I looked this game up before buying it. I happily bought it when I saw that it had rating of 4. Sadly, my 3.5 year old son and I were both disappointed by this game. The first thing we were bothered by was that it was not easy to control Elmo. The precision required to control him at times made it hard for my son to use. Considering this game is aimed at preschoolers I would have thought the easy setting would have been more forgiving. On the other hand, the game itself was too simple and short. The complexity was not from solving a problem, but in trying to execute the solution. You even get a hint of this from the very beginning. In order to start the game, one must press the start button. Many other games also accept the A button since it is the stardard 'select' button.
I thought the graphics were pretty bad too. Elmo has two or three positions. The screens are too cluttered. It is hard to tell the difference between what is an object that will block Elmo, and what is something he can just walk by (the background and foreground are indistinguishable). In some sections it is hard to spot the 'baddies' in all the clutter.
We played it twice through(which took about 20 minutes altogether) and then he just wanted to go back to Super Mario. Which in many ways is much harder - but is much easier for him to control and see what needs to be done.
If your child is at all experienced with a quality game like Super Mario I think they will be disappointed. I would recommend the Bob the Builder game if you want something targeted for toddlers. My son can replay and replay that. Or, if you don't mind helping - Super Mario is great.
