If you're the parent of a four-year-old child, the chances are you already know plenty about Leapster. This chunky handheld games console manufactured by Californian educational toy company, LeapFrog, was first launched in the UK in 2004, followed four years later by Leapster 2, featuring a USB port and computer connectivity. The systems have shifted over seven million units worldwide over the last six years, and there are now around 40 games available, all developed by LeapFrog itself.
The company has just released a Toy Story 3 version of Leapster 2, complete with decals of Woody, Buzz and the aliens on the fascia, as well as access to a Toy Story 3 mini-game. These are modest additions to the basic green and blue model, but it's the same price, and I thought it was a good excuse to assess the system...
If you've never seen a Leapster, the handheld system it most closely resembles is an old Sega Game Gear. The two-inch, 160x160 display has a reasonably limited colour palette but it's fine for the games on offer, while the touchscreen functionality is basic, and sometimes a little laggy. But the functions are well thought-out, with a '?' button for game hints as well as a 'Home' option to get players back to the start screen. And there's a chunky stylus that fits into a hole on the top of the machine when not in use (it's attached via a string too, which means you don't end up losing it every five minutes a la the DS pen.)
Switch it on and you'll find a simple built-in Dragon Kingdom game, which offers a mini art package and a sort of child-friendly version of a vertically scrolling shooter (without the shooting, of course). The game cartridges are mostly Disney and cartoon licenses, combining familiar gameplay features with numeracy and literacy challenges. This year will see four new releases, a full Toy Story 3 title as well as Disney Tangled, The Penguins of Madagascar: Race for 1st place and Scooby Doo: Maths Times Two. Games are available for around £15-£20, though you'll find them cheaper on Amazon Marketplace and eBay, of course. We inherited a system from my sister's children when they outgrew it, and their favourite title was Ratatouille, based on the Pixar movie, which has fun recipe challenges – like a sort of junior Cooking Mama. My sons like Cars, a very simple racer interspersed with some mid-circuit spelling tests, but their favourite is Sonic the Hedgehog, a neat little platformer that most closely resembles a more grown-up game.
I asked LeapFrog about the veracity of the educational content. The games are developed in the US, so I wondered if their approach to teaching – especially language development – would be suitable for British children. Their spokesperson told me, "We have an educational advisory board who review all of our products. In addition, we employ UK teachers to review the curriculum and the content to ensure it is appropriate." My sister is a qualified Montessori pre-school teacher and seems happy enough with what's on offer, and I've definitely noticed that my son is gradually taking more care with the number tasks that interupt the platforming sections in Sonic (which are sort of the digital equivalent of vegetables, grudgingly consumed before you get any ice cream.)
Interestingly, Leapster 2 also comes with an iTunes-like online service called LeapFrog Connect. You install the software on PC or Mac, then plug in your console via USB: your child can then access the dedicated online area where they're able to download new demos, play online games and mess around with the simple Art Studio feature. There's also a Parents area where you can study data on what your children have been playing, for how long, and what they may have learned in the process. Okay, so you should probably know the bit about how long they've been on the console, but the info on how they've done with letter and number recognition is genuinely interesting. The service also sends out emails so you can effortlessly spy on your little gamers.
There's a lot of barely disguised marketing though. With the Toy Story 3 version of Leapster 2, the package comes complete with access to a downloadable mini-game based on the film. But to get to it, you have to sign in to the complete LeapFrog Connect service – so that'll be all your personal details in their hands, then. Also, in the section where you analyse your child's progress in the games, there's a side panel entitled 'Grow my child's learning path', which is effectively an ad for other Leapster 2 games, couched in rather emotionally manipulative language. But then, this is effectively the same concept as Amazon's 'stuff you might like' system, and if you don't want corporations trying to use your data to sell you more things, you're probably best staying away from the web altogether.
The question these days is, do children really need a dedicated console? With the Nintendo DS offering lots of kids games, and the App Store jammed with educational titles, do you need another chunk of plastic to eat up battery power? Well, we've found ours pretty useful; at £40 it's cheaper than the DS, and more hardy, plus even the most basic children's titles on Nintendo's machine can be too complicated for the under fives. Also, it's been invaluable on long car journeys – and I'm not sure how many parents would be willing to hand their beloved iPhones, iPads or HTC Desire smart phones into the back seat for smeary chubby hands to mess about with. I'd say though, that while LeapFrog puts the age range at 4-8, its useful life will be shorter for a lot of children. My sister's sons had grown out of it by six, and I think my four-year-old – although too young to benefit from a lot of the educational content – is already finding some of the gameplay quite limited. But then his dad is a games journalist.
Some parents will, of course, wonder why children need to be introduced to gaming hardware at all. They should be outdoors in the fresh air, and not lounging on the sofa preparing themselves for a lifetime of electronic indolence. Well, if the parents don't use digital gadgets, I suppose that's a reasonable stance, but if you're sitting tapping away on your phone all day, and playing Xbox every evening, it's a little unrealistic not to expect your children to pick up on it and want to play along. Also, it's all about balance – we limit the amount of time our two boys can spend on Leapster and tend to save it for journeys. I asked my wife, a non-gamer, what she thought about the console and she said, "I actually prefer them to play on it than watch TV, because at least it's not totally passive. They're actually engaging with what they're doing."
Whatever your standpoint though, one element of the Leapster experience that will be familiar to any gamer is the enforced obsolescence of the console lifecycle. Leapfrog has just launched the Leapster Explorer, an updated version of the device, complete with larger screen, a camera with video recording function, 3D visuals and an onboard memory so users can save game progress, videos and pictures. There's even an onboard virtual pet to customise and care for. It's essentially a smart phone without the phone bit. That will probably come later…
So anyway, what do you think? Are you a Leapster parent, or do you make the kids stand outside playing with a hoop and a stick until they start banging on the door for mercy? Gamesblog wants to know!
