App reviews: Middle Age Hero - Different Challenge Games

Reviewed by Emily – Emily C. Bigelow is a PhD candidate at Peabody College at Vanderbilt University. Her research interests are situated at the intersection of early childhood literacy and technology. Specifically, she is interested in the ways that technology can be integrated effectively into developmentally appropriate literacy experiences with young children. To hear more from Emily, check out her blog at Apps With Emily

Details

In this light-hearted game, players are given challenges and games centered around Mr. Alfio, the knight. There are 7 different screens that include activities such as find the knight, explore, drag cart, puzzle, happy train, and memory. Each activity can be selected based on interest, and replayed as desired.

What Emily Liked

This is a fun game that my children have returned to many times. My son especially likes the drag cart and happy train activities.

Suggested Enhancement

I do have a few suggestions to improve this app. First, there are connections to social media and links out of website, which is problematic for young children. Second, there are Directions only say “move Mr. Alfio to the other side of the screen,” but not all of the activities actually do this, and some don’t event have Mr. Alfio on the screen. It would be helpful to modify directions for each screen so that the players know the purpose of each activity. In the Happy Train activity, users are supposed to put the matching shape on the correct train. My son has found, however, that he can put them in the wrong places, and still be successful at the game. This should be corrected