook page for all the latest Peppa Pig news and competitions at www.facebook.com/OfficialPeppaPig.

We were sent a code to try out Daddy Pig’s Puddle Jump, all opinions are our own.

12/09/201327/01/2014 by jo

Mister Maker App – Let’s Make It

H has always felt like Mister Maker is one of her friends after she met him at the Brighton Baby Show a couple of years ago. The opportunity to try out the Mister Maker App ‘Let’s Make It’ was one I couldn’t turn down!

Mister Maker is a Cbeebies favourite, and P2 Entertainment have devised an app based around his activities. H has been having a play with it when we’ve had chill out time, and is enjoying it a lot so far.

Mister Maker comments “I love having fun and being creative wherever I am in the world and enjoy being inspired by everything around me! Making things is always brilliant, whether with paper and pens, cardboard tubes and gloopy glue, or even digitally!”

Budding artists can create unlimited pictures with nearly 400 different art materials from the digital Doodle Drawers. This includes patterns, stickers, things to glue and funny faces. You can then design a frame for your masterpiece by experimenting further with items from the Doodle Drawers and personalise your creation by typing a special message.

Families can show off their art skills by taking part in the popular Minute Make challenges by choosing and completing items from two different themes: Nature and Underwater World.

Children can have fun with Mister Maker’s friends ‘The Shapes’ in a brand new multi-level interactive shape finding game. We found Mister Maker pops up quite a lot in this one, we had to tell him to be quiet…!

Throughout gameplay, kids can unlock a variety of materials for the Doodle Drawers as special reward content.

The game has up to four users with their own photo album and they can choose to email their favourite creations to the Mister Maker Gallery on the P2 website to be in with a chance of winning monthly prizes.

The app also allows children to take a picture using the camera function and then enhance their real world creation in Doodle Drawers or Frame It!

We’ve been playing this on our older iPad, so for the purpose of review I’ve also put it onto the iPad Mini where we can take photos and make silly faces with them, and H is really loving putting silly things on Daddy’s face. In turn I’m enjoying her creativity, and what she’s turned daddy into! This would be even better if you could use existing photos and add those to the gallery to edit them, rather than having to take new ones.

Essentially it’s like having all the elements of crafts you’ll find in the Mister Maker show within an app; craft without the mess and ideal if you’re travelling and don’t want the mess. You can ‘glue’ things onto the picture you’re creating, and sprinkle various things onto it, glitter and so on. It’s pretty good and one that will help with fine motor skills.

There’s so much to do in this app that even after the short time we’ve had it I feel like there’s a lot more we can do – it definitely feels like something which will grow with H rather than being bored of it after a few months.

Mister Maker – Let’s Make It is available now at the App Store for £2.99. We received a promo code for the purpose of review, all opinions are our own and honest.

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