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Children gradually learn baseball basics as they take part in a
Charlie Brown adventure. While children are able to dive right into
the baseball game, the story mode of It's the Big Game, Charlie
Brown! is more satisfying.
In the story mode, children help Charlie Brown get a baseball
team together--not a straightforward task! After choosing a
difficulty level, kids move from area to area, meeting up with
characters such as Peppermint Patty, Marcie, Violet, Sally, Lucy,
Linus, and Pigpen.
Associated with each character is a puzzle of sorts--an
mini-game. These rather simple games are necessary in order to
recruit a character as a player in the big game. However, before the
games open up, kids must solve a problem associated with the
character. Examples of these problems are the necessity to "remove"
Lucy from Schroeder's house in order to recruit the piano-playing
boy, and bringing the girl that Pigpen is infatuated with to him.
The mini-games include repeating musical phrases, repairing an
alarm clock by connecting cogs appropriately, catching objects, and
so forth.
Once a character's mini-game is completed successfully, kids play
a baseball activity unique to each character. These activities teach
kids baseball basics revolving around batting, pitching, base
running, managing, and fielding.
When all of the characters have been recruited, the big game ensues.
Kids draw on the skills they have learned throughout the game and
play ball. As mentioned above, kids can skip right to the baseball
game, independent of the story, but most will want to solve the
puzzles and problems.
The format of the game is slow-paced, pleasant, and neither too
hard nor too easy. Kids do need to practice in order to "get it
right", which is actually a good thing, extending the game and
offering a "practice makes perfect" environment. The Peanuts
characters and environment are recreated well. Children under 7 will
need help solving the story mode. The mini-games are nothing we
haven't seen already in some form or another, but the baseball
activities are not only fun, they're instructional. Our Rating:
A-
more information:
For more information, user reviews, or to buy:
Peanuts: It's The Big Game Charlie Brown
Reviewed: September 2007
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