REVIEW: Pocoyo! and Mind Your Language: French

Today, the British Board of Film Classification released a statement suggesting that 74% of British parents are "concerned" about the content of video games and want tougher regulation. Co-incidentally, most parents apparently also favour BBFC classification over the current self regulatory PEGI system.

While we're all about making sure dads know what games are appropriate for their kids, we thought it might be nice to offset the hysterical newspaper coverage that's sure to explode over this 'concern' by reviewing a couple of fun, educational games that are 100% suitable for kids. Luckily, they're both on the Nintendo DS too, so you won't have to worry about the dreaded PlayStation disease either.

Although my kids hadn't seen the Pocoyo cartoon (being a Spanish pre-school animated series, perhaps this wasn't a surprise), they instantly understood the setup here. Hello! Pocoyo, stars a young boy who explores a scarcely populated world. It looks like a cross between the Magic Roundabout and an iPod commercial, but plays like a point and click adventure.

Once I entered a name for each of the kids, I handed them the DS and let them get on with it. My oldest (5) was most proficient at the general navigation. Here, she simply had to tap the screen to move the characters around and double tap to interact with objects. A simple map on the top screen shows you where all the characters and items are.

Once she had solved a particular zone she would then hand over to my son (4) to play the end of level mini games. These ranged from simple sorting exercised to more complex colour by numbers. Completing these games then unlocks extras on the front screen that can be played on their own - music instruments and colouring books.

The game has so far provided tons of hours of fun for my brood. And I'm looking forward to seeing how far they have got this weekend.

Mind Your Language: Learn French took a little longer for the kids to get into. And yes, we know that's the spanish edition of the game, but we couldn't find a pic of the French version. Just imagine it's a tricolor. MYL:LF is packaged more like an educational program than a toy. Once we plugged it in though, we soon realised that it was as much a video game as it was educational.

They were soon exploring the school environment, talking to other students and teachers, collecting letters and vocabulary as they go. The language learning was injected into the different mini games that need to be completed to progress through the school.

My oldest enjoyed the running around exploration part of the game, although once she got to the actual learning stage it was a little too tricky. The games are tough challenges in their own right - add in the second language aspect and some of them have you doing mental somersaults.

Although this game sadly lacks the initial level setting test, and voice recording function of My French Coach from Ubisoft, it actually turns out to be a properly challenging grown up experience. Great for older kids though. 

A week later, and Hello, Pocoyo! seems to have won the day with the kids. Ironically though, it's mum and dad who are addicted - we're still playing Mind Your Language. 

Paul Govan ( www.gamepeople.co.uk ) is working out how to fit playing games around a fun filled family life. Three kids under five makes for some hectic times. But it's all worthwhile on rainy Saturdays or late sunny Sundays, bunkered down together for some quality family gaming time.