| Digital Chocolate, Inc. (all apps) |
| Chocoloate Shop Frenzy Free (Age 3+) | |||||||||||
 |
|
||||||||||
| Chocoloate Shop Frenzy (Age 3+) | |||||||||||
 |
|
||||||||||
I came across a Digital Chocolate game in the app store so checked out their range. They have many games, with numerous lite versions. This is a review for Chocolate Shop Frenzy, a game where you run a chocolate shop.
Disclaimer: I have only tried the free version to date – its good enough for my purposes. I have included a reference to the full version for completeness. I have not checked its suitablility for very young children.
I grabbed this game and gave it a whirl, then let Big-T (my 3yo boy) have a go. He learnt the basic game play pretty quickly and enojoyed matching the shapes in orders to the boxes he had to create (using the chocolate boxing machine). He quite enjoyed playing it for some time. More importantly, I was able to talk about how a shop works from the perspective of a shop owner, which he then enacted by playing the game. From that perspective, I am happy to recommend this app.
The Application
The goal is to successfully run the shop for a year. The game is organized into a series of stages where each of the 12 months have 4 stages. You must complete each stage before you can attempt the next. Example stages are to box chocolate into boxes the same shape as requested by a customer (triangle, circle, or square), to serve two customers at once, to also deal with speciality orders (e.g. rabit shaped chocolate). The last stage in the lite version may be too hard for very young children. You have to try and swap adjacent items so you get three of the same kind in a row. Where the matches occur the items disappear and more drop down (sort of like tetrix) and chocolate spreads a bit further through the page. You have to get the whole screen full of chocolate to complete the level.
The Good
- You can tell Digital Cholocate is a serious gaming company. All their products are very slick and professionally designed and presented.
- The user interface is pretty easy to use. Big-T (3yo) picked it up pretty quickly.
- It teaches concepts such as selling and dealing with money.
- It also includes shape matching.
The Bad
- The last puzzle stage is probably too hard for most young children. There is a big jump in the lite version (representing the first month of the game) from collecting orders, selling chocolate, and collecting the money to the almost tetrix-like puzzle mode.
- Its not designed for little children. You have to be able to read to work out the instructions. For me, I explained it all to Big-T. It did not take him long to get the idea. That and his two parents getting a bit too involved in the game “quick, press this button now, and now that one…”. It really is quite a fun game even for me.
- There are delays between levels as it gets ready for the next level. Not a showstopper, but it did interrupt the game flow, particularly for young children like Big-T who don’t have the longest of attention spans.
- There is a young lady and an elderly lady as customers. The game play encourages giving priority to the younger lady (in order to get a good tip). I would rather Big-T learn to give priority to older people, not younger.
- The “arrange to 3 identical objects adjacet” I found too complex to explain to Big-T. Not a defect in the app as such, more that this I found reduced its value if you want your children to learn something.
Educational Value
Many of the Digital Chocolate games require good problem solving skills. Chocolate Shop Frenzy however I found particularly useful with Big-T (my now 3yo boy). He found he could play it fairly easily, and it had matching shapes he knew in it (circle, triangle, and a square). He also understood a bit about money from trips to the shops to buy food etc. This game helped me explain the concept through that bit more, from the perspective of a shop keeper. The shop keeper has to collect orders, fill them, then get paid for the product. If the shop keeper is too slow, customers get annoyed. To me the app is useful to help explain a real world concept – shopping and paying with money. As such, I think it rates well for educational merit (particularly if the parent uses it as a discussion point with their child).
My Score
4 stars. I keep feeling this score is too high for an arcade style game. Its not designed as an educational tool. But when I think about it, it does teach about how a shop operates (including the money side of things), its put together really professionally, and its fun. So I think it is worth the 4 star rating.
Get it in iTunes
More information, screen shots, and user reviews can be found in the iTunes store.
Other Suggestions
- Matching: Elephant Song, Memory Match, Preschool Adventure, Shape Builder – the Preschool Learning Puzzle Game, ABC Match, iPushFit Jigsaw, Animal SNAP!
- Shapes: Preschool Adventure, Shape Builder – the Preschool Learning Puzzle Game, I See Ewe – Animal Sounds for Toddlers, Toddler Teasers Shapes, iPushFit Jigsaw
Share this Review
