Shrek’s Fairytale Kingdom is sprawling. It has storybook aspects, mini-games, decorating, random quests and adventures… this could be REALLY fun to play with your kids. One word of warning, however: it’s free because you can buy wishes with real money to speed things up. This could generate some conflict.
Price: FREE
Age: 4+
This game would be most fun with a parent joining in the fun. It would be really easy for an older kid to get sucked in and spend way too much time playing.
Pros:
– FREE
– Excellent quality across the board
– Huge variety of things to do, from mini games to upgrading locations from the movies
– Very in-depth integration with the films
– Allows you to play with Facebook friends
Cons:
– Could easily become addicting
– The game tries really hard to get you to buy “wishes,” which cost real money
Shrek’s Fairytale Kingdom is a unique mix. You play as a character with some time on his hands who likes to help out Shrek, the Princess, and the other characters from the award-winning Shrek films. You can help them complete quests, send them on their own quests, play mini games, and upgrade different locations from the movies with things that generate coin, like an outhouse (don’t ask me), or that allow you to play mini games, like Shrek’s mud pond.
There is a lot of time management in this game, which is good because it keeps you from sitting in front of the iPad for hours, but it’s also bad because it means there’s a lot of incentive to purchase wishes to speed things up. For a kid with limited patience, purchasing wishes with a few bucks would seem like no big deal. The fifth time you find your child begging for more, you might disagree. The game is very up-front about the fact that wishes can be purchased and there is a setting to switch this off. I highly recommend you take advantage of this feature.
I especially recommend this game as something to play along with a young member of the family. The mini games involve things like brushing Shrek’s teeth with mud by swiping your fingers back and forth across the screen, plucking ear wax out of his ears, and helping him swish mud in his mouth by tilting the iPad back and forth. This kind of interactivity, along with the size of the game, the colorful animation and close tie-in with films that your child no doubt already loves, make it easy to recommend this app.
Please help support iPadKids by downloading the game via the AppStore icon below!
