Sunday, July 20, 2014

Run to the Rescue with the Dogs of PAW PATROL in new Mobile App


The "hot thing" that has had my 5 year old twins attention the last few weeks has been the dogs of Nickelodeon's animated television show PAW PATROL.  So it was perfect timing for Nickelodeon's recent introduction of a new ios mobile app game based on the characters from the show.  In the RESCUE RUN! app which can be played on ipod touchs, ipads and iphones, kids can team up with the various PAW PATROL puppies for a variety of missions that require each pup to use its skills to overcome obstacles and help save their hometown of Adventure Bay.  This game uses a side-scrolling platform that is easy to play through and its fun is not as much the challenges presented but rather the opportunity for the kids to participate in their own PAW PATROL adventure and interact with their favorite characters.  It is really aimed for preschool/kindergarten aged children and older kids will most likely find the game somewhat basic and boring.  If your child is at an age where they are currently enjoying the PAW PATROL characters though this can be a fun treat for them.  My son and daughter have really enjoyed playing the game the last few days since I've downloaded it.

While some people may criticize the game for its brevity, I've appreciated that is has several short defined missions so that my children can play it for awhile and than they are done...there isn't the tug to be constantly playing on the ipad with this game because they can have some fun with it and than they are done.  I also appreciated, as I have multiple kids who want to play the game, that you can set up individualized player setting for up to four children so they can all have their own accounts on the game...nice!  Another nice feature is that this game aimed for younger children has basic controls that promote hand eye coordination but aren't very difficult to master.  Players ALWAYS complete the rescue run without losing a life, if the pup hits an obstacle the dog backs up and lets the child try to get around it again.  The challenge for the kids is not avoiding dying but rather to get better and better scores each time they play through the rescue run course.  In addition to the rescue run side-scrolling courses to run through there are also first-person view missions where the player works with a pup to solve a sorting task.  For completing missions and tasks the pups and their preschool players are awarded digital Adventure Bay badge awards to provide an acknowledgement of achievement for successfully completing their assignments which is a great way to encourage children to want to complete all of the aspects of the game.



While the game is somewhat limited with only 3 rescue missions to choose from, children can replay levels to earn all the various Adventure Bay badges, it works will with having your children play it for short stints.  My kids play it and than are done and don't argue that they want to keep going and going and going when I tell them it is time to stop.  I don't mind my kids enjoying video games for short stints but I also want them doing other things like playing outside or being creative and imaginative doing activities like coloring or drawing.  PAW PATROL: RESCUE RUN is a great game to pull out to amuse your child if you are going on a long drive, it is a rainy blah day, or you are stuck in a waiting room with them for something like a doctor's appointment.

In addition to be entertaining and amusing there are also some educational aspects to it as well:

Classification & Sorting - Some of the tasks involve comparing similar objects and sort them by size and type (for example thick versus thin).

Visual Discrimination & Matching - Find items and match them to a list of missing objects.

Science & Recycling - Categorize items as either recyclable or trash.

Counting/Enumeration - Identify objects according to the number of objects in a set.


As I mentioned before my children have really enjoyed playing this game, primarily for two reasons.  First, they have enjoyed interacting with the characters from the PAW PATROL television show and being able to control the pups through the game's adventures.  Secondly, they have been really competitive to see who can get the highest "dog biscuit" scores in the rescue runs and achieve the most Adventure Bay badges first.  The two things I appreciate the most about the game is that there isn't any risky or questionable content to worry about exposing my children to during the game play and there are no advertisements or efforts to have you buy things through in-app purchases to "enhance the experience".  Of course with no ads in the game or in-app purchase revenue that also creates an upfront cost to the game for parents when it comes to downloading RESCUE RUN.  The app is priced at $6.99 for the High Definition version and $3.99 for Standard Definition on iTunes.

If you have children who are into PAW PATROL right now I'd recommend this app but if your children have moved past that stage you should pass on this app based upon the limited missions, repetitive actions and basic elements of this app.  This is a very nice game for preschoolers and if that is where you and your children are at in life right now than you should absolutely consider downloading PAW PATROL: RESCUE RUN. 

DISCLAIMER:  I received a complimentary download of PAW PATROL: RESCUE RUN from Nickelodeon for this review.  The Paw Patrol toys pictured above were purchased with my own money way before I ever heard about this app and my children are big fans of the television show.
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