Oh, the constant struggle! My kids want to do nothing but play video games, I want them to do anything but rot their brains. As my kids get older, we deal with the Great Video Game Debate more and more. Every once in a while, we strike a beautiful compromise. We find a game that all of us can agree on. Now, this doesn’t happen often, but it did recently occur when we were offered the opportunity to play and review Roman Town (iOS App) by Dig-It! Games.
Roman Town is an adventure game for the iPad in which you, the player, are on a hunt to track down master thief Landrone. You have to hunt through Roman ruins, solve puzzles, and collect clues in order to find your thief. Through play you work on critical thinking and deductive reasoning problem solving skills. You also learn many facts about how ancient Romans lived, the food they ate, and even play the types of games they played.
This review opportunity came at the perfect time, as my Big Boy was right in the middle of a Pompeii obsession. We read books, watched documentaries, and even learned the science behind volcanoes. It was all Pompeii, all the time, around here. Of course, the first thing we noticed about the Roman Town app, before we even downloaded it, was that you get to explore Pompeii. You begin the game as a child exploring Pompeii’s ruins. This was absolutely perfect! Throughout the game you run into archaeologists who either share facts about Pompeii with you and have mini games you can play. Games include classic games Romans would have played and various kinds of puzzles. The difficulty increases in the games as you progress.
The game is geared to middle school age. I reviewed this app primarily with my Big Boy, who is a gifted ten year old. The layout of the game is easy enough for both of my boys to play and understand, the difficulty comes with the higher level mini-games. My eight year old has had no problem playing lower levels and really enjoys a lot of them. I think he is more enthusiastic about the puzzles than Big Boy. Big Boy really likes the facts he’s able to learn and collect from it. He also really likes the ancient games, such as the “ancient tic-tac-toe” (his name for it, not mine or Dig-It! Games). He also enjoys trying to crack the code. My Little Man loves the puzzles. His favorite so far has been Dots and Boxes, a puzzle in which you have to make more squares than the computer in a certain amount of time.
The boys have now been playing on it during their free time for the past six weeks. They get a little free play during the evening after dinner, and Roman Town has made it into their regular cycle of games. This game is a really, really great compromise for us. I love that it’s so educational, they love that the games are really engaging and fun. It really does have the best of both worlds, and I think they will continue playing this even after our review period is over. The game is easy to use and the layout is clean. The graphics are fun and engaging. And the story and games in it are really fun. Frankly, I’m considering sneaking off with the iPad and playing it by myself for a while.
