ROMper ROOM: Review of ‘Jump Start Pet Rescue’

With more than 30 learning games and search adventures, Jump Start Pet Rescue (Knowledge Adventure, $39.99) allows little brother and sister to take over the Wii — while the older siblings are in school — to do a bit of fun gaming with an educational theme.

Jump Start’s retinue of characters, led by Frankie, the ever-helpful dog mascot of the title, interact with children as they journey around five islands, the Neighborhood, Petland, Town Square, the Beach and the Jungle, in Story or free-to-roam Explore modes.

Story mode has children solve puzzles, play games and complete missions. Success is rewarded with a piece of the storybook.

Children play in a search-and-find environment that allows for free exploration as well as guided journeys. Each mission is clearly defined — for example, go to the Music Player and talk with Pierre the Panda by following the trail.

The trail changes, sometimes it is made of letters, other times numbers. Either way, the game play takes advantage of the opportunity to help your children learn while enjoying the activities.

As players explore, they work through more than 75 learning skills and more than 50 lessons, such as what foods to feed their pets or how to follow verbal instructions.

After completing five missions, children unlock a book and can sit back while the story is read to them. Once the story is finished, a missing “pet” emerges.

Action begins in the Neighborhood, where a custom-designed avatar lives and the “Learning House” can be found.

In the Learning House, a magical white bunny stands over magician’s hats filled with games that teach numbers, letters, memory skills, sounds, patterns and following directions.

Games offer fun, gentle themes such as Balloon Sorting, Barnyard Fun, Monkey Drop and Matching Duckies. Rules are simple — choose letters, repeat sound patterns, match numbers to cards with pictures — for example, match the number eight with the card that has eight fish on it, bypassing the seven shells and nine suns.

I was really impressed with the number of activities in Pet Rescue.

Take a visit to Petland. Children get to choose the pet that opens up for play once all the tasks in the Neighborhood are completed. There is plenty for the toddler and his new best friend to do, from dining and dancing to taking a run in the park and getting cleaned up at the Grooming Station.

One activity little siblings will enjoy is when they get to emulate big brother’s Wii-mote gyrations to make a picture appear on the billboard or get a pet to perform tricks on the Pet Stage in Petland.

Petland is also a place to learn a little about being a pet owner, choosing the foods a pet — whether it is a dog, cat, panda or bunny — will enjoy eating from the Pet Diner menu.

At the Petland Park, rover gets to play ball and exercise, while the Pet Stage allows children to get down and dance with their best friend as they perform the Wiimote movements required to get their on-screen friends to twirl, jump, do back flips and more. Each of the critters can do 12 movements or tricks.

Complete the missions at Petland and move over the Town Square and shop using a grocery list at the Grocery Store, or spend some time in the Music House learning about instruments and the sounds they make.

While children play games they even earn “decorations” — bauble-type things festooned with letters and numbers — that they can place on small stone pedestals at various intervals during the game to add further decoration to the environments.

Even with those decorations, it would have been nice to see better graphics throughout the game, and there could have been a little more music. I particularly missed the ability to turn on a song and allow the child to join her avatar and on-screen pet in a bit of dancing fun.

For its early childhood audience, however, this is a fun game that will let littler hands and minds have fun with the Wii.

• Joseph Szadkowski’s ROMper Room is a place for children and their parents to escape the world of ultraviolent video games and use that gaming system or computer to actually learn something while having fun. Send e-mail to jszadkowski@washingtontimes.com.