As a parent, and a gamer, I'm curious about how kid friendly this title may be?


I'm always on the lookout for new titles that I can play in front of / with my small children :)


Right now we play a lot of Lego titles.

There's a demo available for download from the developer's site.

http://geetagames.com/downloads/

I posted a review on the game's site here on GOG, but let me elaborate on some points.

Kid friendlyness: I'm torn in this regard. The art style is quite beautiful and the overall design is surely aimed at kids. Most of the puzzles are also quite easy, mostly because you can only click some spots at any given time. So, most of the puzzles can be solved by simply trying out your options. There is, however, a colour puzzle that could be quite confusing for kids. You certainly need some knowledge in how colours are mixed. This puzzles get repeated throughout the game. That said, there are some puzzles involving machines without giving you many clues as to what they do. I guess, kids could get frustrated with that.

Story: Sadly, there is no story. You don't learn anything about Lilly or her brother (or even that this kid is her brother at all, it's only said in the game's description) or the world. There are no other characters to interact with and no dialogue or even just plain text. In the final screen (of only a mere 10 in total) a new character is introduced and then the game just ends. I was very disappointed and as a kid I would have been furious, I guess. You just have the feeling that you accomplished nothing.

Puzzles: As already stated, the puzzles are either easy or the colour puzzle (which gets easy after you "get it" and is just repetitive after that). There was the chance (and obligation) to use the goggles to make some great puzzles involving changing things in the past that affect the future, but those puzzles can be counted on one hand. Even if you're a Disney character. For a game that encorporated this theme in its title, this is unacceptable.

I'd suggest you rather play more of the Lego games (the new Marvel one is awesome and should be a hit with your kids). Another one that can be played together is Ibb & Obb. It's plattforming but great fun.

As much as I wish I didn't, I agree with Cardian on all points (with the exception of the final color puzzle, which I felt was completely void of any sense of direction and, thus, more difficult). I just want to also add that the game ends with a cliffhanger that (**vague spoiler alert**) places both kids in a potentially peril situation. This may actually be disturbing, particularly for younger players, and especially if they've formed any connection with the characters.

While that is true, I doubt children would actually mind much. Of course, it depends on the age, but most children are already happy when the game looks cute and reacts to what they do. Story telling quality is not high up on their list. Regarding the puzzles, again depending on the age, they could prove difficult for kids, but in case they get stuck somewhere, they can always ask for help. Most of the puzzles aren't too hard anyways. Or one might sit down and play the game together with them.

I'd say it's okay for children starting with going to school age.

I just started "Finding Teddy", an adventure about a little girl going to a wonderous and dangerous place to... well, find her teddy that was stolen. It's quite cute and overall, I think, the art style fits better together than Lilly's (with the detailed backgrounds and the rather simple character models). It also has more puzzle diversity, as far as I can tell after only playing for half an hour. You can get it on Desura or, right now, in the Be Mine X-Bundle on groupees.com together with some other quite nice games for the minimum of $5. That is well worth it. This is kind of in the vein of what I expected from Lilly. On a side note, there can be quite some mean deaths (the girl being eating, smashed or stung to death) but you always restart at the exact moment before this happens.

My 5 and 6 year olds fell in love with the game. They show it to everybody who comes to our house. As the parent, I thought it was excellent for them. A great first adventure game.... and easy enough for them to solve some of the puzzles on their own!