Honestly, I am a child-at-heart and jumped at the opportunity to review Vixes for iPhone and iPad. There are many excellent ways to distract our children these days, especially with an ever-increasing number of children’s books available as individual apps and in the iBookstore. Vixes is a visually stimulating way to entertain your children while honing a few fine-motor skills in the process.
Storyline and Action Items
Vixes are nocturnal creatures who spend their time making sure humans have pleasant dreams; however, not all Vixes are immediately ready of the challenge, youngsters must first earn their strips. Valie and Alie are two young Vixes who hope to one day help their community produce dreams for humans. In a pinch, the town professor enlists them to help out the cause, but a few challenges await.
Progressing through small challenges, such as shape and color matching, you help Valie and Alie fix the broken dream machine and restore order to the dream-making Vixes community. Some challenges may prove slightly difficult to Pre-K children, but will easily be completed with adult supervision. The “Tip Me” option will give users a small nudge in the right direction when stumped.
Currently the supported languages are English and Russian. A majority of the story is simply narrated by a pleasant male voice with a slight British accent; however, I only tested the English version. Parts of the story are both narrated and the corresponding words appear on the screen.
Conclusion [rating: 4.5/5]
Not only is Vixes (Free, limited time, iPhone / $.99, limited time, iPad) a fun, enjoyable storyline but also a great way to engage your children with a stimulating environment. The vibrant colors and excellent graphics are visually appealing and the challenges are fun and educational. I would like for the environments to be a little more manipulable as some of the items that are currently actionable merely make a noise when touched.
For free, you can try it out on your iPhone before purchasing the HD version for iPad. I think it is a complete no-brainer, even at the full price of $1.99. It will keep the family entertained for about 30-45 minutes, depending on your children’s age. I predict you returning to the fun often, even after the storyline is completed.
Pros
- Good soundtrack
- Engaging challenges based on colors and shapes
- Cute main characters and fun imaginary locations
Cons
- Environments could use a few more interactive items
- Not a universal app, which is only a problem if the iPhone app price increases from free
