What is great about this item:
It has an average rating of 3.5 out of 5 stars!
- Lay the tracks for early learning with Thomas and Friends: Engines Working Together
- Compatible with: V.Smile, V.Smile Pocket, V.Smile PC Pal, V.Smile Cyber Pocket and V.Motion gaming systems
- Teaches core curriculum for the earliest learners
- Education based software helps your child learn while playing with their favorite characters
- Be sure to check out other popular titles available here on Amazon website
Product Description
Choo, choo! Hop aboard the learning express! It’s another big day for Thomas and Percy. As they travel along the railroad tracks, many mysterious adventures await them. As little learners help Thomas and Percy solve their missions, they’ll discover the alphabet, colors, shapes and logic problems. For use with the V.Smile TV Learning System, sold separately…. More >>
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V Tech – V.Smile – Thomas The Tank: Engines Working Together
What is great about this item:
It has an average rating of 3.5 out of 5 stars!
Lay the tracks for early learning with Thomas and Friends: En…
5 replies on “V Tech – V.Smile – Thomas The Tank: Engines Working Together”
My son recently turned four. We have all the games except Barney and Friends for this age group. He has gotten very good at the 3-5 year old games and although he still plays them, I decided about a year ago to stop buying these games and go to the 4-6 year old level for more of a challenge. My son absolutely adores Thomas the Tank Engine so I had to break down and buy it. I will start with the positive:
1.) Although Thomas is the star and the main playable character, all of his friends can be found throughout the game and are very realistic and accurate. For example, the first stage of the Learning Adventure focuses on Thomas collecting the missing letters of various train friends like Mavis, Henry and Arthur. Once all the letters are found, Thomas puffs to the train station to meet the friend he just spelled. While he’s looking for the missing letters, he runs into other friends puffing along the way as well.
2.) Nice music. If your child is familiar with Thomas songs, they will love singing along as they play. I’ve picked out the main thomas theme and the song “Surprises”….my son knows the rest 🙂
3.) The games are a nice length and require your child to complete a fun and meaningful task. A good example of this is the portion of the learning adventure that requires Harold the Helicopter to fly around making various rescues. This one is my sweetie’s favorite as well as mine.
Unfortunately, I have to list some disadvantages. If you are familiar with V Smile Smartridges and their very few shortfalls, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about…
1.) Every portion of the Learning Adventure and Learning Zone require extremely precise movements that could easily frustrate some 3-5 year olds. In the first part of the Learning Adventure, Thomas is required to make some sharp turns around curves or he’ll hit a buffer and be pushed back a little. You have to turn the joystick in the direction you want to go about 4 seconds before Thomas gets to the curve or he will not turn. At four years old, this is difficult for my boy to get the hang of and usually requires me to play. In the third stop, Harold drops cargo of different sizes and colors to Percy. Percy is required to catch the cargo in the corresponding box car. If the cargo does not land RIGHT IN the middle of the box car, it doesn’t count and no points are earned.
2.) The Learning Zone and Learning Adventure seem like repeats of eachother. I realize it’s difficult to think of new concepts, especially when you want to keep the game enjoyable for 3-5 year olds, but I found this Smartridge to be more repative than need be.
3.) All and all, more could have been incorporated into the game. Maybe it’s me, but it seems like this game was rushed so it could be out for Christmas. My son likes Thomas more than anything in the world, but he’s not that crazy about this game because of the shortfalls listed above.
The game is worth buying because of the Bertie the Bus and Harold the Helicopter portions of the Learning Adventure, but unless your child is great at being very precise and will like anything with a Thomas logo on it, stick with Winnie the Poo or Lion King.
**An important note** I got this game off E-bay before it was released in stores. I’m pretty sure I purchased the same game because it looks just the one on V-tech’s website, but because I didn’t get it from a store I can’t make any promises**.
3 stars
The other reviewer did a fine job of summarizing many of the features of this game cartridge. What they didn’t mention was that the graphics are terrible. The pixelation is so bad that if you didn’t already know the engines that you might not be able to recognize them. [For example, there is a station labeled Tidmouth *something*. Neither my husband nor myself can make out what the second word is.]
That said, knowing how Thomas fans are, nothing we’ve said will keep you from purchasing this cartridge because your child, like my 3.5 year-old son, will probably like it regardless of how lame it is. So let me tell you more…
There are four areas: Learning zone, Learning Adventure, Engine Depot and Options (music on or off).
In the *Learning Adventure* area you help Thomas and the rest of the Steamies do their jobs. Children are supposed to learn about Letters, Object Identification, Colors and Counting. [Four games and Four subjects.]
In general, all games require the joystick. Most games have some sort of obstacles, but on easy level hitting obstacles doesn’t end play.
*Learning Adventure* zone:
Calling All Engines – drive Thomas and pickup letters to spell a name.
—- Bonus Game – drive through a cave and collect coins before you time out
Flying to the Rescue – fly Harold to the hospital and other locations using a map in the upper left hand corner to figure out where you are. (object identification)
Cargo Catch-up – fly Harold and drop cargo into freight cars of same color
Bertie Beats the clock – Bertie needs to get children to various stations. When at the station, you are supposed to count the children getting off.
—-also in this section `Take a Break’ – counting/matching/odd one out
*Learning* zone:
In the *Learning Zone* there are four games which focus on different skills. Children are supposed to be able to learn about Size Sorting, Classification, Counting and Puzzles.
Size Sorting – use Percy to sort minerals into correct sized freight cars (big boulders go into big trucks; small rocks go into small cars)
Recycle Challenge -Troublesome Trucks are nearly full of recycled items. You need to grab the same type of item with a hook and move it to the right car.
Count the Engines – count while engines pass by
Fix the Tracks – Thomas is coming and the tracks are `not right’. Using the joystick you rotate through a variety of track options. Some tracks are too big, others to small or just not correct. When the correct tract appears to push the big orange button to confirm.
*Engine Depot*
In the *Engine Depot* area (rather lame) you can read Thomas and Friends profiles. You can also blow their whistles or in Berties case, blow his horn.
For the gaming area you can choose from Easy and Difficult options. For example in the Learning Adventure area, in Game 1 (`Calling All Engines’) on the easy setting children find 3 engines and collect letters on the tracks that spell the name of an engine (such as `Toby’). On the difficult level they still find 3 engines, but this time the letters for a long name (such as `Edward’).
We just opened the game so that I can’t tell you too much more about the action and game play, except that my son and daughter (and husband-LOL) seems very interested.
Four Stars. Old fashion (read poor graphics). The true Thomas fan will probably not care as they will get to `drive’ Thomas and his friends (including Harold) around Sodor. As for age range, many of these games will be beyond the abilities -physically and intellectually-of a 3 year old [map reading comes later]; but that should allow them to `grow’ into the game at a latter point.
4 stars
For some reason my son loves to play this game. He is not a big Thomas fan, but likes this anyway. I have a problem with it because he has trouble making the turns on the tracks and always hands the joystick over to me so half of the game is actually played by me. I also have trouble making the sharp turns because it is tricky and I have to back up several times to try it again. It can get frustrating and annoying. I would give it 1 star, but gave it more because although I think it is the worst of the V-Smile games (and we have about 10 of them), my son still loves it.
3 stars
This game is slightly too difficult for a three and a half year old. He understands the bus starting and stopping, but tends to hold the control, push the joystick up and just watch. He’d rather make the train go around the tracks aimlessly than go get letters or avoid obstacles.
3 stars
Although I think it is somewhat poor in video and audio quality, my son just loves this cartridge and plays with it quite a bit.
3 stars