{"id":3508,"date":"2009-11-21T13:56:24","date_gmt":"2009-11-21T19:56:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gamingwithchildren.com\/?p=3508"},"modified":"2009-11-21T13:56:24","modified_gmt":"2009-11-21T19:56:24","slug":"game-review-my-baby-first-steps-wii-ds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/2009\/11\/21\/game-review-my-baby-first-steps-wii-ds\/","title":{"rendered":"Game Review: My Baby: First Steps (Wii, DS)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MYBABY_BOX\"In the original My Baby Boy\/Girl game on Nintendo DS<\/a><\/strong>, you helped raise a virtual baby from birth to its first step. Now in the sequel, My Baby: First Steps for DS and Wii (Wii version reviewed here), you\u2019ll be continuing on, raising your baby to help it walk with more confidence and teaching its first words.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

My Baby: First Steps is quite a bit like the first game, except now you\u2019re dealing with a young toddler who has just started to learn to walk and babble, around 15 months old. First you enter in your name and choose to be the baby\u2019s mom or dad. Then name your baby and decide its gender and ethnicity, or let it be a surprise!<\/p>\n

Each month, your pediatrician will have two exercises for your baby to learn, which use the Wii remote to help baby progress. Once you fill up the meters, you\u2019ll go on to the next month\u2019s exercises. Most either require you to help your baby walk or talk. To help him or her walk, run, or carefully climb the stairs, usually you take a \u2018cuddle toy\u2019 with the remote and shake it in the direction that you want baby to go. Sometimes you may have to swipe the remote quickly either horizontally or vertically to encourage baby to squat or run. Some of these movements are a little hard to figure out at first, but if you read the pediatrician\u2019s instructions carefully, you should be able to figure it out.<\/p>\n

To help baby learn to talk, you usually just aim and point on a body part to help him or her say things like \u201cme,\u201d \u201ctummy,\u201d or \u201chand.\u201d On the DS version you can speak into the microphone to teach baby words, but on the Wii, you just have to wiggle the remote around while in \u2018microphone mode.\u2019<\/p>\n

But your baby won\u2019t learn anything if it needs something, and it\u2019ll let you know through its whimpers and actions. If he rubs his tummy, he\u2019s hungry. If she rubs her eyes, she\u2019s sleepy. If he fidgets with his pants, he needs a diaper change. And if she fusses with her arms, it\u2019s bath time. Later on, your baby will even ask to play outside in the sandbox. A nurse will guide you through each care station for the first time. These care-giving games can be a little tricky to figure out the first time you play them, but they get easier after that.<\/p>\n

The diaper changing game is a lot like the one from the last game. Use the remote to take off the diaper, clean baby\u2019s bottom, put medicine on it if need be, then throw away the dirty diaper and put on a new one. The motions you go through are very similar to changing a real diaper.<\/p>\n

\"MYBABY_SCREEN\"<\/p>\n

In the feeding game, use the remote to pick up a spoon and move it to the bowl of food. Wiggle the remote to cool it down and then hold the spoon near the baby\u2019s mouth for him to eat it. Later on, your baby will drink from a sippy cup and even ask to feed himself. Just watch his body movements and you\u2019ll be able to tell what your baby wants to do at mealtime.<\/p>\n

At bath time, baby sits in her bath seat and you must wave the remote to scrub her with a soap filled sponge. Just don\u2019t rub too hard or she\u2019ll cry. Easy gentle movements are the key for any of the games on My Baby. Then rinse her down with the shower head. It\u2019s a lot like the cleaning games in other DS care-giving titles.<\/p>\n

Later on, your baby will be able to communicate better and will want to play outside in a sandbox. Your job is to hand your baby the toy he wants. If it\u2019s not the right one, your baby will throw it back. Later on, it sounds like your baby will even utter a slurred \u201cthanks\u201d when you hand it the right toy. So at least you know it\u2019s a polite little tyke!<\/p>\n

The bedtime game is the weirdest of the bunch. Your baby will look at a bedtime storybook and motion for you to turn the pages with the remote. Turn off the light at the right time when baby nods off. What\u2019s weird about this game is it looks like the baby is reading the book, not you! I wonder what kind of books this kid is reading!<\/p>\n

Just like in the first My Baby game, you can take pictures of your baby and send them to Grandma or the photo shop. When you send a picture to Granny, she\u2019ll give you a present, and if you send the photo to the shop, you\u2019ll get money to buy items for baby. You can dress your baby in all sorts of clothes, hairstyles, and also buy toys and room decorations.<\/p>\n

So it looks like First Steps will end up being more of the same for My Baby fans. Hopefully kids will be able to figure out the tasks better in this game. Any child who enjoys playing with dolls and playing \u2018house\u2019 may want to check this title. And I think it would make a great present for an older brother or sister who has to share their life with a new member of the family. All the tasks you do in the game, a kid can help do in real life, so it can help prepare them for caring for their younger siblings. And even though it\u2019s just a game, I could see the progression from taking care of a babbling droolhead to an actual little person. And maybe that aspect will encourage kid gamers that the new baby in the house will grow up into someone that they can play with and be lifelong friends together. My Baby: First Steps is rated E for Everyone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the original My Baby Boy\/Girl game on Nintendo DS, you helped raise a virtual baby from birth to its first step. Now in the sequel, My Baby: First Steps for DS and Wii (Wii version reviewed here), you\u2019ll be continuing on, raising your baby to help it walk with more confidence and teaching its […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-game-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3508"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3508\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}