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| Name: Sesame Street: 1-2-3 Year: 1989 Publisher: Hi-Tech Expressions Developer: Beam Software Genre: Educational Hours Played: 2 Beaten: N/A |
The first game, Ernie's Magic Shapes, is about shape and color matching. A shape appears over Ernie's head, and a second one appears over his magic hat. Hitting the direction pad cycle through different options (it doesn't matter what direction you push, but given the game is aimed at three year olds, that's understandable), and when you find a shape of matching size and color, you hit A or B. If you get it right, a bunny pops out from the hat and celebrates; if you get it wrong, he shakes his head at you. There's quite a few game modes, from a tutorial, to matching only colors, only shapes, both, or picking from multiple shapes to create a picture.
The second game, Astro-Grover, is geared towards counting and math. The idea is there's little aliens, called Zips, and you have to match the number of Zips shown on the screen. There's multiple game modes, and they all play differently; in one you count the Zips then pick the right number, in another you're given a number and must pick the group of Zips that equals the right amount. In the more difficult modes, you add and subtract; unlike Mickey's Adventure in Numberland, which presents you with a math problem and then acts like it taught you something, in Astro-Grover the problems are always illustrated with Zips; even if you can't work the problem yourself, you can still count the Zips on screen and get the right answer. This is a pretty effective way to teach the basic concepts of mathematics.
I gave Sesame Street A-B-C a pretty hard time in it's review, suggesting that Letter-Go-Round did a poor job of teaching reading, and that Ernie's Big Splash didn't teach much of anything. This game is a much better effort, and definitely one of the more educational games for the NES. If this were the early Nineties and I was buying a game for my four-year-old, this is probably the game I'd go with.
Graphics & Animation: 3 (Good)
Like Sesame Street A-B-C, they definitely put more effort into the graphics then they really had to. Ernie's Magic Shapes takes place at a magic show, complete with stage and curtains. There's two screens for Astro-Grover, one involving a night sky over a neighborhood with an onlooking moon. Astro-Grover in particular seems to have a lot of effort put into the animation; unfortunately they slow the game down, as you're not allowed to keep playing until things are done moving around.
Music & Sounds: 1 (Bad)
The songs here are pleasant enough, if forgettable. There's no jingle or sound effect to tell you when you're wrong, though, and I miss the Sesame Street theme that was so lovingly recreated in Sesame Street A-B-C.
Controls & Level Design: 2 (Average)
The controls are simple enough for little kids. It's funny how in most places, which button you hit on the D-pad doesn't matter, but in a couple of the Astro-Grover games, it doesn't. I won't fault that though, as I feel like the games that utilize it are aimed at slightly older kids then the rest. While Ernie's Magic Shapes feels like one game with several different modes, the modes in Astro-Grover are varied enough to legitimately feel like several different games, which is nice.
Story & Presentation: 2 (Average)
As with the graphics, the presentation here has more effort put into it then was strictly necessary. Little touches like the rabbit, moon, or Grover shaking their head when you get things wrong go a long way towards selling the game.
Length & Replayabilitiy: 3 (Good)
Sesame Street 1-2-3 has an impressive amount of modes for different skill levels. Between shapes, colors, counting, and simple mathematics, there's a lot to learn here, and unlike most "educational" games for the NES, I feel like someone actually had some kids play and test these games to make sure they were effective. Astro-Grover may be no Math Blaster, but he's the best the NES has to offer.
Total: 11 (Average)
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