Educational Video Games

Sesame Street's Elmo and Zoe host this educational-themed collection of mini-games aimed at preschoolers. Youngsters will explore an aquarium, savanna, jungle, forest, and the arctic in search of animals to befriend. Featured activities are designed to enhance letter identification, letter sounds, word families, and basic literacy skills, with a dynamic difficulty setting automatically adjusting itself based on the child's performance. Also included is an Elmo cloth Wii Remote cover so young hands will more easily recognize the specific buttons needed to play. ~ Scott Alan Marriott, All Game Guide

Cookie Monster and Big Bird headline this educational-themed collection of mini-games aimed at preschoolers. As the title suggests, the focus on this title is on enhancing a youngster's counting, number identification, pattern recognition, and shape identifying skills through a series of whimsical activities. Explore five areas of the carnival, from the grandstand and rides to the petting zoo, concession stand, and the arcade. Also included is a Cookie Monster cloth Wii Remote cover so young hands will more easily recognize the specific buttons needed to play. ~ Scott Alan Marriott, All Game Guide

The long-running JumpStart series of educational games comes to Wii for the first time in JumpStart: Escape from Adventure Island. The game finds players marooned on a mysterious island after their blimp crash lands, and the only way to get back in the air is to explore the 3D settings and recover important parts by taking on more than 150 math, reading, and critical thinking exercises. Gamers can use their Wii Remote's motion-sensitive controls to mimic flying, running, and swimming movements, and customizable avatars were included to help young players express themselves. ~ All Game Guide

Svelte television workout guru Jillian Michaels returns to the world of games with new exercises, new workout modes, new locations, and new audio commentary in Jillian Michaels Fitness Ultimatum 2010. Players travel to an island in the Pacific, where they'll work on 16 core exercises designed to increase muscle strength and cardiovascular endurance. The Wii Balance Board can be used for most of the exercises, and gamers receive feedback and motivation from Michaels as they perform swing kicks, jumping jacks, push-ups, side lunges, and more. Motion controls have been recalibrated to more accurately track user movements, while the new "Resolutions" mode lets players customize a workout schedule up to six month in advance. Multiple difficulty levels are designed to offer a challenge to people of all fitness levels, and the game aims to avoid injuries and keep players healthy with warm-up and cool-down exercises, and diet and exercise tips. ~ Christopher Brown, All Game Guide

Preschool gamers take part in more than 70 learning lessons as they care for lost pets throughout five 3D worlds in JumpStart Pet Rescue. JumpStart friends guide young players as they explore, learning valuable skills such as memory, creativity, motor skills, and listening. Children can express themselves by changing their physical appearance, wearing different outfits, and decorating their house, and as gamers feed, groom, and play with their pets they can earn rewards and storybooks. ~ Christopher Brown, All Game Guide

Wii gamers use their Balance Board to get fit and shed the fat in Jillian Michaels' Fitness Ultimatum 2009. Known for her work as a personal trainer on the TV program The Biggest Loser, Michaels guides players through a program full of varied workouts and fitness tests. Users can select from Weight Loss, Strength Training, Interval, and Hill Climb exercise routines, and then choose a workout length, from a quick five-minute romp all the way to an hour-long session. Players begin in a simulated boot camp, where each workout starts with a series of judged challenges that include: obstacle courses, balance beam, rowing, crossing monkey bars, and punching a weighted bag, among others. Personal data is tracked so players can measure their progress with regard to weight loss and calories burned, and users can unlock video tips about fitness and lifestyle. The game also lets two players get fit together by racing against each other in the complete obstacle course or any single challenge in Competitive Campfire mode. ~ Christopher Brown, All Game Guide

My Word Coach, part of Ubisoft's lineup of casual-friendly titles with an educational twist, is a series of spelling and vocabulary building exercises in the spirit of Nintendo's Brain Age. Using the Wii Remote, players are challenged to complete six spelling and word-recognition activities as quickly as possible. Players will input missing letters from words, spell out the answers to various definitions, choose which word matches a particular definition, form specific words with Scrabble-like tiles, and more. Players are encouraged to revisit My Word Coach on a daily basis to reinforce their memory and improve their overall ranking. Three levels of difficulty are available, and the game includes a built-in dictionary of over 17,000 words. Up to four players can compete in two of the featured games, while two players can battle each other in a choice of four games. ~ Scott Alan Marriott, All Game Guide

Designed to improve the memory, coordination, creativity, and imagination of young children, the Cosmic Family is an adventure intended for the whole clan. Gamers interact with Mom and Dad Cosmic, as well as Big Sister, a couple of small children, and two family pets. Using the Wii Remote to point and click their way through each environment, players may explore five floors of the rocket house as they locate and complete 15 different mini-games. Activities include brushing the teeth of a monster, piloting a rocket ship, playing dress-up, and horticulture. ~ Gracie Leach, All Game Guide

Graduates of the DS handheld's Big Brain Academy are encouraged to re-enroll with the "Wii Degree" version of Nintendo's best-selling, brain-stimulating series. Once again players are challenged to rapidly solve a series of visual and audio puzzles to win one of four medals. The control scheme in this installment incorporates the Wii Remote as a pointing device, allowing players to quickly select answers, draw patterns, position pieces, and more. Like the original game, areas of focus include thinking, memorization, computation, analysis, and identification. Quick-thinking contestants can challenge nearby friends with a split-screen version of the game, and those connected to the Internet will be able to import top scores of Miis from around the country. ~ Scott Alan Marriott, All Game Guide

Best known for her role in television's The Biggest Loser, trainer and wellness coach Jillian Michaels continues her Fitness Ultimatum series on Wii with an assortment of new features. Headlining this version is a mission mode that integrates exercises and objectives as players attempt to stop an evil food and drug corporation named Cureall. Fourteen exercises are introduced in this installment, each performed by Jillian and designed to work on multiple target areas. Players will engage in jumping jacks, running, crunches, hip twists, side lunges, planks, and more. For those already in shape, high intensity workouts are also included, as is Wii Balance Board support for new challenges. ~ Scott Alan Marriott, All Game Guide