Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 6-10 of 11
 Great fun, good product, heavy on video game skills, really pricey "membership" REALLY PUSHED August 7, 2009
A. J. Miller (Chicago, IL)
Great fun, with a BIG BUT. Our homeschooled 4 yr old loves it, and has in about 3 weeks plowed thru BOTH of the EXCITING INCLUDED levels, with a little help from Dad. As a previous reviewer mentioned, this game is VERY heavy on the hand-eye coordination, getting arrow keys right in order (like the dancing games at arcades) to help your "pet" do tricks, etc. The lessons were fun, but not too challenging, honestly much easier than the 2002 vintage Jumpstart Advanced Kindergarten or the Broderbund Reader Rabbit KindergartenReader Rabbit Kindergarten (Jewel Case) and MathReader Rabbit Personalized Math 4-6 Deluxe. The graphics are BEAUTIFUL, and my little one LOVES exploring the world.
However, what you can't tell from the packaging or the Amazon information is that this $20-25 game is little but a preview to entice you to buy the $70/yr "membership" to unlock the remaining 10 levels.
I am profoundly disappointed at the 12 e-mails I have gotten, plus the fact that when they go to their "cabin" the "TV" they watch is more commercials for the "membership", the games and activities mention to ask your parents to upgrade, etc.
This is a SCAM, and I would return it if I could, even with how much my little one enjoys it. Steer clear until they stop ripping off and using your kids as advertisers.
NOVEMBER UPDATE: Forgot to update this - what they don't mention also, is that if you stop your membership, the worlds disable anything past what your child could do before you paid the extra. So $28 for the game (and 2 levels) and $32 later (bad dad, forgot to turn off the pricey subscription), we've paid $60 for a game, and our just turned 5 yr old has finished 9/12 levels, we stop paying the subscription fee and poof, we're back to 2/12 levels. I would seriously look at other companies that don't "penalize" you for being unwilling to spend $100 on a $28 game.
 Forced registration and internet account. July 22, 2009
MW Frazier
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
The kids like this product, but we had to connect to the internet to install the program. Lots of kids, including mine, start computing on unconnected computers to limit their exposure to the internet and viruses. The maker should have given us the choice of registering the product, but appears to be using the registration process to gather info and force additional buying opportunities on us. I will look for less connected products for my future learning software.
 Waste of money January 27, 2009
Melanie Wynne (Ripon, Ca.)
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
I paid $25.00 for the Jumpstart 1rst grade game. My daughter loved playing the game. The graphics are great. The problem is that the game had a problem advancing to the next level or what ever was supposed to be done next. I had to keep calling the Jumpstart technical department and be guided and told to press both left and right buttons on the mouse, the control button and the squiggly button next to get a drop down box and type in some letters in order to get the game going again. I asked the tech dept if this problem was happening to others and he said yes. That the program was not working with windows xp very well. Well, now it's been over around two months since I bought the game. Five calls later. My daughter finished 2 badges. There are 10 more badges that she needs to earn. The game is now telling us that we need to become a jumpstart member to continue the game. I called the company they said I have to pay $7.99 a month in order to continue the game. I paid $25.00 for this game and my daughter cannot finish it until I become a member and pay for membership. This is very shady to me. I cannot return the game because stores will not return computer software.
Strong on eye-hand coordination skills, low on academics August 9, 2008
Robin L. Harwood
11 out of 12 found this review helpful
I got this for my daughter to enhance her reading and math skills over the summer before starting first grade. The actual math and reading content is on the thin side compared to the scope of the entire game, which requires your child to wander through a fantasy town completing various tasks, like netting red orbs, racing rabbits, and picking whistles off the ground. The majority of these tasks require a lot of eye-hand coordination skills--that is, your child needs to be able to successfully use the arrow keys to navigate quickly between, say, the race track and the water fountain in order to complete the tasks required to advance in the game. Even a lot of the explicitly academic tasks (found at the 'math and reading arcade') require quick and skillful navigation with the arrow keys. For example, one math arcade game requires the user to navigate a boat around a lake looking for objects with a certain number on them--e.g., the number '4'. The actual math skill level of being able to match one number with another is relatively low; however, the eye-hand coordination skills required are considerable. My daughter, who is strong on math and reading for her age but not on eye-hand coordination, has ended up frustrated to tears by this software, and I have actually ended up navigating parts of it for her (e.g., racing the rabbit or netting butterflies) just so she can advance in the game--and to be honest, I found it challenging on the eye-hand coordination myself. Unfortunately, these kinds of tasks are not optional, but are required in order to advance to a more difficult level; in other words, if your child completes a level in the math and reading arcade, in order to advance to the next level of math and reading difficulty, they must complete a variety of assignments 'around town,' such as racing 'town inhabitants,' swooping objects out of the air with a net, or teaching their pet the 'double jump' trick. All of these other tasks are based on the ability to navigate quickly and accurately with the arrow keys. At least half the game time is spent with these types of tasks.
If your child already spends a lot of time playing video games and has mastered the use of arrow keys to navigate in a virtual space, then this will probably be fun software. If eye-hand coordination arcade and video games are not your child's strong suit, then the academic gain of this software may not be worth the frustration of simply navigating through the game. That said, I can see this game being enoyable in a group setting, such as an aftercare program, assuming that at least one of the children playing has the eye-hand skills to navigate through the game while the other kids gather around and offer suggestions.
 Jump Start World Kindergarten and 1st Grade July 16, 2008
Gary Thurber (Eagan, Minnesota)
4 out of 6 found this review helpful
Both the Jump Start World programs, Kindergarten and First grade are the best ever to come from Knowledge Adventure! The extra $65.00 you pay to unlock the aditional 10 units are worth every penny. We have used Jump Start programs from the begining and all our children in our child care business have greatly benefited. We highly recommend them. The staff at Jump Start are great to work with. Write us for more praise of this fine product.
Showing reviews 6-10 of 11
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